Fertilizing tomatoes and cucumbers with horse manure.

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Author of the article

Yakov Pavlovich

Professor, Head of the Department of Vegetable Growing

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To get a good harvest of cucumbers, you need soil with high biological activity. Mullein helps make it this way, since it is a processed product of animals that eat plant foods. The relevance of organic fertilizer is explained by its beneficial properties and availability. But, when using mullein to feed cucumbers, you need to know how to use it correctly in order to get a good harvest.

Peculiarities

Cucumbers of all varieties respond well to the addition of organic matter, including horse waste. This type of feeding has a number of advantages:

relatively cheap substance (for many farmers and the most accessible);
does not cause any difficulties in use;
to apply fertilizer you can do without the use of machinery;
promotes more efficient absorption of fertilizers by plants;
does not leave toxic decay products in the soil.

It is convenient to feed cucumbers in greenhouses and open ground with horse manure. The biosubstrate is saturated with useful elements necessary for the proper ripening of vegetables. Horse manure warms the soil and improves its composition. It is also very useful in the garden, due to the fact that it quickly decomposes. Horse manure is superior to cow excrement in its ability to heat and retain heat.

Regular introduction of horse humus into the soil helps improve its structural properties, gives it looseness and normalizes the oxygen-water balance. Due to intensive decomposition, horse manure releases useful substances more actively than other types. Based on its chemical composition, horse manure extract can be defined as the richest. It is often used to create a thermal cushion for plants.

It is worth remembering that fresh manure is not suitable for fertilizing, since it can burn the root system and foliage. An infusion is prepared from the fresh substrate for further watering and spraying.

In addition, in its original form it is suitable only in the fall as an additive when digging up the earth. Since fresh excrement contains a lot of weed seeds, scattering it around the area can lead to the growth of weeds.

What to do with cucumbers if you go too far with mullein

Excess of nutrients disrupts the nutrition of the plant. It is difficult to overfeed plants with rotted manure; most often the crop suffers from fertilization with a fresh composition.

When overfed with nitrogen, the plant is exposed to various diseases. If measures are not taken in time, there is a risk of losing the entire harvest.

Signs of excess

When overfeeding with mullein, the plants are oversaturated with nitrogen.

Signs of excess nitrogen are:

“fatification” of the plant - the development of lush green mass to the detriment of fruiting;
burns of the root system;
rotting and death of roots;
The fruits are loose and lose their shape.

How to save cucumbers

Cucumbers overfed with manure can be saved. Small hardwood sawdust or chopped straw will help normalize the nitrogen balance. For a 10 m² plot, a bucket or half a bucket of sawdust is enough. When fiber decomposes, bacteria in the soil will actively use nitrogen, helping plants get rid of its excess.

Advantages of natural fertilizers for feeding cucumbers

Using manure to increase productivity is a common method practiced in homesteads and farms. This is a waste product of domestic animals, mixed with the remains of straw and hay for bedding. Natural organics are highly valued for a number of advantages:

absence of pesticides and chemicals that accumulate in fruits;
the effect appears gradually over several weeks;
the soil becomes more fertile and enriched;
acidity is normalized;
the number of beneficial bacteria increases;
oxygen supply to the roots improves.

The main advantage of manure for feeding is its low cost. Many farmers use a product obtained from their own barnyard. Small farms willingly give it away for free after cleaning the barn or poultry house. Its use allows you to make a profit and grow a high-quality crop.

Benefits of feeding

To feed cucumbers, fresh manure collected from domestic animals or fermented on the ground is used. Economical additives do not harm the soil and are absolutely safe for crops. Manure contains the following beneficial substances:

nitrogen;
potassium;
phosphorus;
microelements.

With the help of natural components, the amount of salt in the soil is reduced and its acidity is reduced - in such conditions the root system grows faster: the active growth of the bush affects the quality of the harvest. In ground-enriched soil, cucumber roots absorb less radioactive and toxic substances.

Fertilizer during the period of active growth, flowering and fruiting of the bush ensures the growth of healthy fruits, which are useful to eat raw or pickled. The amount of useful additive for fertilizing is standardized (to maintain the correct acidity of the soil).

The natural substance improves the throughput of mineral supplements, as a result - the root system quickly absorbs useful mineral supplements. Excess soil is harmful to all varieties of cucumbers: it causes the leaves to wither, weeds to grow, and the roots of the bushes to rot.

For which plants is horse manure harmful?

It’s worth noting right away which crops you can’t apply horse manure to. These are: carrots, beets, radishes, radishes, turnips, horseradish, celery and parsley; manure cannot be added either in the fall or in the spring. Although they can be grown in areas where manure was applied to the crops preceding them. You cannot add manure when growing aster; this leads to Fusarium wilt.

And how can applying horse manure be beneficial? These are zucchini, cucumbers and cabbage. And also planting peonies, roses, lilacs, clematis and dahlias will thank you with generous flowering for adding manure.

Chemical composition of horse manure. Horse manure contains up to 71.3% water and 25.4% organic matter. Nitrogen contains 0.59% of which 0.09% is ammonia nitrogen. Phosphorus is 0.26% and potassium is 0.59%. Calcium 0.21%. Acidity is 7.9 pH. And the ratio of nitrogen to carbon is 21, this is the ideal ratio for rapid decomposition.

