How to mulch cucumbers in a greenhouse? How and with what to mulch cucumbers in a greenhouse and open ground Mulch for cucumbers in a greenhouse.

A spring film greenhouse is easier to maintain than a temporary film shelter. A greenhouse more effectively maintains the desired temperature and humidity conditions; it is more convenient to care for plants there. I will not describe greenhouse structures to you - there are a great many of them.

Now you can buy ready-made designs. You can make a greenhouse yourself - the Internet will provide you with numerous drawings, descriptions, and exchange of experience. We will assume that since you are reading this article, you already have a greenhouse.

The article will be useful to residents of different regions. The greenhouse is covered with film (of course, this does not apply to polycarbonate greenhouses) early, when there is still snow - each region has its own timing. In Kuban, this is approximately the first ten days of February. Long-term observations of temperature conditions have shown that the snow melts inside the greenhouse 5-8 days after it is covered with film.

For faster thawing and warming of the soil in the greenhouse, it is useful to cover its surface with a transparent film (can be old). In 3-5 days the earth will thaw and warm up to 6-8°C. The air warms up faster, especially when the sun is shining.

Even at night, it is 4-8 degrees warmer in the greenhouse than outside.

Preparing seeds for growing cucumbers in a greenhouse

The yield of cucumbers grown in a greenhouse depends on the variety, quality of the seeds, and methods of preparing them for sowing. It must be taken into account that, regardless of the variety, large seeds germinate faster and, as a rule, give a higher yield of greens.

They are selected manually. Whether you are preparing cucumber seeds for sowing in a greenhouse or open ground - there is no fundamental difference. It is better to use seeds that are 2-3 years old and have good germination. Plants from them produce more female flowers and bear fruit well.

If you use seeds from last year's harvest, they are heated for 3-4 hours in a thermostat or on a radiator at a temperature of 55-60 ° C. A number of diseases are transmitted to plants with the seeds (corner spot, anthracnose, etc.). To prevent this from happening, the seeds are treated with a 1% solution of potassium permanganate (1 g per ½ glass of water) for 20 minutes, followed by thorough rinsing under running water. Instead of potassium permanganate, which is now almost impossible to buy, you can use a 2-3% solution hydrogen peroxide, preheated to 38-40°C (keep the seeds for 7-8 minutes) or a solution of boric acid (1/2 teaspoon of boric acid powder per 1 glass of water) - soak the seeds for 2-3 hours at a temperature of 25-30? WITH.

Do not forget to also rinse the seeds under running water after this. The growth and development of plants is stimulated by hardening the seeds at variable temperatures. To do this, they are first soaked for 12-14 hours at a temperature of 20-22°C, then the swollen seeds are placed in the refrigerator for 16-18 hours, then kept at a temperature of 18-20°C for 6-8 hours.

So alternate low and high temperatures for 4-5 days. Before sowing, the seeds are kept warm for a day or two and, as soon as they begin to hatch, are sown in pots.

Cucumbers in a greenhouse - which containers are suitable for seedlings

You can use different pots - plastic glasses (large), paper thermopacks for dairy products, peat pots, cans. Choose the size of the pots so that there is no intermediate picking before planting in the greenhouse.

Cucumbers do not like transplants and do not tolerate damage to the root system. Therefore, containers for seedlings should be at least 400-500 ml. Then they are installed in boxes - plastic or wooden, previously covered with film.

Fill with a nutrient mixture consisting of humus and peat (1:1). You can buy ready-made soil. Do you add this mixture or soil to a bucket? cups of granulated superphosphate and 2 cups of wood ash. Mix everything thoroughly.

How to plant sprouted cucumber seeds

One sprouted seed is sown in each pot to a depth of 1 cm. The surface of the soil is covered with film and placed where it is warm. As soon as the shoots begin to appear, the film is removed and the plants are provided with good lighting conditions.

