Why are cucumbers bitter?
Contents ✓
WHY CUCUMENTS ARE BORN
Are you interested in growing cucumbers for the sake of ... a bitter harvest? And this, as readers' letters show, happens all the time. Moreover, abundant watering does not always help, because THE BITTING IN CUCUMBERS IS COMING FROM STRESS, and the reasons for this may be many.
The most common cause of bitterness is improper watering. Moreover, the trigger factor may be both a lack of moisture and its excess. It is especially unpleasant for plants if they are poured from a hose with well water: excessive pressure erodes the roots, and hypothermia often causes root rot.
To neutralize this phenomenon, the easiest way is to water it with warm water and mulch the soil with a thick layer of mowed grass or rotted sawdust. This minimizes temperature and humidity differences.
If you arrive at your site only on weekends, it may be worthwhile to think about drip irrigation. And also: it is advisable to periodically spray plantings in the morning on a sunny day. Cucumbers love to “bathe” (by the way, even with wet soil, dry air can provoke bitterness in greens).
Another cause of stress is a lack or excess of nutrients. At the same time, the taste of Zelentsy sharply worsens, and the ovaries are deformed. It’s also inconvenient to place such ones in banks!
What is the ideal “diet” for a cucumber?
In the seedling period, it is important to help the plants form a powerful root system.
At this time, phosphorus fertilizers (extraction from superphosphate) play a special role with moderate application of nitrogen and potassium. It makes sense to completely replace irrigation water with a nutrient solution of low concentration (1-2 g / l), moreover, in sunny weather, the strength of the solution should be minimal, and the flow should be maximum, and in cloudy - vice versa.
IMPORTANT. If you increase the concentration of the solution for irrigation a few days before planting in the ground, the plant will take root faster.
After transplanting and before flowering, cucumbers are actively increasing their vegetative mass. At this time, they need nitrogen and potassium, the need for phosphorus is somewhat reduced. But in the period of mass budding, excess nitrogen is harmful: it slows down the transition to flowering and fruiting, reduces plant immunity. At this time, the optimal ratio of basic nutrients (N: P: K) 1: 1: 1,5.
Potassium becomes the most essential element during fruiting - it must be given 2 times more than nitrogen (but the amount of nitrogen introduced is not reduced). At this time, every 10-14 days it is advisable to use potassium nitrate or water-soluble fertilizers with a high content of potassium and phosphorus (once in 10-14 days). Feed potassium nitrate (50 g per 10 l of solution) mixed with magnesium sulphate (20 g) is preferably alternated with superphosphate extract (100 g pour 1 l of hot water, mix and, when the substance is almost dissolved, dilute the extract with 15 times).
IMPORTANT. Before feeding, the plants must be watered with plain water to avoid burning the roots.
When the manifestation of signs of a deficiency of any element to quickly help the plants can be using leaf-fed. For spraying use urea in the concentration of 0,3-0,4%, potassium or calcium nitrate (0,2%) or a complex of trace elements.
IMPORTANT. Root dressing is carried out in the evening, after moistening the soil. The best time for foliar top dressing is early morning.
The appearance of bitterness in greens can also be caused by a lack, as well as an excess of lighting. Best of all, cucumbers grow in bright but diffused light. Therefore, it is important not to thicken the plantings (the optimal planting scheme-3 plants on 1 sq. M) and take a sufficiently lit place under the greenhouse. And do not forget to form the scourge, otherwise they will quickly turn a neat garden bed into the jungle, to find in which the harvest will be extremely difficult.
With the established hot weather, it is worthwhile to fix reflective curtains made of non-woven material over the landings or special sun protection nets. Cucumbers growing in open ground shade, planting corn or sunflower on the southern side of the bed. The most budgetary way to pritenit plants in the greenhouse is to whiten the roof with an aqueous solution of chalk.