Horse manure contains trace elements such as magnesium in an amount of 0.14% by weight of the manure. For example, 100 kilograms of manure contains 1.4 grams or 1400 milligrams. In addition, boron is present in the amount of 140 milligrams, cobalt 7 milligrams, copper 110 milligrams, zinc 670 milligrams and molybdenum 15 milligrams.

The data are averaged and can change by a factor of 2, both up and down. The content of microelements in manure depends on what kind of food the animal ate.

Horse droppings are used both for plant nutrition and as biofuel. It is recommended to apply it fresh to the soil only in the fall. In spring, it can only be used in the form of liquid fertilizers.

This type of organic fertilizer begins to decompose at a temperature of about 80 degrees, and the decay processes occur much faster than other types of manure. And in the end, this fertilizer ends up with the loosest structure.

Article on the topic : When is it better to apply horse manure in spring or autumn?

Therefore, horse manure, like sheep manure, should primarily be used as a fertilizer on cold, dense, clayey soils. To improve their structure and enrich them with organic matter.

Bird droppings

Benefits for cucumbers

Among the various categories of bird droppings, bird droppings are the most effective. This type of organic fertilizer is characterized by a significant nitrogen content, which is necessary for cucumber and other plants for a full set of vegetative mass. It also contains phosphorus, calcium, potassium, magnesium, which are in an easily digestible and accessible form for plants.

Bird droppings

Which honey is better, flower or buckwheat?

Chicken droppings also contain a number of microelements:

manganese;
sulfur;
zinc;
cobalt;
copper.

In terms of its effectiveness, the application of bird droppings is comparable to complex mineral fertilizing.

Additional Information! In terms of phosphorus content, chicken manure significantly exceeds all other types of manure.

The effect of chicken manure on the soil lasts for several years. This is due to the fact that the trace elements that make up the substance take quite a long time to decompose.

This organic fertilizer has a positive effect on the soil structure, quickly dissolving in moist soil. Thanks to this, plant growth accelerates, and the yield of cucumbers increases by 20-40%.

Chicken manure effectively fights against yeast and mold fungi in the soil. By restoring the soil microflora with the help of bird manure, it is possible to reduce the number of weeds in the plot.

Feeding cucumbers

Chicken droppings of any breed cannot be used fresh as fertilizer, because this can cause burns to cucumbers. Instead, an infusion is most often prepared from it. The substance must be diluted with water in an equal ratio and left to ferment for 5-7 days. After this, before use, the finished concentrate is once again dissolved in water in a ratio of 1:20 and the soil in the bite sector is watered with the resulting product. There should be about 0.5-1 liters of the drug per plant. The resulting fertilizer is stored for 2-3 months.

Bird droppings promote good growth

Compost made from bird droppings is also highly effective. To prepare it, prepare a hole about a meter deep in advance. Its bottom is strewn with straw, sawdust or fallen leaves. Bird manure, straw, weeds, peat, and dried leaves are laid in layers on such a bedding. The process of preparing fertilizer takes about one and a half to two months. The finished product is used when preparing soil in open areas, as well as in greenhouses and greenhouses.

In the dry extract state, it is possible to preserve fresh chicken droppings until spring. In this case, the fertilizer is spread in a thin layer on a plywood sheet and left to dry in the open air in hot weather for 3 hours. The resulting dung is thoroughly ground through a fine mesh until a powdery substance is formed. The resulting powder is poured into bags or barrels, where it can be stored all winter without loss of quality. When spring comes, it can be used while digging up the soil, adding 200 g of fertilizer per square meter of area.

In what cases is it recommended to use manure?

Feeding cucumbers with mullein or other types of humus in the open ground is carried out in different situations:

standard scheme as plants grow;
the appearance of dryness;
reduction of the ovary;
weak stem;
whitened leaves;
bad harvest;
cucumbers grow irregularly shaped and have a small mass.

Cow or horse manure as a fertilizer contains many useful substances, organic compounds, and vitamins. After being added to the soil, they gradually dissolve and mix with water, forming a nutrient mixture. If you use them before planting cucumbers in open ground, the immunity of the seedlings increases and greenery actively forms.

Important!

According to the observation of experienced gardeners, fewer weeds grow in manure beds and natural drainage is formed. Plants tolerate frosts and excessive watering more easily.

When is it necessary to supplement cucumbers?

The procedure for adding manure to the soil should be carried out in the fall, after the completion of harvesting work. During the flowering period, four feedings are required:

Before the growing season, water the soil with a solution of urea and superphosphate;
during fruiting, you need to use liquid fertilizer from ash and manure;
repeat the procedure after two weeks;
After 12 days, feed the cucumbers with mullein mixed with minerals.

If you notice the first signs of plant wilting, you need to fertilize with organic matter unscheduled. But it is important to remember that an excess of fertilizing will negatively affect the crop.

How to prepare a healthy composition

Its form depends on when the grower applies the fertilizer. To obtain humus, which is effective for autumn soil preparation, liquid manure is placed in a compost pit with other components: sawdust, straw, and other plant residues. If the vegetable grower used the waste products of cows, then the fertilizer will have to wait 1 year until the fertilizer is ready, and if horses or rabbits - 2.

