Tips to Grow Cucumber and How to Care for Them in The Trellis

Homesfornh.com – Cucumis Sativus or cucumber is a fresh vegetable that you can find on the market. It is native to India. This vegetable is easy to grow in a warm area, such as in your home garden. Cucumber contains lots of water and has a juicy taste. Cucumber can grow by the seeds. Even in a small place like in a pot or bucket, they will grow well. If you want to grow cucumbers at home, let’s discuss how to care for them, from planting the seeds till harvest time. We will discuss Tips to Grow Cucumber and How to Care for Them in The Trellis. By knowing the various things that we will discuss, we hope you can create a garden with healthy and fresh cucumber plants. Take your notes on the points below!

Tips to Grow Cucumber from Seeds

Growing the cucumber from seeds is easy to start by using a small container. You can provide adequate soil and water for one seed. To know more about growing cucumber from seeds, we have a short guide for you:

• Prepare The Soil

Most plants like to grow in well-draining soil. A good drainage system in the soil helps the plant to grow properly. Use 50% of garden soil, 40% compost, 10% cocopeat to make a fluffy texture for the soil. You can mix them in a big container before dividing them into some containers. To grow one seed of cucumber, you need little soil rather than the early growing cucumber, then use a container like small iceboxes to grow one seed for one square.

• How to Take The Seeds

The cucumber seeds are easy to find in the gardening market, but you can get them by slicing the cucumber and take the seeds. Use a spoon to take all seeds. The seeds are better to dry under the sun for one day. You can also make it wet by save all the seeds in a paper towel, fold them, then put them in a small container. Spray the paper towel every day and wait for a week. Open the paper towel to see the sprout.

• Planting The Seeds

After preparing the seeds, bring them into the container. You can plant the dried seed by using your finger to push the seed inside the soil. Take some soil to cover the seed. Another way is quite easy. Some gardeners like to spread them on the soil.  They let the seeds on the surface, then cover it with the soil and compost mix.

• Water it After Planting

Pour some water on the seeds, use the watering can with a long spout for the best watering tension. The high tension of water will take out the seeds from the soil, so you should water it gently. Do regular watering during the summer season and good humidity will stimulate the seeds to grow well. Watering the seeds right after planting the seeds is beneficial for the seeds to adjust the soil.

Tips to Care for Cucumber

Planting the cucumber from seeds is easy. It needs good maintenance to grow delicious cucumber in the harvest time. Here, some tips for caring for cucumber after planting:

• Pruning The Cucumber Plant

Some gardeners like to prune their plant after it grows well and blossoms many flowers. The pruning activity makes the plant grows healthier and prevents diseases or overgrowing plant. The cucumber also needs to prune. You have to check the cucumber plant from the leaves, flowers, and stems, fruits. The common part that needs to prune is the growth point. It is a sucker above the stalk, then cut it with a sharp knife before it grows taller. The yellow and brown leaves also need to prune from the cucumber plant.

• Pollination

Do you know that cucumber produces male and female flowers in a different look? If you look at the cucumber flowers, you will find the different shapes of flowers. The male flower has a green stalk, and the female flower has a yellow stalk. The harvesting time depends on the reproduction of their flowers. Growing cucumber in the cool season and has little wind nor beneficial bugs to help the pollination is not wrong. Help the pollination by shaking the male flowers on the female flowers.

• Fertilizer

Cucumber is a heavy feeder plant. It needs regular fertilizer. Chicken manure is the organic fertilizer that you can find in dairy. Give one scoop of garden trowel for each plant. Pour the fertilizer around the stem and cover the soil properly. The compost mix is also good to use as fertilizer. It adds more nutrients to the soil by adding compost mix.

• Pests and Diseases

Powdery mildew is a common pest in cucumber plants. If you see the white spots on the leaves, then your cucumber gets powdery mildew disease. To get rid of these white spots, you can make a homemade spray solution to control the powdery mildew. The ingredients are one tablespoon of baking soda, vegetable oil, milk, and one liter of water. Mix them and pour them into a bottle sprayer.

How to Make a Trellis and Use It

Make a trellis for vine plants such as cucumber is helpful for their growth. It helps them stand firmly in the soil. Create the trellis for the cucumber plant by yourself. Here, the tips for you:

• Use a Pallet to Grow The Cucumber

The growing cucumber needs a stick to support its stems. If you have a pallet, you can plant the cucumber near the pallet. It is easier for you to grow them without adding more sticks near the plant. Use the pallet and take the stems to swirl them in that pallet. The wooden pallet is strong to hold the cucumber when it blossoms then grow many cucumbers.

• Use Two Sticks and Ropes

This idea is quite easy for beginner gardeners. You need to prepare two sticks. Choose the wooden sticks or steel sticks. Put one stick on the garden soil and give space about 2-3 meters for the second stick. Tie the rope on both sticks to create a horizontal line in the upper and lower stick. Knotting the rope and make a square shape for the trellis. You can repot the young cucumber to plant under the trellis. Arrange the top growing stem to hold the trellis.

• Unite Some Sticks to Support The Stem

Cucumber is a runner plant, and it needs a supporting stick to help them stand in the soil. Sometimes, the leaves, flowers, and cucumber will attract pests and diseases if it touches the soil, so it is better to give a stick for them. You can unite the top of five sticks near the cucumber plant to support their stem. This trellis is strong enough to hold your cucumber plants. If you have a large garden, you can stand more sticks to plant more cucumber plants.

Conclusion

Thus our discussion of Tips to Grow Cucumber and How to Care for Them in The Trellis. Growing cucumber in the garden gives you many benefits. You can store them for 2-3 weeks in the refrigerator. Make a salad and sandwich is more delicious if you add the fresh cucumber slices from your garden. Moreover, if your garden has myriad cucumbers, you can sell them to the market. You can grow the new cucumber plants from the seeds and get the best harvest from your garden. We hope the short guide above is helpful for you to grow cucumber in the garden. Stay healthy and happy gardening!