And finally: you can not ignore the varietal characteristics of cucumber. Many modern hybrids such as F1, Bobryk, F1, True Friends, F1, Admiral, F1, Banzai, F1, Ginga, F1, Zozulya, F1, Trump Card, F, Marinda, F1, Marina Grove, F1, Panther, F1 , Chistye Prudy, F1, Shchedryk and others, are characterized by a genetic lack of bitterness. So, having correctly selected a grade, you can practically guarantee yourself getting tasty greenberries. However, practice shows that even the most resistant varieties sometimes form bitter fruits, especially if the summer is very hot and sunny, and the plants are not shaded.
IMPORTANT. When “great sushi” occurs, you need to mulch the beds of light-colored mulch (sawdust, straw) or at least close them with white non-woven material.
Reference by topic: Why cucumbers crochet and curves
WHY GORKY cucumbers are READERS SHARED BY COUNCILS AND EXPERIENCE
CUCUMBERS WITH A HIGH EXPERIENCE
When they ask me which culture in the garden is my favorite, I always answer clearly and immediately - a cucumber! The smell of freshly picked green is the smell of summer. And what is summer? Yes, in fact, all the good that is in our lives. So it turns out that the cucumber is also a pleasant association. As far as I can remember, our family has always planted this culture, appreciating it for juicy and crunchy fruits, which are both fresh and good in harvesting excellent. Seeds were always harvested by ourselves, and cucumbers grew with us without any problems.
And in recent years, bitter greens began to come across often, and the further, the more. At first, I thought that the reason lies in adverse climatic conditions, because the weather is now crazy (judging by the letters of readers, in all regions this happens). But close observations of my favorites showed that they were bitter in hot summer, in cold, and 8 arid, when the wells are almost empty, and in the rainy, when you have to literally swim around the garden. No, there is something else. Then maybe cucumbers lack nutrients?
She began to feed with potash fertilizers, and nitrogen, and microelements to the soil - the bushes grew strong and healthy, without a hint that they were starving, and the fruits were still regularly bitter. Finally, it came to the point that eating them without pickling became simply impossible: there were only a dozen at best, in which the content of the notorious cucumber-bitacin (a substance that gives a bitter taste to plants of the pumpkin family) was normal.
And then I had to approach the solution of the problem on the other hand - to completely replace planting material. And what do you think? Happened!
From the seeds bought by the pumpkin method, all the cucumbers grew delicious and crispy, and the yield of the bushes not only did not yield to the “old-timers”, but also exceeded them. In all likelihood, over many years of cultivation of the same varieties, my cucumbers, crossing each other, acquired an identical gene pool, in which, along with positive qualities, a fly in the ointment. And neither the weather, nor the soil, nor agricultural technology are to blame for this. As the saying goes, what is laid is then frozen. New varieties bought at the store certainly have no such drawback. But from especially productive lashes, I still gathered my seeds - let's see what grows of them next year. Of the newcomers, I really liked Tugarin, Pal, Barracuda and Semcross. Zelentsy they lumpy, sweet, fragrant.
This is how life made me radically reconsider one of the provisions of my usual cucumber technology.
Raise or put?
But the rest is still not in doubt. I'll tell you about them in order. At the beginning of the season I do not dig a bed - why? After all, even in the fall, it was fertilized layer by layer with plant residues, ash and compost - and, therefore, thoroughly filled with useful substances. In the spring, it remains for me (following the example of my grandmother) to only dig two parallel grooves 3 cm deep on it, spill them with water and spread the seeds there, and it doesn’t matter in what form - dry or pre-soaked - because I’m different for the entire time of my gardening I did not notice. Then I fill the grooves with earth and cover it with non-woven material or film, pressing the edges with stones and bricks. By the way, I usually land on May 10 (plus or minus five days depending on the weather).
And after five days shoots appear. As soon as this happens, I immediately remove the shelter from the ground so that it does not interfere with the weak plants, put it over the bed of the arc and pull on them the same covering material or film. Which of them is better - has not yet finally decided, because they have their own advantages and disadvantages. I am going to write a separate letter in which I will analyze all this. I think it will be useful for me to formulate my thoughts myself (at the same time summing up my observations), and for the readers of the magazine.