The scheme for preparing an infusion for fertilizing irrigation is completely different. Sequencing:

manure along with leaves, straw, sawdust (5 kg) is sent to a large container and filled with water with a volume of 6 liters;
the mixture is infused for 12 days, during which it is stirred.

For your information!

Before use on the beds, the manure concentrate is diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 10.

Types of manure for cucumbers

When growing cucumbers in open ground, you must remember the properties of the soil. Its fertility depends on the amount of precipitation, composition, and acidity. Areas with an admixture of sand and clay require frequent feeding. The field, which was allowed to “rest” for a season under fallow, accumulated enough nutrients and minerals in the spring without intensive fertilizing.

Gardeners recommend watering cucumbers with humus that has been collected and left for several weeks. This “aged” fertilizer contains more nitrogen compounds and does not provoke a sharp growth of green mass. For work, 2 types of natural fertilizer are used:

It is necessary to carefully select the manure with which you plan to feed the cucumbers. It is obtained from poultry or livestock, and waste products of rabbits are used, which affects the mineral composition.

Mullein

An effective way to increase productivity with minimal time and money is to regularly feed cucumbers with mullein. It contains a record amount of microelements and makes the soil fertile. During long-term storage, the process of rotting and transformation into dense humus occurs.

To get the maximum effect from mullein, gardeners make a compost pit. You should put food waste, grass, straw, and sawdust from fruit trees in it. All components are compacted tightly in layers and poured with liquid mullein infusion. The planting is done in the fall so that the components are mixed and turned into ready-made fertilizer.

Horse dung

When feeding cucumbers with horse manure, the soil is enriched with phosphorus and nitrogen and saturated with calcium. This type of organic matter is recommended for feeding plants in open ground, for use in depleted and sandy areas. After application, aeration increases and roots grow faster.

It is better to feed cucumbers in a greenhouse with horse manure diluted in water. It is necessary to reduce the concentration so as not to harm the bushes. It is infused together with food waste for at least 2 weeks. If it is necessary to cultivate a large area, it is better to make a compost pit.

Bird droppings

Before transplanting seedlings into the ground, you can feed the cucumbers with fertilizer based on bird excrement. Such organic matter has a lighter structure and a high content of microelements and proteins. When used during fruiting, the amount of ovary without empty flowers increases.

Gardeners recommend applying chicken or goose droppings in the form of a liquid solution. It is pre-prepared in clean water in a 1:1 ratio, left for 10–15 days, allowing the liquid to ferment. But such fresh manure should not be dug under cucumbers without dilution: the high nitrogen content can “burn” small root shoots.

How to feed strawberries with horse manure.

Both fresh horse manure and rotted (humus) are used for feeding. But you have to be very careful with fresh ones. Overdo it a little, and foliage will grow wildly on your berry garden, but you may not even see the berries.

Fresh manure is spread between the rows in the fall. It will rot over the winter and give the plants the necessary nitrogen in the spring. It is recommended to apply no more than three kilograms of manure per square meter.

When planting strawberry bushes, you can use humus, diluted, and add it directly to the holes. It is clear that the fertilizer works more efficiently this way.

Organic fertilizers applied in early spring will lead to increased strawberry yields. But it is not recommended to fertilize during flowering and fruiting.

In early spring, before the buds begin to grow, horse manure is applied to strawberries in liquid form.

It is done this way: the container is filled to a third, filled with manure and filled with water. The whole thing is mixed well with a wooden stick.

The size of the container depends on your needs, for example, for 1 square meter of strawberry planting you need 1 liter of concentrate. That is, a 50 liter barrel of concentrate is enough to water 50 square meters of strawberry plantings.

This concentrate should be allowed to ferment for a week so that the excess ammonia disappears.

Then 1 liter of concentrate from the barrel is mixed with 10 liters of water, and the strawberries are poured with it at the rate of 1 liter for each plant. You can also spill this liquid between the rows.

For those gardeners and gardeners who do not have access to horse manure. There is also a liquid fertilizer based on horse manure obtained through industrial processing.

With it, in general, you just need to dilute the concentrate with water in the proportion specified in the manufacturer’s instructions and water the plants.

And if you have horse humus, then it’s worth mulching the strawberries with it; this is for strawberries - additional drainage and loosening of the soil near the roots. If it is mixed with peat, it retains water and organic matter dissolved in it well.

Do not forget that an excess of any fertilizer, including manure, is harmful to plants.

Making a warm bed for cucumbers with your own hands

A warm bed for cucumbers in the open ground is an excellent alternative to a greenhouse

It is very important that you can do it yourself without difficulty and additional costs. You just need to choose the right place, time, material and construction technology

Choosing the most suitable location

Construction must begin by choosing a suitable location. Cucumbers need a lot of sun, so shaded areas are not suitable - no smart garden bed will produce a crop of cucumbers without sun.

It is better to plant in a place protected from the wind. Constant air flow reduces the humidity of the air and the top layer of soil. Overdried soil cracks and becomes compacted. A secluded place in an open, sunny area is an ideal site for building a warm cucumber bed in open ground.