Why and how to mulch the soil correctly. Types of mulch

The temperature for the first 3-5 days is maintained at 14-16°C, and then in sunny weather - 20-22°C, and in cloudy weather -17-19°C. On sunny days, moderately water with warm (necessarily warm) water. Feed with mullein solution (1:10) or mineral fertilizers (superphosphate 20-30 g, potassium chloride 10-15 g per 10 liters of water).

Preparing soil in a greenhouse

The soil for planting cucumbers in a greenhouse is usually prepared in the fall. When digging, add humus or well-decomposed compost at the rate of 8-10 kg per 1 square meter. m and nitrophoska 30-40 g per 1 sq. m. In the spring, the digging is repeated, the soil is well leveled, humus (200-300 g) and superphosphate (3-4 g) are added to the designated holes.

Planting cucumber seedlings

So, we plant cucumbers in the greenhouse. The distance between rows is 70-80 cm, and between plants 25-30 cm. Seedlings are planted in the last ten days of March (in Kuban) or the last ten days of April (central Russia).

If the weather is cold, additionally place wire arcs inside the greenhouse and cover the plants with film.

Caring for cucumber seedlings

When the weather warms up, the plants are tied to a trellis. One end of the twine is attached to a wire stretched in a greenhouse over a row of plants, and the other goes down, it is fixed on the stem above the 2-3rd leaf.

Then, as the plants grow, they are twisted around the twine, simultaneously plucking out the mustache. In the lower tier (up to 6 cm), the side shoots of the cucumbers are pinched to one ovary and one leaf, higher - in the middle tier - to 2-3 ovaries and the same number of leaves. In the upper tier the number of ovaries and leaves is 4 or more.

When the main stem reaches the upper trellis, it is tied with twine to the wire in two places, the top is pinched, leaving 4-5 leaves. During the period of growing cucumbers in the greenhouse, the air temperature during the day in the sun is maintained at 26-30 ° C, in cloudy weather - 20-22 ° C, at night – 17-19°C. The optimal air humidity in the sun is 85-90%, in cloudy weather - 75-80%. To increase air humidity, paths and plants are watered with a hose through a strainer.

Feeding cucumbers in a greenhouse

Cucumbers variety Real Man Grown cucumbers in the greenhouse respond well to feeding. In this case, organic fertilizers alternate with mineral ones.

For organic fertilizers, use a solution of bird droppings 1:18-20 or mullein 1:8-10, add 15-20 g of superphosphate per 10 liters of solution. Mineral fertilizers include urea, superphosphate, potassium chloride, and wood ash. The ratio of fertilizers depends on the condition of the plants.

If plants grow rapidly, but few ovaries are formed, then the soil contains excess nitrogen. If this is the case, then only phosphorus and potassium fertilizers are used for fertilizing. The roots of cucumbers are shallow, so watering is carried out after 1-2 days, but at small rates - 12-15 liters per 1 square meter. m. Once a month it is useful to feed with microfertilizers (1 tablet of Riga mixture per 10 liters of water). Often, cucumbers in a greenhouse begin to bloom, but insects (bees, bumblebees and others) do not yet fly.

Plant self-pollinating varieties, so-called parthenocarpics. Greens begin to ripen 40 days after germination. Collections are first carried out every other day, and then daily.

The fruit should not be allowed to outgrow. With proper care (watering, fertilizing, removing spent leaves) cucumbers in the greenhouse They bear fruit until September 5-10, that is, about three months. During this period from 1st quarter. m get 15-18 kg of fruit.

Mulching cucumbers

What does mulching cucumbers in a greenhouse give?

I want to tell you about one more technique that significantly increases the yield of parthenocarpic cucumbers. When the plants have reached a height of 12-15 cm, add a small layer (2-3 cm) of compost under them, and mulch the top with freshly cut grass, it’s good if there is clover - The mulch turns out to be very good, of high quality. What is the point of such mulching? Firstly, you will protect the soil under the cucumber from weeds, because weeds will not grow under compost and under mulch, but even if they do, they will be weak. Firstly secondly, compost or mulch will protect the soil from drying out. When watering, the mulch will decompose after some time - thus, the cucumber will receive additional nutrition. It seems to me that it is necessary to mulch the soil under cucumbers in a greenhouse.