Returning to the story of growing. I planted the bed and spud plantings regularly, but I do watering every other day, avoiding even the slightest drying out of the ground. And once in two weeks I always feed cucumbers with nettle extract, to which I always add ashes: a handful to a bucket of the working solution, which I use with the expectation that it is enough for two running meters of the bed (I forgot to say that its width is approximately 70 cm) . And cucumbers grow well for themselves under cover, without knowing anything in need. And by that time, when they will be crowded under the same roof, the soil and air will already have time to warm up so that the planting can be released without fear to “walk” to fresh air.
As for the eternal dilemma, whether to allow the lashes to move or tie them upright (I used to use the same arcs that I left on the garden as a trellis), in recent years I have chosen the first option. In my opinion, it is better to let the scourge crawl in different directions (if, of course, there is a place for this): the earth remains wet for them longer, and it is more comfortable for them to do so, and I have less trouble with irrigation.
But there is another important point: lying on a bed, the rods take root in the knots by adventitious roots, creating additional sources of food for themselves.
A week after the appearance of the mustache, the cucumbers bloom, and a week later the fruits appear on them. At this stage, plants need already weekly feeding. I have a flexible approach to such procedures. If I see that Zelentsy begin to sharpen from below, I bring in nitrogen; if above - potassium. I wish all gardeners a lot of delicious cucumbers, rich harvests, but most importantly - health!
© Author: Yanna ZIBOROVA Tver
STRESS IN THE BURNERS OF CUCUMBERS NOT GUILTY
Above was published an article by agronomist I. Belkina "Bitter grief". In it, the author writes that the cause of the bitterness of cucumber is stress: improper irrigation, lack or excess of nutrients, lack or excess of lighting. I have been growing cucumbers for over 20 years and I am sure that stress in the bitterness of cucumber is not to blame.
I will explain in detail. The climate of the south of Western Siberia is sharply continental, which means that the cucumber has a lot of stress. Summer can be dry and hot, as in 2017, or cold and rainy, like 2018. However, cucumbers have not been bitter in these and other years. This was not always the case. When I first started gardening, the problem of cucumber bitterness didn’t worry me too much, since I grew them only for my own consumption. Everything changed after I started growing cucumbers for sale. I did not want to listen to customer complaints about product quality.
I began to analyze the cause of the bitterness of the cucumber. I have a standard cultivation technology, as I will write below. Fertilizers, pest and disease control too. Watering regular. So the whole problem is in the seeds, I decided. The analysis was helped by the fact that I always wrote down the names of the varieties or hybrids of the cucumber that I grew.
It turned out that bitterness appeared when I grew varieties and hybrids in one bed, and disappeared when only varieties or only hybrids grew in one bed. Since then I have been growing only hybrids - and the problem of quality (bitterness) is not before me. I do not insist on my opinion, but it is easy to verify.
My recommendations are as follows.
- Do not engage in seed farming gardeners, that is, do not harvest their seeds.
- Do not grow varieties and mixed hybrids on the same bed.
- Reduce the number of names of cultivated varieties or hybrids.
- Buy seeds only proven manufacturers.
- Pumpkins, melons, zucchini, squash grow in the distance from the cucumber beds.
And now about the actual technology of growing cucumber. In the spring, after the soil dries out a little, I begin to make a deep warm bed. Every year I lay it in a new place. I dig a trench 1,5 depth with a spade bayonet, 70 width cm, 5 length m. At the bottom I put dry lumps of manure, pruning branches, waste paper and household garbage, water it abundantly and sprinkle with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers.
I pour the earth that I dug earlier on top. I do not set the task of making biofuel warm up, I think that cucumber does not need this. Loose soil is what matters most to him. And biofuels will work next year for other crops. As a result, the level of the beds is 10 cm below the soil level.