Choose the right place to plant

As for the slope of the surface, you need to take into account the region in which you live. In the northern regions and the middle zone, planting cucumbers on the southern slope is encouraged. This is done in order not to miss a single ray of sunshine in conditions of insufficiently warm and clear summer. In the southern regions, it is preferable to plant on a flat surface. On a southern slope, even such a heat-loving vegetable as a cucumber can burn.

Another condition is to take into account what crops grew in this place before planting cucumbers. It's best if it were tomatoes or cabbage. If these are zucchini or cucumbers, it is better to replace the top layer of soil with soil from another part of the garden.

Time to lay a warm bed

The best option would be to make the base for the cucumber bed in the fall. There are several explanations for this:

in autumn there is a large resource of organic matter; there is time to prepare the material; sufficient air temperature;

high humidity.

A humid environment is the most important condition for normal functioning

In the fall, when the harvest has already been harvested and there is time to prepare for the next summer season, you can start building a borage garden. There is plenty of plant waste at this time; it will have time to rot and turn into compost. By spring, the soil will be well fertilized and ready for planting cucumbers.

If time is lost, you can make a warm bed for cucumbers in the spring. You just need to take care of it at least a month before sowing. In this case, use materials that rot quickly, since time is limited. Perhaps the soil will not have time to be saturated with fertilizers in one month, but the compost will perform its thermal function.

Preparation of material - bookmark sequence

When you decide to make a heated cucumber bed, first take care of the material. It’s not enough to just throw a bunch of leaves; it’s better to follow the layer-by-layer technology. It is recommended to arrange the layers this way:

Layer of branches and large twigs;

Layer of the “green part”: leaves and fruits;

A layer of manure or humus;

A layer of ash (optional);

A layer of fertile soil.

A supply of humus will be useful in forming a cucumber ridge.

Chop the branches and wood chips, but not too much. The first layer will double as drainage to remove excess moisture. The second layer can consist not only of plants and their parts. You can add household waste here in a reasonable amount. Sometimes they even put in rags and paper.

If you have a compost pit or heap and ready-made humus, use it. If the compost is not yet ripe, rotted manure is suitable for the third layer. This component will significantly speed up the decomposition process, because it contains a huge number of necessary bacteria and microorganisms. If the bed is laid in the fall, this and subsequent layers, except for the soil, can be excluded.

Wood ash is a natural source of microelements such as potassium, calcium, phosphorus and others. This is an excellent organic fertilizer for cucumbers; in addition, the elements contained in the ash stimulate the work of bacteria. The ash layer can be further enriched by watering the whole thing with a solution of nitrogen-phosphorus fertilizer.

In order to prepare the material for a warm cucumber bed as quickly as possible, especially if it is done in the spring, the “sandwich” of organic layers is generously watered and covered with opaque black plastic film. In such a greenhouse, a high level of humidity and temperature is maintained, and microorganisms do not need more; they will immediately begin to work and multiply.

Type

Use Cases

Feeding cucumber seedlings with mullein is popular among gardeners because it allows you to avoid the use of chemical fertilizers when growing vegetables. Manure can be used in different ways, depending on the end goal.

If you need to feed the soil in the fall, while digging up your garden, then it is right to make a choice in favor of horse manure. It is suitable for all types of vegetable crops. The substance should be applied at a concentration of 6 kg per 1 m2. To prepare liquid fertilizer, you need to dilute horse manure in water in a ratio of 1:10.

Attention!

Bird droppings have the same properties. You will need 5 kg of this component per 100 m2.

Using mullein in its pure form as a fertilizer for cucumbers is not the best idea, since it contains a lot of water. The best option is to apply it directly to the beds. Suitable for cold-resistant plants.

Mullein

Useful properties for cucumbers

Mullein

Cow dung is an important source of food and energy for soil microorganisms. This ensures that the fertilizer decomposes in the soil in a short period of time. Mullein also improves the physicochemical and physical characteristics of the soil, due to which insoluble substances in the soil become easily digestible.

Which honey is better

Cow dung improves the structural features of the soil. When mullein is added to clay soil, it becomes looser. As a result, the soil will be more convenient to process and will warm up faster and stronger. Feeding cucumbers and tomatoes, as well as other cultivated plants, with mullein significantly accelerates their growth.

Feeding cucumbers

It is recommended to apply mullein to cucumbers several times a season. Most often, the procedure is carried out every one and a half to two weeks. Feeding with cow manure is especially important for weak plants with limp foliage and thin stems.

It is necessary to prepare the fertilizer in advance, and you need to know how to feed cucumbers with mullein. Mullein is diluted with clean water in a ratio of 1:2 and left to infuse for a week. After the specified period of time, the substance will be ready for use for its intended purpose.

The application of mullein to cucumbers begins no earlier than two weeks after germination. By this time, the plants should already be forming leaves. Fertilizer can be applied only during watering, since a concentrated solution in its pure form can harm the bushes. 500 ml of compost is diluted in a bucket of water to prepare the substance. 10 liters of the resulting non-concentrated fertilizer is enough per square meter of area.