Because mulch prevents drying out, and it is known that this vegetable loves moisture very much - covered soil does not require frequent watering. In addition, infrequent watering will be more uniform, water will not splash, and splashes from soil containing pathogens will not fall on the leaves.

That is, the plants in the greenhouse will be healthier. Mulch prevents overheating of the soil in hot weather, maintaining the temperature required for the crop. A crust does not form on mulched soil; water is better absorbed under the mulch. Mulched plants develop their root system better.

Therefore, mulch, mulching is a very important technique. growing cucumbers in a greenhouse.Mulching is a process of caring for agricultural crops that allows you to achieve high yields and make the work of the summer resident easier. Allows you to ease the work of summer residents in growing various crops, thereby freeing up time for rest. In addition, the use of organic mulch compositions helps improve soil quality and increases harvest yields. Installation diagram of a polycarbonate greenhouse for growing cucumbers.

Features of mulching in a greenhouse

The mulching process is not a very common procedure for agrotechnical influence on crops by simple summer residents. Not all amateur gardeners know about such a useful procedure as mulching.

For the most part, they are accustomed to destroying all organic products that the earth produces. But this is a serious misconception, since the earth without these additives turns into concrete.

Accordingly, in order to somehow make the soil fertile, gardeners have to moisten and harrow it for long hours. And annual two-season digging in such a situation is an urgent necessity. In addition, every piece of land free from crops will sooner or later be overgrown with weeds, accordingly, it must be weeded regularly.

Any uncovered piece of soil will harden after the next watering, and this leads to the need for loosening. And in addition, moisture from the same unmulched lands evaporates much faster, which means that watering should be done much more often. And the procedure of mulching has become a very useful discovery in gardening and horticulture.

It can greatly simplify all these unpleasant operations for processing almost all country crops. Mulching allows you to free up time for more relevant and useful things in the summer. It is only necessary to carry out mulching once a season, which allows you to enrich the soil with useful substances and thereby increase the yield and its quality.

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The meaning of mulching

Mulching, with minimal costs, significantly reduces the hassle of weeding, watering, harrowing, digging, and the yield increases many times over. The mulching process allows you to: Diagram of a pallet-bed for cucumbers from a box.

reduce watering and loosening. Mulch helps retain moisture in the soil and prevent the top layer of soil from hardening; avoid constantly digging up the soil. This action is replaced by loosening the beds with a flat cutter. The soil under the mulch does not harden. Digging up the soil when mulching becomes not only an unnecessary task, but even harmful. Since sticking a cutting into the ground can destroy the integrity of the soil, killing beneficial microorganisms. In addition, the likelihood of regular weeding is reduced, since seeds and roots of weeds from the lower layers of the soil do not reach the upper layers; with a thick layer of mulch and preliminary thorough weeding, the risk of land overgrowing with weeds is reduced to zero; the use of organic mulch compositions (hay, straw, ground bark) significantly increases soil fertility. And this leads to saving money and time on fertilizers; the yield of cucumbers in a greenhouse using mulching increases many times; the ripening period of cucumbers is reduced by an average of 10 days; mulch eliminates the risk of weathering and leaching of mineral fertilizers, while cucumbers feed more intensively; mulch is beneficial affects the penetration of oxygen directly to the root system, and also promotes the appearance of microorganisms and earthworms necessary for the soil; ripening and growing cucumbers are located on a mulched layer, while remaining clean. In this situation, the option of rotting and spoilage is excluded; mulch helps maintain the required temperatures for cucumbers. Maintains balance during temperature changes.

Timing and methods of mulching

The soil should be mulched in the first half of summer. At that moment when the earth warmed up well. However, the soil should be thoroughly loosened. It is necessary to completely get rid of weeds.