SEEDS AFTER PURCHASE I store at room temperature. I look forward to the onset of sunny days in early May, after which I soak them using special technology. The first stage of soaking is a bath with baking soda dissolved in water (5 g per 1 liter). The second is disinfection in a solution of potassium permanganate (1 g per 1 liter). The duration of each stage is 12 hours.
I noticed that soaking dry seeds in a solution of potassium permanganate reduces their germination.
I PLANT SEEDS after they swell. I do not wait until they sprout - such easily rot in the soil. I don’t get involved with seedlings either: I tried it for the first years, but acclimatization takes too much strength, and the plants themselves take long and hard to take root.
SEEDING I WILL FOLLOW in sunny weather in early May, the temperature does not matter. I heat the irrigation water to a temperature of 30 °, in water I dissolve simple superphosphate, urea (urea) and potassium sulfate - 10 g each (though I first insist superphosphate for 2-3 days). I make grooves after 20 cm, water them. I put the seeds in the grooves at a distance of 10-15 cm from each other and fall asleep with the ground. I do not condense sowing, but I pour water from a watering can with warm water and copper sulfate solution dissolved in it - copper sulfate, concentration of 3 g per 10 l: I think that this will protect the seedlings from diseases. The plants are planted very densely, but they give the crop together, which is important for open ground. At one time I shoot 10-20 kg. In any case, the total fee, of course, is less than with a rarer landing.
Then across the beds I lay wooden boards 1,5 m long, 5 cm wide, 2 cm thick at a distance of 0,8 m from each other. I put old window frames on them, I cover them with plastic wrap on top, the top layer is also window frames. The sun through the film heats the soil to the required germination of 30 ° in 2 hours. The heated soil overnight cools under polyethylene, but not so much as to stop the germination of seeds. In addition, such a temperature drop hardens the seedlings.
GROWS appear after 10 days. If the weather is sunny, then cucumbers often have to be watered. I always use warm water for irrigation with a weak solution of macro- (NPK) or microelements (Fe, Mn, Zn), I never use pure water. After the second watering, I add 1 tbsp to each stalk. a spoonful of wood ash. This protects the seedlings from the black legs, which is inevitable with spring temperature fluctuations. These fluctuations (more precisely, cooling at the beginning of growth) contribute to a larger crop of cucumber - proven by practice. Therefore, the seeds should be sown as early as possible, provided that the seedlings are protected from a large temperature drop, rain and wind by temporary shelters.
Under the film, cucumbers are warm and comfortable, but you need to gradually accustom them to the conditions of open ground. Immediately remove the film and leave shoots in the sun - guaranteed to get burns on the leaves. Therefore, their time in the open air is gradually increasing.
FINALLY REMOVE the film in mid-June, when the plants give 4-5 real leaves. It's time to add humus! I fall asleep a continuous layer 10 cm thick - almost to the level of the soil and above the cotyledon leaves. This will then allow you to use the pump, saving time on watering.
With the beginning of the growth of the antennae, I install a wire trellor of -1,5-meter reinforcing mesh of wire with a diameter of 10 mm on all four sides of the bed. The cell size is 10 × XNUMX cm, which will allow plants with a large leaf area to withstand strong winds.
When the cucumbers rise to a height of 0,5 m, I begin the preventive treatment of diseases and pests. There is no cucumber hybrids completely resistant to disease, and there is always a spider mite in the garden. I use systemic fungicide for powdery mildew, and copper-containing products for other diseases. I use a solution of boric acid from the spider mite: 5 g / 10 l with the addition of 10 g of magnesium sulfate - this is both protection and top dressing for cucumber. I spray it strictly before flowering, after - no treatments!
I harvest every 2-3 days depending on the weather. Watering as necessary, but not pouring. Cucumbers do not like excess water, they are sick, they can die. I do not pinch the whips. Cucumbers reach a height of 1,5 m and grow along the trellis. I feed them only with phosphorus and potash fertilizers, most often I use fertilizers in a dry form - sprinkle along the grooves.