Ideally, it is necessary to introduce mullein into the grooves and furrows in the plot with cucumbers. Thanks to this, it will be possible to deliver the fertilizer directly to the roots. Watering bushes with cow manure from above is not recommended.

Granular litter

Granulated horse manure concentrate, according to housewives, is excellent for indoor crops - both green and flowering. It does not emit a smell, it is stored for a long time, but when closed.

It is not economically profitable to buy granulated horse manure for a large plot, so it is better to use it in small beds. Once every 2 years, purchase a bag weighing 5 kg and dig it with soil.

Application of liquid manure

According to user reviews, liquid horse manure concentrate is a convenient form of storage. The water retains all the nutrients, but the container with the fertilizer must be kept closed to prevent fermentation from occurring.

A concentrated solution is prepared in the fall or spring, when there is fresh manure:

This solution can be stored all winter in a cool room. Summer residents do not recommend freezing it.

In the spring, the concentrate is diluted 1/10, that is, 1 liter per bucket of water and watered at the roots of vegetables, berry bushes, and trees.

Microfertilizer solutions or wood ash can be added to the liquid. To do this, you need to pour a liter jar into a bucket and let it sit for 3 – 4 days. This is in the spring, and in the fall you can simply pour the dry substance into the soil and fill it with liquid horse fertilizer. Over the winter, all components will be “eaten” by soil microorganisms and eukaryotes.

What fertilizers do cucumbers need?

Cucumber beds consume: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and iron with magnesium. The basis of cucumber nutrition is the NPK complex (nitrogen + phosphorus + potassium).

Each square meter of cucumber beds draws the following amount of microelements from the soil:

Nitrogen – 15 (g/m2)
Phosphorus – 20 (g/m2)
Potassium – 20 (g/m2)
Magnesium – 5 (g/m2)

How to use fertilizers? – Of course, this is an approximate average figure. Experienced summer residents are guided by the above data, but the volume of fertilizers is subject to adjustment. That is, by the color of the leaves and the shape of the cucumbers, you can determine what exactly the beds lack and what is used in excess.

Feeding during the fruiting period

Cucumbers with fruits already need a completely different composition of fertilizing; it should contain more magnesium, nitrogen and potassium (for example, based on potassium nitrate). It is when cucumbers are actively bearing fruit that they increase the amount of potassium applied with fertilizers, while simultaneously reducing the amount of nitrogen.

The most valuable fertilizer for cucumbers during the fruiting period is potassium nitrate. In addition to the fact that feeding it has a beneficial effect on the growth and development of the entire plant, it also improves the taste of cucumbers, removing bitterness. The latter mainly appears due to small amounts of applied mineral fertilizers. Cucumbers also become bitter if there is an excess of potassium and phosphorus and there is a lack of nitrogen in the soil.

It is advisable to apply fertilizing compounds after all measures have been taken to destroy cucumber pests.

An excess of phosphorus leads to general yellowing, the appearance of bright necrotic spots and leaf drop.

How to feed horse manure to roses and other flowers.

For roses, like for any other plants, organic fertilizers are important. Roses literally bloom on manure.

When fertilizing roses with manure, they have:

a powerful root system develops;
more strong and healthy shoots with large leaves grow;
many buds appear;
Large flowers of rich color bloom.

Positive properties of horse manure:

Structures the soil. Clay soil becomes loose, and sandy soil becomes compacted.
Increases plant resistance to pests and diseases.
It does not pollute the soil with weeds, as it contains few weed seeds.
It heats up well and releases carbon dioxide.

It is dangerous to use horse manure fresh. It can burn the roots of roses. To prevent this from happening, prepare an infusion. Fill one bucket of manure with ten liters of water. And then they wait several weeks.

When using, dilute one liter of infusion in a bucket of water again. The color of the liquid should match the color of weak coffee. Rose bushes are mulched with half-rotted manure. It keeps you warm.

Many rose growers write on forums that, despite the warnings, they successfully used fresh manure. But it is unknown whether it was really fresh, or a little rotten. This may be why everyone gets different results.

It is better to prepare the soil for planting rose bushes in the fall. Manure will take longer to decompose in the soil and will saturate it with more nutrients. On one square meter of fertilized land, one bucket of manure is scattered. Then he digs to the depth of one spade bayonet. It is advised to dig up the soil again after a week to ensure that the fertilizer will rot better.

Methods for planting cucumbers

In addition to the completely natural cultivation of cucumbers in beds “as is,” that is, with the vines placed on the ground, there are various options aimed at saving space in the garden. And if in greenhouses cucumbers were always grown on trellises or, at least, tying the vines in a vertical direction, then the trellis method became almost traditional among land-poor summer residents relatively recently. And after it, more exotic options appeared.

Growing on a trellis

It has been noticed that cucumbers planted close to trees easily climb to incredible heights, as a result of which both apples and cucumbers can be collected from one tree. It’s hard to say why, but in my garden, cucumbers are more partial to powerful apple trees than to less respectable cherries or plums.

Using this fact, many gardeners plant cucumbers next to natural supports (for example, a fence) or specially build them for them. Vertically growing cucumbers not only save space in the garden. They are much easier to care for, easier to collect, and the fruits hang clean.

