Growing cucumbers on the balcony in plastic bottles step by step, video

Growing homemade vegetables on your screened-in balcony is a great way to have a source of vitamins all year round. Many city dwellers have long adopted this method and in the cold season, they move with their seedlings from their dachas to insulated balconies and loggias. In addition, balcony greenhouses allow those who have never had their own plot of land to engage in gardening hobbies.

One of the simplest vegetables that is easy to grow even for a novice gardener is the cucumber. It can be grown on the balcony even in ordinary plastic bottles. This is convenient because such containers are very affordable and can be found in every apartment, and they are also easy to prepare for planting seedlings. And you will learn how to do this from our article.

What varieties of cucumbers can be grown on the balcony?

For growing in small greenhouses or city apartments, special varieties of vegetables, including cucumbers, have long been invented. The mark on the seed package “for indoor ground” will help you understand that this variety is perfect for your purposes. It is better to give preference to self-pollinating hybrids, since such varieties are very easy to care for, and they are not capricious in terms of external conditions.
Also, the following varieties of cucumbers are suitable for planting on the balcony:

Virenta 1 or 2;
Dragonfly;
April;
Balcony miracle;
Stella;
Sail;
Moscow balcony;
Cucaracha.

When purchasing ordinary, non-self-pollinating varieties, it is important to take into account the fact that in nature, plant flowers are pollinated by bees, so in balcony conditions you will have to carry out this procedure yourself.

To do this, you need to shake pollen from the female flowers (with pistils) onto the male flowers (with stamens). Otherwise you won't get any harvest.

Preparatory work before planting

Before planting seeds, you should read the manufacturer's recommendations. The dates for planting and harvesting are written on the packaging. You can navigate by them by shifting your landing to a later time in the cold regions of Russia.

Soil preparation

To sow cucumber seeds for seedlings, you need to buy special soil for vegetable crops. It is balanced in composition and does not have viral or fungal diseases.

You can take soil from the garden, but it must first be disinfected. Then the soil is mixed with peat and sand. The soil mixture should be light and loose. If the density is too high, you need to add more sand. Mineral fertilizers are added to homemade soil: superphosphate and urea.

Preparation of containers and seed material

Preparation of containers also depends on the method of planting cucumbers:

When planting seeds for seedlings in a bottle, you need to cut off the upper narrow part. The upper part is preserved and the bottle is covered with it after planting the seeds. From 4 to 8 holes are made at the bottom of the bottle to allow excess moisture to drain out and the ground to ventilate. Soil is poured into the container, not reaching the edges 4–5 centimeters.
When planting seeds in open ground, use the bottle as a greenhouse and cut off the lower part.

Seeds are prepared for sowing in the standard way: they are disinfected and the roots are sprouted. You can disinfect the seeds by holding them in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for 30–40 minutes.

To germinate seeds:

you need to take a plate, lay a cloth or cotton pads on it;
pour Kornevin or Zircon solution into a plate;
after the fabric absorbs water, drain off the excess;
cucumber seeds are placed on the cloth and covered with a cloth on top;
the plate is placed in a bag or covered with film to create a greenhouse effect;
As soon as the roots appear, the seeds need to be planted in the ground.

F1 cucumber varieties do not require processing.

What soil do balcony cucumbers need?

Preparing the soil for cucumbers is not too difficult a task. A universal store-bought mixture for vegetable crops and ordinary garden soil from your dacha or village garden will do. The main condition is that the soil must be fertile.

It is important to remember that before planting seeds or seedlings, the soil mixture, as well as the planting container, must be disinfected. The soil can either be poured with boiling water, kept under steam for 10-15 minutes, or heated in a microwave oven for 5-10 minutes and sprinkled with fungicide.

Advantages of using unusual packaging

The main advantages of this type of container for growing cucumbers include:

Cheap - a five-liter vessel used as containers for drinking water has a low cost, making it more profitable to use than special disposable peat pots or cassettes for seedlings.
Convenience of replacing soil - such containers allow, if necessary, to quickly change a soured or deteriorated substrate, while minimally damaging the root system of the crop.
Saving water during irrigation - due to the limited volume, significantly less water is consumed during irrigation than for crops growing in open ground.
Space saving - compact bottles allow you to significantly save space, which is especially important when growing cucumbers at home (such containers can be conveniently placed on any windowsill).

Also, thanks to the resistance of polyethylene to rotting, such containers, if treated with care, are almost eternal.