At the same time, it is worth knowing that the mulch should not reach the stem or trunk of the cucumbers. The mulch distributed in this way will rot by September (recycled by an earthworm). If bark elements remain on the surface (it requires more time to process), then there is no need to remove it. Cleaning mulch in greenhouses and hotbeds becomes more complicated. Since there are a number of nuances when preparing soil in a greenhouse:

First of all, the top layer of soil is removed; the ridges are processed using biological fuel.

Diagram of a trellis for growing cucumbers. As a result, when harvesting, it is necessary to remove both the top layer of soil and the layer of mulch. If during the growth of cucumbers, neither they nor the soil were exposed to diseases, then it is quite possible to reuse these layers. Cucumbers, unlike other crops, are not so capricious, so all existing coverings are suitable for them.

Synthetic film, nonwoven materials, peat, sawdust, and chaff will also come in handy. But there is still an exception - freshly cut grass.

It promotes the formation of rot on cucumbers and the proliferation of slugs. But the most outstanding option in terms of impact on yield is black perforated film. To do this, even before planting the cucumbers, a film is spread on the previously prepared soil in the greenhouse.

Holes are made in the film. It is in these holes that the seedlings are planted. This mulching method has one drawback - the black color.

It is this color that contributes to overheating of the earth in the scorching sun. The way out of this situation can be either removing the black film during the heat, or laying white material on top of it. Scheme for planting parthenocarpic cucumbers. The option of using transparent polyethylene is quite effective, but not yet so common. Thus, the remaining film from last year’s greenhouse cover can be used as a mulch layer.

Cucumber seeds must be planted in greenhouse beds. Next, they must be immediately covered with ordinary film, which should not be placed close to the ground. As soon as the cucumbers have sprouted, the film is not removed, but holes are carefully made in it at the site of the shoots.

Of course, in such conditions, weed growth is ensured at the highest rate. However, weeding in this case is not necessary, since the grass will not be knocked out onto the surface, which will reduce its efforts to death and debate. And this, in turn, will provide additional nutrition for the cucumbers.

In such an atmosphere, the root system of cucumbers develops well, which means that the appearance of barren flowers on cucumbers is excluded. In addition, minimal and extremely infrequent watering is required. Scheme for constructing a tunnel shelter and planting. When using an organic composition, in no case should the mulch touch the stems of the cucumbers.

It is during the seedling and growth stage that this should be observed. Otherwise, there is a high probability of developing a disease such as black leg in the cucumber crop. It is extremely difficult to get rid of it.

The diseased stem will have to be removed, and accordingly the yield will be reduced. The mulching layer should be replenished throughout the whole season. It should be noted that the appearance and reproduction of microorganisms in the soil leads to increased processing of the lower organic layer. This means that the land becomes much richer and more fertile.

Mulch compositions

Scheme for growing cucumbers on a ladder. The choice of ingredients for mulching must be based on the needs of the land where you plan to grow cucumbers. If the soil is rich in organic fertilizers, then you can completely do without them.

But in the opposite situation, you will have to introduce organic components into the mulch. Among the components of the mulch layer may be: rotted sawdust, leaves, straw, seed husks, pine needles, compost, tree bark, reeds. If it is impossible to carry out mulching for a given season, you can stock up on the necessary ingredients , constantly accumulating them. And next year, having prepared the soil, carefully distribute the mulch throughout the greenhouse, on the ridges, among the bushes and trees.

3 cm of mulch will significantly facilitate the work of a summer resident. It should be clarified that for the soil in a greenhouse or greenhouse, the best mulching composition is compost, straw, dry leaves. Mulching the soil with stones and pebbles performs several functions at once: suppressing the growth of weeds, keeping the soil moist and protecting from overheating, as well as decorative. Covering plantings with rubber, roofing felt or synthetic fabrics is not the best way to protect plants, since emissions of petroleum products negatively affect them. Organic materials, although all are good for mulching, have different properties and have different effects on certain plants.