Video: cucumbers under an apple tree

When grown on a trellis, plants can be planted more densely (the distances both in the row and between the rows are reduced). Therefore, the amount of fertilizer applied must be increased. Since it is undesirable to grow one crop for several years in a row in one place, craftsmen design the trellis to be easily dismountable or portable. In this case, the distance between the posts is maintained at about 1 meter, and several rows of wire are stretched across them.

In order for cucumbers to climb onto the trellis, it is often necessary to first tie the plants with soft twine. The situation is simpler if there is a mesh with large cells (at least 15 cm). By placing such a net vertically, you don’t have to worry: the cucumbers will behave like a vine. You can do it differently by stretching only one wire at a distance of about 2 meters from the ground. Cucumbers are tied with twine at a height of 10–15 cm from the ground, and this twine is tied to the wire. The technique of sowing seeds or planting seedlings does not differ from that of conventional cultivation.

A vertically placed mesh solves many problems with cucumber agricultural technology

Growing cucumbers in a barrel

Using old barrels is becoming a popular way to grow many vegetables that grow in large clumps. This is how they plant, for example, melons, watermelons, pumpkins, even strawberries. This saves space in the garden (the barrel can be placed anywhere), and the plants are in well-warmed soil. Any barrel, but preferably an iron one, dark-colored and full of holes, is filled halfway with all sorts of organic debris, and fertile soil, well flavored with humus, is placed above it. In the spring, water the contents with mullein infusion and cover with film to warm up.

Already in mid-May (for the middle zone), cucumber seeds can be sown in a barrel under temporary shelter. Since bushes grow faster in warm soil, it is more profitable to plant the earliest ripening varieties in a barrel; they can catch up with greenhouse varieties. Over time, due to the rotting of the remains, the soil in the barrel will still settle, so there are no problems with temporarily sheltering the bushes from cold weather. And by the onset of real summer, the shelter is removed, and the lashes are either allowed to hang down or sent to specially constructed arcs.

Barrels with planted cucumbers even decorate the area

The advantages of using barrels are obvious; it is much easier to care for cucumbers in them, but you have to water them more often than in a garden bed.

Video: planting cucumber seedlings in a barrel

Growing cucumbers in bags or tires

Instead of barrels, you can use large garbage bags with almost the same success. Most often, bags with a capacity of 100–120 liters are taken for this purpose. True, they are less stable than barrels, so they are reinforced with any wooden frame. They also drive a stake inside to tie the lashes. Cucumbers in bags have to be watered frequently, daily in hot weather.

Bags of cucumber plants can be transported from place to place

Instead of bags, sometimes they use several old car tires, placing them on top of each other in a cylinder (if they are the same size) or a pyramid. Since the tires are black, the soil inside them is quickly warmed by the sun. Drainage material is placed at the bottom of the pyramid, and then nutrient soil. Planting and care are the same as in barrels or bags.

Features of biofuel use

Cucumbers love warmth, so when setting up a greenhouse it is necessary to provide heating. An economical option is biofuel, which is manure. When decomposed, heat and carbon dioxide are released. In combination with sawdust and straw, it is possible to raise the temperature to 35–40°C.

Biofuel is added during the formation of a greenhouse. Warm beds for cucumbers help save time and effort on caring for seedlings. They can be done in different ways:

Mulching. Cattle manure is mixed with dry straw and spread on the top layer in the form of a thin protective film.
Fresh biofuel. It is not used if the cucumbers are already planted. Recommended before sowing.
Liquid feeding. The best way to quickly feed weakened seedlings. Manure should be diluted in ordinary water, added at the rate of 0.5–1 liters per bush.
Granulation. Fertilizer manufacturers process manure, enrich it and dry it, releasing it in compressed form. This fertilizer is easily dosed and does not require dilution in water.

Important!

When forming greenhouse beds, manure in any form is laid at a depth of no more than 15 cm. Otherwise, the heat transfer is practically not noticeable.

Feeding cucumber seedlings

Cucumber seedlings are grown in boxes for a month, and then the sprouted seedlings are planted in a greenhouse. But if the greenhouse is made of polycarbonate and is well heated, then there is no need to pre-plant the seedlings. It is planted directly in the greenhouse, selecting a certain area, and then distributed among the beds. To ensure the most comfortable conditions for seedlings, the crops are additionally covered with PE film.

Cucumber seedlings are fed with solutions of a mixture of superphosphate, cow dung and ammonium nitrate

Since cucumber seeds are planted at a not very deep depth, the substances necessary for plant growth hardly reach it from the soil. Therefore, you need to prepare good compost for the top layer of soil for seedlings. It is also a good idea to add regular manure to the soil for seedlings at a rate of 6 to 8 kg per 1 sq.m with the addition of one glass of ash to this volume.

Cucumber seedlings are fed with solutions of a mixture of superphosphate, cow dung and ammonium nitrate, which, although very useful for the plant, is a source of nitrates that are dangerous to humans. There are special fertilizers for cucumbers that do not contain nitrate nitrogen. In general, sprouted cucumber seedlings are fed only three times in accordance with the above division into periods of its growth.

How to feed horse manure to trees and bushes.