On a note. For growing cucumbers, only plastic 5-liter drinking water containers are used. Bottles of antifreeze and other technical liquids, due to the impossibility of removing toxic residues from their inner walls, are not used for growing cucumbers.

Growing cucumber seedlings on the balcony

To plant seedlings, you will need small plastic cups or special cups purchased at a gardening store (which can be planted in the ground along with the sprouts). To drain excess water, holes must be made in the bottom of the containers.

For speedy cultivation, cucumber seeds are treated with a strong solution of potassium permanganate. They need to be placed in a gauze or fabric bag and dipped in a dark solution of potassium permanganate for about 10-15 minutes. Then the seeds need to be washed with water. They should end up brown.

Another way to speed up the process of growing seeds and increase their germination is to place them between layers of damp gauze for a couple of days until they hatch. In this case, you need to ensure that the gauze does not dry out and periodically moisten it with warm water.

A fluorescent lamp or a special greenhouse lamp for plants will also help improve the quality of seedlings.

You can sow one or two seeds in each cup to the depth of the first phalanx of your finger. Seedlings should be stored in a warm room with a temperature of at least 23-25 degrees Celsius.

After emergence, the seedlings can be transferred to the balcony, but at the same time, it is important to monitor the temperature (20-23 degrees during the day and not lower than 15 degrees at night is enough) and the absence of drafts. Cucumbers should be watered moderately, no more than once a day in good light with warm water (23-25 degrees Celsius).

Sprouts suitable for planting will appear in about a month. During this time, the seedlings will need to be fed twice, either with special store-bought fertilizers, or with the same mixture that was added to the soil.

Planting cucumber seeds

So, how to plant cucumbers in 5 liter bottles, pre-cut in one of two ways? Everything is quite simple. The finished containers are filled with soil. The containers need to be shaken a little. The substrate should not reach a few centimeters to the top edge of the bottles. All that remains is to plant the prepared, germinated cucumber seeds. In order for plants to develop optimally, it is not recommended to use more than 5 seeds per 1 container of 5 liters.

Preparation of seed material

Proper planting of cucumbers in plastic bottles requires a competent approach to preparing the seed.

This will allow you to obtain healthy and strong seedlings, which will further ensure the formation of a large number of ovaries.
This is done according to the standard scheme:

immersing seeds in a container of water;
identification and selection of low-quality options;
germination of good specimens using a damp rag or gauze.

Stages of sowing cucumber seeds

To get ripe and tasty cucumbers under a plastic bottle, planting material is sown in early April. During this period, self-pollinating varieties should be used. It is enough to take about 10 seeds. If everything is done correctly, then in the future these fruits can be used to prepare okroshka, cold soup, salads, or eaten fresh.

The second approach is to plant seeds that are intended for cultivation in a greenhouse. This procedure is performed in mid-April.

At the end of this month or in the first days of May, you need to “plant” in the ground the seeds of those varieties whose fruits are supposed to be used for canning, pickling, pickling, and winter storage. In the second half of the last spring month, you can sow cucumbers under bottles, which are oriented towards pollination by bees or by hand. Such varieties are usually planted in open beds.

When planting cucumbers in a five-liter bottle, it is recommended to pay attention to the recommendations of the lunar calendar. Taking into account the phases of the night star and its position in certain signs of the Zodiac will allow you to achieve good results in gardening. Thus, it is recommended to plant cucumbers on the waxing moon. It is believed that this approach ensures active growth of the seed. Plants establish a better root system.

After sowing, all that remains is to properly care for the seedlings and wait for them to be ready for planting in a permanent place; as a rule, this takes from 15 to 20 days.

We prepare containers and a place for growing cucumbers on the balcony

You can choose any bottle. In small ones you can plant one bush, in five-liter ones - two or three, depending on their size.

You can prepare the bottles like this:

One and a half liter or liter bottles need to be cut in half crosswise. Moreover, there is no need to throw out the top part with the neck - it can be useful as an additional shelter for the sprouts from a draft or sun and create an additional greenhouse effect (do not forget that cucumbers are a very heat-loving crop).
Five-liter bottles are cut lengthwise, like a plastic box.

In both cases, you need to immediately make holes at the bottom of the containers to ensure high-quality drainage of the mail, because stagnation of water can immediately ruin the plant. Also, a good way would be to place the containers on a tray or in another similar container with small pebbles or expanded clay poured into it.