ENDING CHARGES in early September, before frost. If at the beginning of fruiting, I take off not less than 25 kg at a time, then by the end of the season cucumbers are much smaller, not more than 5 kg.
At first glance, this technology of cultivation is very laborious, but in fact it takes not much time and effort; however, it is necessary to work with cucumbers almost every day. But cucumber grown in the open field, much tastier than its greenhouse counterpart.
© Author: P.FONAKOV Kazakhstan
OPINION OF THE EXPERT: WHY THE CUCUMBER GORKY?
The presence or absence of bitterness in the fruits of cucumber is primarily genetically determined. Depending on hereditary factors, some representatives of the species do not produce palpable amounts of cucurbitocin and, accordingly, never gorchat, others gorchat almost always, and still others react to unfavorable environmental conditions, increasing the synthesis of this bitter anti-stress substance to varying degrees.
The solution to the problem seems obvious: there are hybrids of cucumber without bitterness, and all the others should be forgotten.
In the case of a cucumber, this is the right decision.
And in the case of a cucumber for harvesting, everything is not so simple. The fact is that in the process of salting, bitterness disappears (an analogy with throats, nigella ... suggests itself). And the quality of processed products from raw materials with bitterness often exceeds that obtained from an impeccably sweet cucumber.
For centuries, our ancestors had a fresh cucumber in the diet for a couple of months a year, and pickled cucumbers all year round. So the folk breeders forgave the bitterness for the cucumber for precocity, productivity, cold hardiness, density and sugar content needed for fermentation.
And along the way, they worked out methods to prevent bitterness from manifesting.
Accessible modern techniques are precisely the subject of an article by agronomist I. Belkina. Is it worth it to completely abandon all hybrids of cucumber, the fruits of which can be bitter under stressful conditions? This is an open question.
No one will argue that the preparation for sowing begins with the choice of variety or hybrid, since the choice is more extensive than ever. When acquiring an unfamiliar sample, one should carefully read its description, including the characteristics of the fetus, pay attention to the mention of the absence of bitterness. This conclusion to the gardener P. Fonakov came from his own experience.
However, what I can’t agree with is the opinion that the taste of a cucumber is affected by the proximity of its varieties and hybrids. Even if the bees are actively working, the consequences will be imperceptible - this is not the case with sweet pepper from the neighborhood with hot pepper.
Yes, and a ground cucumber is not always tastier than greenhouse, it depends on many reasons, starting with the main one - the skill of the gardener.
O. GUTSLYUK, agronomist-technologist
WHAT CUCUMBERS NEVER BITTER?
I am answering the question of Galina Smirnova from St. Petersburg “Bitter cucumbers”. I answer.
In such greens, only one thing pleases: the bitterness in them is harmless. Otherwise, they have nothing to brag about: eating such fruits is not tasty at all.
One of the reasons cucumbers become bitter is the sudden changes in temperature. Everyone knows that it is necessary to completely prevent drafts and regulate the humidity and temperature of the air on summer days and nights with the help of a greenhouse door or a greenhouse. But there is also something else.
As you know, seedlings are planted in a greenhouse much earlier than in open ground, and before seeds are planted. Somewhere in the middle of May, despite the fact that the sun warms the air in the greenhouse and, it would seem, the beds too, in general, the ground still remains cold for cucumbers. At night, it cools down, both outside and inside the greenhouse.
In short, if the air in the greenhouse is isolated from the outside air, it retains heat much longer.
And the land of summer residents in greenhouses, as a rule, is inseparable from the outer soil, so it quickly cools down in the evenings in spring. As a result, cucumbers experience stress, and bitterness is formed due to the violation of development processes. If the reason lies precisely in this, you need to make the bed higher and plant the seedlings in the greenhouse a little later than usual.
In general, it is very difficult to identify the cause of the bitterness of cucumbers. You can try to renew the land in greenhouse beds.