There are two periods in the nutrition of fruit plants during the growing season:

From the beginning of the spring growing season until the end of shoot growth;
From the end of shoot growth until late autumn.

Perennial plantings especially need a lot of nitrogen for vegetative growth and fruit formation. With a lack of nitrogen, the color of the leaves changes from light green to light yellow with orange and red hues. The size of the leaf blade decreases sharply, and shoot growth weakens. The number of flowers and fruits decreases sharply. The fruits become small and brightly colored. In addition, early leaf fall is observed.

Nitrogen absorption occurs unevenly during the growing season. The greatest amount is required during the period of increased growth of leaves, shoots and fruits. In autumn, the need for nitrogen is significantly reduced.

Excess nitrogen has a harmful effect: the survival rate of seedlings decreases, the ripening of perennial shoots is delayed, the winter hardiness of plants decreases, and the shelf life of fruits deteriorates.

Fruit crops need nutrients most in the first half of summer, so the main amount of fertilizers is applied in late autumn and spring, and less in the summer, and the main amount of nitrogen fertilizers is given in the spring and the first half of summer.

In manure, nutrients are in the form of organic compounds and are not directly absorbed by the roots. It takes at least two months for them to turn into an digestible form.

Unlike nitrogen fertilizers, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers are inactive. And they remain in the soil where they were introduced and are not washed away by water.

Therefore, it is better to apply manure, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers in the fall before digging or in early spring. Only nitrogen fertilizers that dissolve well and penetrate into the deeper layers of the soil can be applied superficially.

The effectiveness of any fertilizer increases significantly if it is applied to the area of greatest spread of roots. To do this, they dig up the soil, and in a turfed garden, fertilizers are applied to the furrows or about 15 holes are dug around the circumference of the crown at a distance exceeding the projection of the crown by 0.5 meters.

After applying fertilizer, the holes are filled with water and covered with soil. Good results are obtained from fertilizer solutions that are watered on tree trunk circles or poured into furrows or holes.

We fertilize currants, raspberries and gooseberries with manure.

For currants, raspberries and gooseberries, the most effective method of introducing horse droppings turned out to be autumn mulching of the soil around the bush. In the zone of greatest root occurrence.

Any manure can be applied, from fresh to rotted. Since the growing season is over, there is a danger that the young roots of these shrubs will somehow suffer.

The height of the mulching layer can be increased to 15 cm. Such mulching should be carried out after the autumn leaves fall. And you should not carry out this procedure more often than once every three years.

This is the best way to fertilize raspberries, currants and gooseberries, tested by more than one generation of gardeners. As the snow melts, most of the nutrients from the manure are carried into the soil into the bush's feeding zone.

And what is most important is not immediately, but gradually over many months. In addition, soil microflora is activated, decomposes organic substances and develops valuable forms of humus in the deep layers of the soil.

Article on the topic : Why mulching is beneficial for soil and plants

Dry horse droppings - application

The use of dry horse manure as a fertilizer, according to reviews, is not as useful as using fresh manure. The exception is granules in a shell, which retains nutrients. The manufacturer uses a method of quickly drying the substance and immediately spraying it with a special solution, which subsequently dissolves when it gets into the ground.

Dry horse manure decomposes quickly and gives off a lot of heat. It is used in the spring, incorporated into the soil 2 - 3 weeks before planting. The approximate amount is 2 kg per square meter for digging immediately after the snow melts, while the soil is still wet.

Blank

Cucumbers can be fertilized with fresh manure

The question that interests novice gardeners is how to prepare manure? Feeding is prepared separately for each plant: nitrogen supplements are suitable for cucumbers, so you can easily add fresh manure or droppings to the garden bed. It is useful to feed the bushes with a diluted mixture of nettles and fresh comfrey.

It is good to fertilize the soil before planting with compost, which contains at least 30% humus. Before watering, you can fertilize the soil with a mixture of manure, peat, straw and dry leaves.

Application in greenhouses

Horse waste is also used in greenhouses. With the arrival of spring, fertilizer is placed in a layer of 30-40 cm on closed beds and sprinkled with black soil. In autumn, a layer of 50 cm is covered with straw and covered with earth to a depth of 30 cm.

Early greenhouses use horse excrement as biofuel. To do this, manure is mixed with other components. For example, cow or goat droppings are added to horse “good” in any ratio. You can combine the fertilizer with kitchen waste or peat. In the latter case, the proportion is 60:40.

How to use horse manure as a fertilizer for mushrooms.

Substrate preparation process: Horse droppings are shaken with a pitchfork and moistened with hot water. Add 1-2 kg of ammonium sulfate or urea. Based on 1000 kg of dung. After this, the manure is allowed to brew for 10 days. After 10 days, the manure is shoveled again and lime or chalk is poured there. In a ratio of 1:6 (5-6 kg of lime are used for 1 ton of manure). Again you need to let it sit for 8 days. After eight days, you need to shovel the substrate again and add 6 kg of gypsum and 1 kg of superphosphate. This completes the process of preparing the substrate.

One piece of advice - don’t forget to seal the sides so that everything doesn’t fall apart. Ripe humus should have a sandy tint and crumble. At the same time, you will not smell the ammonia. This fertilizer is distributed over the surface in a 30-35 cm ball. It is advisable to make the bed not in a sunny place. The resulting substrate is laid quite tightly and mushrooms begin to grow.