When choosing a place to place containers with cucumbers on the balcony, it is important to consider the following:

Cucumbers are a light-loving and heat-loving crop. Therefore, the ideal option would be a balcony on the south side of the house. But it is important not to place plants in direct sunlight, as this can lead to burning and drying of the leaves. If the balcony is on the poorly lit side, then be sure to purchase a lamp for plants.
To grow vegetables in winter, the balcony must be glazed and insulated. But for cucumbers, in addition to this, you need to take care of heating the balcony. In this case, you will have to monitor the humidity of the room; too dry air will also damage the shoots and fruits. In this case, periodically spraying the leaves or installing an automatic humidifier will help.
The main factor that often causes cucumbers to die on the balcony is drafts . Their appearance must be carefully avoided. All cracks in windows or balcony walls must be sealed, and try not to open windows in windy weather and in the cold season.

Bottles of cucumbers on the balcony can become not just a home mini-vegetable garden, but also a wonderful piece of furniture if you also use a loggia or balcony as a relaxation area. For example, seedlings in multi-colored bottles, hung on the side walls of a balcony or placed on shelves, will look very original. In addition, bottles and other containers can be decorated in a variety of ways, giving them the style that suits the design of your balcony.

How to grow cucumbers for a summer resident without a dacha

Gardeners without a summer cottage can plant cucumbers using the “bottle” method. To do this, it is enough to have a glazed loggia or an insulated balcony. Parthenocarpic (self-pollinating) varieties and hybrids should be selected.

5 liter bottles need to be divided crosswise. Cut off (not all the way) the top third. Make drainage holes in the bottom. Fill with nutrient soil. Plant prepared seeds (3 pieces per five liters). Deepen by 1.5-2 cm.

When the true leaf appears, leave one plant. Carefully remove the rest. The success of growing cucumbers under plastic bottles depends on proper feeding with organic matter and mineral mixtures. On the balcony, a tropical vegetable grows at low air humidity. The plant needs to be sprayed.

Spider mites love dry air and high temperatures. The leaves should be inspected. If white spots appear on the back side, spray with insecticide. Increase air humidity.

Cucumbers should be shaded from the bright sun. Form according to the instructions of seed producers. You can use 1.5-2 liter containers. In this case, you should sow one seed at a time.

Growing cucumbers in bottles is convenient and profitable. A gardener without a dacha receives early vegetable production. The balcony is surrounded by tropical vines. A person improves his skills.

Caring for bottled cucumbers on the balcony

Caring for cucumbers during their growth and development involves periodically watering them.
This should be done about two or three times a week, always with warm water. You need to reduce or increase watering volumes based on the weather outside the window and the air temperature in the room. One plant should have about two to three liters of water. You also need to form each bush into a single stem. This is done like this: the top of the main, that is, the most powerful, stem is pinched when the shoot reaches the size of the stick or net supporting it. Secondary shoots (those that grow from the axils of the leaves) are pinched to a length of 20 to 40 centimeters.

During fruiting, cucumbers require feeding, approximately once a week. It is best to choose ready-made mixtures for this purpose, which are easy to find in specialized stores. But try to ensure that such fertilizers do not contain chemicals that can affect the quality of the fruit and harm your health.

How to get a big harvest at home

Feeding cucumbers

The first feeding is necessary at the seedling stage. It is carried out when the second true leaf appears. Use complex water-soluble fertilizers containing microelements, nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus according to the manufacturer's instructions.

The following feedings are carried out once every 2 weeks. At different stages of plant development, fertilizer compositions are selected that are appropriate to the age of the bush.

During the period of elongation and growth of the green mass of stems and leaves, nitrogen and phosphorus should predominate; when the fruits ripen, the emphasis is on potassium-phosphate fertilizers.

After the first harvest is harvested, they return to nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium fertilizers. Feeding can be root feeding, while watering the plants, and so-called leaf feeding, while spraying water over the bush.

Bush formation

The most difficult task for beginners who like to grow cucumbers on a balcony or on a windowsill is always timely inspection of cucumber bushes. It is necessary to remove unnecessary shoots, tendrils and ovaries, then the cucumbers left on the bush will receive the necessary substances and moisture in full.

The bushes should not be thickened. When growing on a balcony, the plant is left with one central stem and one ovary in the leaf axils. All side shoots up to a height of the main vine of 50 cm are removed. Then you can leave another stem and tie the plant with two strands of jute twine, spaced at least 40 cm apart.

It is important to consider that it is not the rope that is wrapped around the cucumber stems, but vice versa. You can attach the twine to a reusable plastic garter attached to the first leaf from the root. It is securely attached with the help of blunt notches along its surface, and at the same time, the tightness of contact with the plant is adjusted at the discretion of the gardener.