For some it will be a blessing, but for others it will be a slow death. So, mulch should be selected carefully. In addition, the effect of mulch may also vary depending on the structure of the soil, its composition, and climate zone.

Straw

Straw is an excellent mulching material. Its only drawback is the possible presence of weed seeds, since it is unknown how contaminated the field on which it was mowed is. The peculiarities of straw are its light color and the fact that it takes a long time to decompose.

Therefore, it is best to use it for mulching early spring crops that do not need very warm soil. For example, strawberries, wild strawberries, potatoes, cabbage and others. You can also cover the soil under bushes and trees with straw.

Sometimes it is used for mulching other vegetable crops: cucumbers, tomatoes and others. And although straw will not cause any harm to these crops, you can choose a more suitable material for them. Thanks to its light color, straw reflects the sun's rays, helping the berries ripen faster and warming up the plant petioles, while the soil remains moist and cool.

In potatoes mulched with straw, the Colorado potato beetle does not appear longer, since it is difficult for its larvae to overcome a layer of mulch of 5–7 cm. The straw should be covered with a layer of 10–15 cm, it settles and cakes to a layer of 5–6 cm, this is quite enough. As it decomposes, the layer can be increased.

Sawdust

Sawdust is a material that is cheap and available in some regions, especially near logging sites and sawmills. Sawdust from deciduous trees, except oak, can be used for mulching most crops without fear of causing harm. Coniferous sawdust is suitable only for plants that love acidic soils. They say that sawdust draws nitrogen from the soil, so they are said to be either undesirable in the garden, or it is necessary to additionally use nitrogen fertilizers.

In fact, everything is somewhat different: microorganisms that decompose sawdust require nitrogen to function. If sawdust is not buried, but used only for mulching on top of the soil, no nitrogen will be used.

If you are tormented by worries and doubts, mulch the soil with sawdust for the winter, when no one needs nitrogen. The most optimal use of sawdust is to mulch for the winter beds with garlic, onions, tulips and other bulbous plants, as well as other crops that can germinate in the spring from great depths . Plantings of carrots and other crops should be mulched only after they have grown to at least 5–7 cm.

The layer is selected depending on the culture. For garlic and onions, a layer of 5–7 cm is suitable, and for carrots, beets, and strawberries, 3–4 cm is enough. You should not use sawdust that is too fresh, as they release a lot of resins; it is better if they lie down for a while and air out. By the way, as sawdust decomposes, it enriches the soil with micro- and macroelements, and in the long term it even allows you to build up a layer of black soil on top of clean sand.

Film

Mulching films are a modern material. They come in black, transparent and white. Accordingly, each is used for its own purposes. Black mulch films are used to cover beds with strawberries and wild strawberries, cutting holes in it for the bushes.

This way the soil warms up much faster, weeds do not grow, and there is always wet condensation under the film. Thanks to film mulching, the berries always remain clean and ripen faster.

But with the onset of hot days, the black film does more harm than good, as the soil overheats and dries out. Black film is mainly used on farms and in enterprises.

In country houses and households, it is better to use organic material. Transparent films do not function to inhibit the germination of weeds, but allow the soil to warm up faster under the sun's rays and retain moisture in it. They are used before planting plants in the ground. White films are used for mulching heat-loving crops, as they reflect light, retain moisture and prevent the soil from overheating. Such films easily allow water and air to pass through them, but prevent the germination of weeds.

Needles

You have to be careful with pine needles. If it is too acidic, it can harm both plants and soil by changing its acid-base balance. Firstly, only pine and larch needles are used, since spruce needles rot too quickly.

Secondly, the needles contain few useful substances that could be useful to plants in the beds. Thirdly, fresh pine needles cannot be used, only rotted ones.

But, despite this, pine needles are an excellent mulching material for strawberries, if they are spread in a 3 cm layer for the winter. This way you can reduce the population of slugs and snails and protect your plantings from frost and weeds. Otherwise, pine needles are used only for mulching those crops that love acidic soils, for example, blueberries, rhododendrons, and heather.