Storing horse manure is best done cold. Then it will lose less nitrogen, will not overheat, and organic matter will decompose evenly.

The cold method differs from the hot one only in that with the cold storage method the layers of manure are compacted, but with the hot storage method they are not compacted.

If you have not a very large amount of manure at your disposal since the fall, then the best option is to store it until spring without losing ammonia and other useful components. The following storage method is possible.

We take plastic film and spread it on the ground, put manure on it and cover it all with film on top. To prevent this heap from being washed away by precipitation.

Video on the topic.

Special types of fertilizers

Knowledge about the chemical composition of fertilizers has enriched agriculture relatively recently. And before that, understanding of the benefits of certain substances was based on observations. Therefore, many folk methods of feeding cucumbers have arisen.

Fertilizer for active growth of cucumbers

As a result of the decomposition of manure mixed with soil, a mixture is formed, which is called humus or humus. This substance is as useful as manure. It makes the soil nutritious and loose. Humus is applied in the spring at the rate of 4–5 kg of fertilizer per 1 m² of soil. It is mixed with soil when the beds are formed.

If organic fertilizers are “inhabited” with earthworms, they will process the organic matter and produce vermicompost. This fertilizer was first invented in the USA, using red Californian worms. The effectiveness of vermicompost is 5–8 times higher than that of manure. Vermicompost for feeding is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:20 and left for several days. This is necessary, since worms process fresh organic matter, and it is quite toxic to plants.

Wood ash is a natural source of potassium. In addition to the fact that it can serve as a top dressing, its use helps in pest control. Ash is sprinkled between the rows.

Important! Cow manure contains the least amount of nitrogen. It's easier to acquire and less likely to burn your plants or leave you without a harvest.

Other useful supplements:

Yeasts encourage increased flowering . Mix 3 tbsp. spoons of yeast with 10 l. water and spray the plants as soon as the flowers appear. This will attract pollinating insects.
Onion peels plants and protects them from pests . A decoction of onion peels is sprayed after the start of fruiting. To obtain a solution, boil a handful of husks in 1.5 liters of water for 5 minutes, cool, add clean water to 5 liters and spray.
The use of “folk” remedies does not replace basic fertilizing, but can supplement them, improving the condition of the plants.

How to feed cucumbers to form a bush

Bush cucumbers are compact and weakly climbing. They take up extremely little space and are recommended for growing in small areas. When planting bush forms, manure or compost is applied to the site at the rate of 8–10 kg/m². You can add 80 g of superphosphate per 1 m². Such cucumbers take well to feeding from bird droppings or mullein, diluted with water in a ratio of 1:8 and 1:20, respectively. It is advisable to let the solution sit before feeding the plants with it.

Recommendations and advice from experienced gardeners

In order for cucumbers planted in a greenhouse or open ground to get the maximum benefit from fertilizing with folk remedies, you need to follow the following recommendations from experienced gardeners:

After each watering, sprinkle the soil around the bed with ashes. This approach will allow you to feed the plants and retain moisture in the soil. In addition, this method will protect against diseases and weeds.
Fertilize with different types of manure.
Alternate the application of organic products with complex preparations.

Provided that mullein and other types of manure are properly applied, you can get a rich and tasty harvest of cucumbers. You only need to choose the type of fertilizer and the method of applying it: make a manure bed, use it for watering, or scatter it around the site.

Each bed has its own fertilizer

The concepts of humus and manure are often confused. Compost and humus also add to the confusion. In fact, these are all different things that have one thing in common - the underlying organic matter. So, compost is the result of rotting plant residues - the compost component includes weeds, old tops, and table scraps, which are also suitable as fertilizer.

Excellent cucumbers are obtained with the correct use of organic fertilizer in the form of manure.

Humus is an organic substrate (plant and animal origin), which is processed by earthworm enzymes and constitutes the most useful part of the soil. Manure is the remains of animal activity, combined with elements of feed litter.

Important! Humus, as the name implies, is rotted manure. To become humus, manure must rot for at least a year, combining with the earth.

Manure-based compost

The use of horse manure with sawdust as fertilizer, according to experimental gardeners, helps preserve most of the nitrogen substances. It is advisable to use not fresh wood, but slightly aged wood.

This mixture is used in compost. First, a layer of sawdust or peat is placed on the bottom of the pile, then a layer of manure, soil, and vegetable waste. Next, the laying order is repeated so that manure makes up 40% of the total amount of components of the compost heap.

When compost burns, the temperature in it rises to 75 degrees. This requires good aeration. If the pile is built for preparing compost, then the gaps between the boards will be about 4 - 5 cm. The storage pile is made without gaps to reduce air access and lower the temperature. During storage, it should not rise above 30 degrees.

Horse compost is ready in 6 – 8 months. If you add mullein to it, the mixture will be ready in 12 months.

Horse manure compost is the safest form of fertilizer. It is used for mixing with soil for replanting house plants, sprinkled under berry bushes as a complex organic fertilizer, grown seedlings on it, and added to holes for seedlings of fruit trees.