Soil care

The soil in bottles or jars with cucumber bushes should not dry out. A single watering of young plants is carried out in the morning.

During fruiting, double watering (morning and evening) is necessary, because fruit filling occurs at night.

Over time, the soil compacts and settles; if necessary, the volume of soil is gradually increased, carefully pouring it into containers for growing cucumbers up to the very edges. Do not allow a crust to appear on the ground above the roots of the cucumbers. Loosening is carried out regularly, but very carefully, trying not to damage the plant.

When the first cucumbers reach the required size, making them suitable for consumption, there is no need to delay removing them from the bushes. Balcony plants have little strength, so let them better give it to the remaining ovaries. In order to improve the condition of adult cucumber plants on the balcony, you can carefully transplant them into buckets or other growing containers with a larger volume than before.

What pests can threaten cucumbers on the balcony?

Often, gardeners even on balconies are faced with problems such as pests. Usually on cucumbers you can find:

Spider mite.

You can recognize it by the silvery coating on the side of the leaves that faces down. If the mite has been living on the plant for a long time or there are many of them, then you will immediately see a dense, small cobweb on all the leaves and, possibly, shoots. In this case, an infusion of garlic mixed with laundry soap will help you. You need to steep one head of garlic for about an hour or two in a liter of water, then strain the liquid, add a small piece of soap to it and stir well. With this mixture you need to wash the entire plant, each of its leaves, carefully removing plaque and cobwebs.

Aphids.

Care

Caring for growing vegetables coincides with greenhouse and garden work. First, the plants are watered with warm water, and after 2 weeks they switch to fertilizing. Cucumbers feed on the composition:

magnesium sulfate, potassium nitrate;

superphosphate;

ammonium nitrate.

Ammonium nitrate
Pour the liquid carefully, without getting on the leaves. After 10 days, the vegetables are fertilized with manure. For weekly watering, prepare grain fertilizer:

To do this, a large bucket is filled 2/3 with bread crusts, the rest is added with water and the mixture is infused in a warm place.
Water is then added again and used for irrigation.
Add 500 ml of nutrient to each bottle of cucumbers weekly.

When yellowness appears on the leaves (a sign of damage by spider mites), the cucumbers are sprayed with garlic tincture (5 cloves of garlic are left in boiling water for 6 hours). Also tincture of onion peel. The films are collected in a liter jar until half full, filled with hot water and left to infuse. The resulting product is diluted with clean water 1:2.

We grow cucumbers in bottles using hydroponics

Few gardeners know that they can grow their favorite vegetables even without using land. However, for gardening at home, this method turns out to be preferable in many respects. We are talking about hydroponics. Let's try to figure out how to grow cucumbers in ordinary plastic bottles without using any earthen fertilizers or soil.

The essence of this method is that plants are grown using special nutrient mixtures of water and fertilizers. For a cucumber you will need the following mixture of fertilizers per liter of water:

One and a half to two grams of ammonium nitrate;
Two to three grams of superphosphate;
One and a half to two grams of potassium chloride.

Now let’s look in detail at how to create a hydroponic system for growing cucumbers:

You will need a pre-processed and sprouted cucumber seed;
You need to take two containers, one with a volume of five liters and the second with a volume of about three or two and a half liters. It is better to cut the bottles crosswise.
In the first bottle you need to pour 8-10 centimeters of small crushed stone or well crushed red brick.
You need to make holes in the bottom of the second bottle and place it in the first container, on the bottom.
Then pour well-washed hot water or additionally heated river sand into a smaller bottle.
Now we bury a cucumber seed one and a half to two centimeters deep in the center of the bottle with sand, germinated side down, flat. Sprinkle it with a little sand on top and pour in a small amount of warm water.
After a couple of days, when the first shoots appear, pour the nutrient solution into the bottom jar. Its level should reach the bottom of the top jar, but no more than that - too humid an environment will destroy the sprouts.
After about 12-14, the first true leaves will begin to appear on the plant.
As soon as the third true leaf appears, it will need to be plucked off along with the growing point in its petiole.
The same should be done with the first two side lashes that appear after pinching.
Next, you will only need to monitor the growth of your plant and periodically replace the nutrient mixture with a fresh solution.

This growing method will help you not only acquire a mini-garden on your balcony, but also surprise guests and relatives with an unusual plant laboratory.

Thus, nothing is impossible, and you can start your own vegetable garden even in a small apartment without access to a plot of land.