Hay

Hay is a universal mulching material that is suitable for absolutely all crops, vegetables, fruits and berries. For example, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplants, cabbage and others.

It has a neutral reaction, easily allows air and water to pass through, does not rot very quickly, but it enriches the soil with nutrients. It is better to dry freshly cut grass in the sun for at least a day or a couple of hours if the weather is hot. Otherwise, the moisture-saturated grass may rot.

The hay can be chopped before falling asleep, or it can be laid out the way it was mowed. The layer depends on the crop, but 4–6 cm is considered optimal.

As it rots, hay must be added. It is believed that hay is not suitable for mulching, as it may contain a lot of weed seeds. But you can use hay from forbs, mowed before seeds form, and not be afraid of littering the garden.

It will also not cause harm if you leave weeded weeds in the beds. They will rot and return to the soil the substances that were taken from it.

Which method should I choose?

Mulching the soil is a lifesaver for the gardener, for the soil, and for the plants. The choice of mulch largely depends on the availability of a particular material.

In some regions they use straw because there are wheat fields nearby, and in others they use sawdust because there is a sawmill nearby. And there are those who mulch with hay or grass cut by a lawn mower, a waste-free option, so to speak. Whatever material you choose, it is important to do weeding before filling it, water the soil well and loosen the top layer of soil. This is how mulch will bring the most benefits.

An important condition for a rich harvest is constant moisture in the root zone; mulching cucumbers in a greenhouse allows you to maintain it without additional labor costs. Mulch makes caring for moisture-loving crops easier and reduces water consumption. It is beneficial to use it in any growing method (open ground, greenhouse).

It is not difficult to understand the benefits of mulching cucumbers; the long list of advantages that this agricultural technique provides convinces and motivates its use.

Let's look at all the positive aspects:

Mulched beds suffer less from daily temperature fluctuations at the beginning of summer and at the end of the season. Cucumber roots are protected from low temperatures, which reduces stress from bad weather conditions.
The mulch layer prevents moisture evaporation. Even with rare visits to the dacha, cucumbers in the open ground (greenhouse) do not lack water. The soil remains moist for a long time, the roots do not suffer from overheating.
In a greenhouse and on a ridge, the soil under a layer of organic material remains loose. Summer residents do not need to loosen the soil after each watering. A crust does not form on the surface of the earth. Earthworms reproduce well under mulch, loosen the soil, and enrich it with oxygen. Roots develop better in loose, moist soil.
Soil fertility is better preserved when vegetables are grown annually. Organic material protects it from aggressive influences (washing out, weathering); organic matter, by overheating, increases the humus content and increases the fertile layer.
Weeds do not grow on beds covered with a layer of mulch. The time for weeding is reduced. Cucumbers (fruits, leaves) do not come into contact with the ground, therefore they are less susceptible to infection by fungi and are less likely to be attacked by pests.

How to mulch cucumbers

You can mulch cucumbers in a greenhouse (open ground) with different materials. Their choice depends on specific conditions: the quality of the soil, the availability of this or that material at the dacha or the possibility of purchasing it.

Mulching material comes in two types:

organic (natural);
synthetic, manufactured at an industrial enterprise.

Organic mulch

For cucumbers grown in depleted, poor soil, it is worth using homemade compost, manure (horse, cow) or humus. Manure provides cucumbers with additional nutrition and releases nitrogen in a form accessible to plants. Manure is not used in its pure form; it is mixed with a small amount of hay or straw.

Using grass clippings

Most summer residents have a reasonable question: is it possible to mulch beds with cucumbers with lawn grass, weeds growing in vacant lots or in the garden? Grass is the cheapest option for organic mulch and can be mowed with a trimmer, scythe, or lawnmower. If you follow the rules of use, there will be a good harvest of cucumbers.