By the way, I grow long cucumbers in the open field and on high trellises (see photo), which, unlike ordinary cucumbers, never taste bitter.
© Author: Nikolay Borisovich Pavlovsky Posad Moscow region
SWEET CUCUMBER GUARANTEE
I, an experienced summer resident, thought that I knew everything, I can do everything. But last year I ran into a problem: almost all cucumbers (I grow them in the open field) turned out to be bitter. And this happened for the first time. In winter, I set myself a goal: to find out what the reason is. What I found out, I want to share with the readers.
What is the reason
Cucurbitacin gives bitterness to cucumbers. This substance, found mainly in the peel at the stalk, the vegetable produces in response to any growing conditions that do not suit it.
What can a cucumber not like? Here are the main reasons:
- lack or excess of moisture;
- irregular watering (a long period of drought, and then abundant moisture);
- cold, rainy or, conversely, dry summers;
- excess sun, direct exposure to sunlight;
- lack of nitrogen and potassium.
What to do
In order to grow guaranteed sweet cucumbers, it will be necessary, despite the ease of caring for this crop, to comply with several conditions.
- Water with lukewarm water only. Let it stand all day in a container and warm up in the sun.
- Watering is carried out in the evening at the root, without falling on the lashes.
- In extreme heat, in addition, in the morning and in the evening, practice drip irrigation (spraying) of the borage.
- Increase the rate of watering in hot weather and decrease when it gets colder,
- Moisten the soil in the hole to a depth of 10-15 cm.
- For feeding, use potassium nitrate and complex fertilizers with a balanced combination of nitrogen and potassium.
- Do not use fresh manure in top dressing.
Don't throw it away
If it so happened that the cucumbers grew bitter, you do not need to throw them away. With any processing, including pickling and salting, the bitacin breaks down and the bitterness disappears completely. Therefore, cucumbers that are unsuitable for fresh consumption can be preserved for the winter. If they taste too much, soak them in cold water for several hours.
Council
When buying seeds, choose varieties that say “do not bitter”. They contain a modified gene that prevents the production of cucurbitacin. But the taste of these cucumbers will be less pronounced than that of varieties prone to bitterness.
© Author: Anna Ivanovna MURAVTSOVA, Gomel region, Terekhovka settlement
WHY CUCUMBERS ARE BITTER AND HOW TO FIX IT - VIDEO
© Author: I. Belkina, agronomist
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- Snake cucumber - a rare plant in the country
- Growing early cucumbers in a vertical culture - planting and care
- Growing cucumbers and sunflowers together is one plus
- Why cucumbers crochet and curves
- Cucumbers on a warm bed for an early harvest - my way of reviews about it
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- Growing cucumbers in a greenhouse, on a warm garden bed, without chemicals (Orenburg)
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I grow cucumbers of my favorite variety Rodnichok. Always grown delicious, crispy, fragrant. And this year some thick-skinned. Often came across small cucumbers, but already with a yellowing bottom, as if overripe. What happened to the plants?
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- Most likely, the cucumbers lacked nitrogen. I can hardly be mistaken if I assume that you have been growing plants for many years in the same place, which caused such a strong depletion of the soil. Nitrogen deficiency causes a thickening of the skin and yellowing of the bottom in cucumbers. In addition, cucumbers from starving plants are often smaller than the cultivar manufacturer claims, with a hook-like shape and a curved tip. The leaves have a light green color atypical for the season, the lashes grow thin.
In order to solve the problem right in the season, it was possible to prepare an infusion of herbs. Fill half a bucket with weeds, add water to the top, let stand for a week (stir once a day), then dilute ten times with water and pour a liter of composition under the plants for each. Now, in the fall, it is necessary to add urea to the site - 20 g per 1 sq.m.
An alternative to fertilization is the cultivation of any bean green manure in this area, followed by embedding in the ground. But then one season will have to be missed and cucumbers will not be grown in this place.
Another option is to plant legumes (beans, beans) in the garden, harvest, and plant all plant residues in the soil.