Growing in a greenhouse

The seedlings grow strong and healthy

Growing cucumbers will also be acceptable in a greenhouse. A greenhouse without heating will help you get a harvest 2-3 weeks earlier than usual. With the help of such bottles, a mini-greenhouse is created in a small area, which to some extent can even replace a heated greenhouse.

This effect is achieved due to the fact that the container acts as an additional shelter, maintaining an acceptable microclimate even when it gets cold.

Landing technology

The place for planting cucumbers is pre-prepared. The top layer of soil is removed to the level of the spade bayonet. A layer of humus is placed on top (horse manure and straw 1:1). Then half of the removed soil is returned. The resulting substrate must be poured with hot water and covered with plastic oilcloth.

After 3 days, you can dig in a bottle with seeds or seedlings cut off at the bottom. Often the beds are additionally covered with non-woven synthetic fabric.

The method of sowing cucumbers does not differ from the traditional one: the seeds are placed in a hole about 2 cm deep. It is important not to overdo it with the number of seeds - you need to put no more than 3 pieces. in one bottle.

How to grow stronger cucumber seedlings in the future: in open ground or in a greenhouse - everyone decides individually. The seedlings of the crop are fragile, try not to damage them. The lid can be removed from the container, but the lashes must be tied up.

Care methods

All types of vegetables require care, and cucumbers are no exception. After planting them in a bottle, do not forget to moisten the soil using settled water. It is better to water the plant with warm liquid to prevent the appearance of fungal diseases.

2 weeks after planting the cucumbers, you need to fertilize the bottle for the first time. A mixture that contains three components is considered successful:

magnesium sulfate;
ammonium or potassium nitrate;
superphosphate.

It is convenient to combine fertilizer with watering, gradually enriching the soil with the resulting mixture, avoiding contact with the leaves. They can be sprayed with nitrogen fertilizers. The second feeding using a manure solution is carried out after 10 days.

Watering and fertilizing are the main components of care, but it is equally important to tie up the plants in time, remove the lateral shoots, thereby forming 1 stem.

Spider mites may appear on cucumber bushes. Garlic tincture helps to cope with it. Place 5 cloves of garlic in boiling water and after 6 hours of infusion, irrigate the leaves with this product. A tincture of onion peels (hot water and peels 1:2) is also effective.

We continue to conjure

Unlike humans, plants are guided by the principle: keep their feet (i.e., roots) damp and cold, and their heads (i.e., crown) warm. Most 5 liter plastic bottles are clear or blue or green. Only beer containers are dark brown and UV protected. This is exactly what we need. But... Not all lovers of fresh cucumbers are fans of beer. Dark beer bottles V-5 liters - one or two and too many.

No problem! Take a roll of baking foil and measure 520 (± 20 mm). Cut and knead lightly to create an uneven surface. Cover the perimeter of the bottle using double-sided tape.

You've got the perfect container for growing cucumbers. The roots will not be exposed to UV radiation. Hot sun - excessively warm and dry out the soil, cool nights - excessively cool.

Preparing seeds for sowing

Cucumber seeds should be prepared before sowing on the balcony. First, the planting material is heated in a room at a temperature of +25 degrees. How long to keep the seeds in such conditions can be found on the packaging. Usually one month is enough.

The planting material needed for sowing has no external damage or deformation. After heating, such seeds should be placed on gauze pre-moistened in a 1% solution of potassium permanganate for up to half an hour or kept in Fitosporin-M for two hours.

Some gardeners additionally warm up the planting material. To do this, gardeners place the seeds on a radiator and keep them for 10 hours at a temperature of +60. However, you can do without this procedure.

At the end, the prepared cucumber seeds must be placed on a wet cloth or placed in a bag and stored in a warm place for two days. At this time, the material must be periodically moistened. At the end of the specified period, the first shoots should appear from the seeds.

What container to plant cucumbers in: required volume of container

For growing cucumbers at home, any containers of a size sufficient for the normal development of the root system are suitable. The volume of such containers must be more than one liter.

Plastic bottles

Plastic bottles significantly reduce the cost of growing vegetables. Plastic containers with a volume of 1.5 or 2 liters, as well as 5 liters, are suitable for planting cucumbers. If bottles of a smaller volume are selected, then the container must be cut crosswise with a knife, thus forming something like a pot. In a 5-liter container, the top part is removed (you can also cut it lengthwise).

After preparing the bottom of the plastic bottles, you need to make several holes with a nail to remove excess moisture.

Pots

Pots for indoor plants are also used for growing vegetables. It is recommended to choose containers of sufficient volume (at least 1 liter).