The first rule is not to mulch cucumbers with freshly cut grass. It needs to be dried. Fresh grass can rot, it cakes and does not allow air to pass through well. Slugs and other pests crawl onto damp grass. They can carry diseases.

The dried mown grass is laid out in a layer of 7 cm. A thinner layer will not maintain the optimal level of soil moisture. Do not use grass with seeds for mowing.

Fresh straw is pre-fertilized, for every 10 kg of raw materials add:

200 g urea;
200 g superphosphate;
120 g potassium salt.

Accelerated preparation of sawdust

Sawdust that is completely rotted or semi-rotted is suitable for use. You cannot cover the soil with fresh sawdust; they will take nitrogen from it. It is recommended to carry out special treatment of fresh sawdust before use.

To speed up the preparation of sawdust, you will need film, water, and urea. Lay the film on the ground, scatter 3-4 buckets of fresh shavings on it. Scatter 200 grams of urea on top, pour water from a watering can over everything. One such layer of water takes up to 10 liters.

Usually two layers are made, both are filled with urea and watered. The formed pile is wrapped in polyethylene and left for 2 weeks. Sawdust prepared in this way can be poured onto a cucumber bed.

Mulching cucumbers in open ground with sawdust helps improve the soil structure. In the fall, the mulch that has not rotted over the summer is dug up, adding all the necessary mineral fertilizers. By the next season, the loose soil is ready for new plantings.

Decorative mulch

For many summer residents, the design of a cucumber garden plays an important role. Decorative wood chips will decorate a high, warm bed and perform all the main functions of mulch. You can buy wood chips of any color on the market and they can be used many times.

When planting cucumbers on low ridges, you can sprinkle wood chips not only on the surface of the soil under the cucumbers, but also mulch the paths with it. A trellis with cucumbers will decorate your garden. To retain moisture in the soil, the thickness of the covering layer must be at least 5 cm; this thickness is sufficient to protect against weeds.

If a summer resident has a woodworking machine, he can start making wood chips, saving on its purchase.

Synthetic mulching materials

Many gardeners mulch greenhouse cucumbers with black perforated film. It is laid before planting seedlings on fully prepared soil. Planting holes are made in advance or by cutting into already laid fabric. This method has a disadvantage - overheating of the soil in the summer heat. To avoid this, additionally use a white covering material and lay it on top of the black one.

When sowing cucumbers into the soil with seeds, many summer residents use transparent plastic film. The film creates a greenhouse effect and retains moisture. When sprouts appear, it is carefully cut, releasing the young plants out. Black film and black non-woven material are used in the seedling method of growing cucumbers.

How to mulch cucumbers

In any work carried out in the garden, it is necessary to follow the rules so as not to harm the plants through your actions. Let's figure out how to carry out mulching in order to get more benefits from this simple agricultural technique.

It is better to mulch the prepared (dug up) bed in the spring, at the end, when the earth has already warmed up, but still retains the remnants of natural moisture. The protective layer will prevent rapid drying out of the soil and its compaction.

Before you start mulching the cucumber ridge, prepare the soil:

remove remnants of roots, grass, and other debris from the surface of the ridge;
scatter the required amount of fertilizer and dig up the soil;
water if there is not enough moisture in the ground.

The thickness of the layer placed on the soil depends on the type of mulching material. You need to sprinkle sawdust and other dense materials in a thin layer of 2 to 5 cm. When covering the soil with straw or other light compounds, the thickness is greater, it can reach up to 7 cm.

Not the entire surface of the cucumber bed is covered. To prevent cucumbers from suffering from rot, the root zone is left open.

It is necessary to avoid contact of the mulch with the cucumber stem. Place synthetic materials before planting seedlings (seeds), plant cucumbers in the slots.

In the summer, the mulch rots, turning into humus, so it is regularly added throughout the season. Unrotted remains should be raked in the fall and sent to compost. If you haven’t had time to remove them in the fall, then they are raked at the beginning of winter so as not to slow down the warming of the soil.