Growing Chinese cucumbers (PHOTO) - planting and care + my reviews
HOW I CROWED CHINESE CUCUMBERS ...
I am very wary of Chinese "miracles". As a rule, the picture shows one thing, and reality does not coincide at all with expectations. But after sowing this miracle in myself, I fell in love with it once and for all. But there is never a limit to perfection, is there?
True, at first I remembered the Chinese and their quality with a "kind and affectionate" word. I sowed the seeds of all the cucumbers at the same time, on May 9, just in time for Victory Day. After 10 days, normal cucumbers began to sprout, and the Chinese, the variety (as I remember now, Dark Night) did not even think about it. I speak so confidently because I dug down to the seeds and found that they began to rot. I decided that if I was dying, so with the music, and planted all the seeds remaining in the bag. And they, indescribably surprising, all ascended.
As I later found out, the germination rate of Chinese cucumbers in the soil is slightly lower than that of ordinary ones. So you need to sow them in 3-4 pieces per hole. Unprofitable? How to say! A bag of seeds costs 20-50 rubles, each plant will bring 6-8 fruits weighing 200-300 g per season, or you can grow them through seedlings. In comfortable conditions of the room, they germinate in a much more active way. The only pity is that these are hybrids, you will not get seeds from them.
Reference by topic: Cultivation of Chinese cucumber - tips garden gardener with experience
My "Chinese" grew slowly at first, but then they made up for lost time and overtook their traditional comrades. Strong, with powerful stems and juicy burdock-leaves, they had almost no lateral lashes. The first pickled cucumber evoked associations with a hedgehog and an eel fish at the same time. Small prickly and pimply "worm" had little in common with a beautiful picture, but intrigued in earnest. We visited him several times a day. Grew up to "edible" values, that is, up to 30 cm, he very quickly. Now I understand that we cut him at a very tender age, he could easily reach up to 40 cm and more. But it was too interesting to try!
I really liked the taste. The pulp is crispy, sweeter than regular cucumbers, but, if you find fault, it is somewhat less juicy. This is especially felt at the base of the cucumber. But in my opinion, no one else noticed this. As the text on the packet warned, there were many male flowers on the plant.
However, I did not worry about this, new ovaries appeared regularly and did not even think about it, as it often happens on ordinary cucumbers.
Tied up - it means he will grow up. True, I watered and fed the plants with herbal infusion to my heart's content, all summer, and by autumn I added horsetail to the top dressing as a source of silicon and potassium (ash infusion). In general, two experimental bushes were enough for our family, and left for a treat to relatives and friends. After all, you can't go on a visit without such a "club"!
Well, this year I decided to plant several different hybrids. Moreover, my husband gave me a new greenhouse on March 8. There is where to turn around! Hybrids F1 Dark night, Chinese snake, White anaconda, Ni Hao, Chinese heat-resistant were tested. She sowed them with sprouted seeds. It turned out to be much more convenient - I didn't have to guess whether it would rise or rise.
The year turned out to be not for hilyaks. At first it rained, then the heat hit, but it stayed that way. Regular cucumbers, despite watering, somewhat baked, spider mites appeared on them, ovaries
began to wither away with the Word, the weather clearly knocked them down. And the "Chinese" - so everything was in joy. Rains, dampness - great, they slow down a little in growth, and that's all. The heat and dryness are great. Even a spider mite broke off its teeth about them. I thought it would crawl over, start eating them too - but no, I got over, but I couldn’t multiply, like on ordinary cucumbers.
See also: Chinese cucumber (photo) - varieties and cultivation of this miracle cucumber
This year I have grown a record cucumber 60 cm long. This monster already looked more like some kind of mad squash - and in thickness too. But the taste ... No, there was no bitterness, these cucumbers do not taste bitter at all. But in general, I realized that there is no need to chase the size. Fruits 30-40 cm long are quite tasty and impressive. But the most relish is young ovaries 10-20 cm long. They are sweet, like fruit! I found out about it by chance: during my departure, a cucumber broke off, and I bit it in thought.
In general, in the past season it was the "Chinese" who pulled out the entire harvest. The hybrids were indeed hot and cold hardy. I removed the plants from the greenhouse in the second decade of September, and still they continued to lay new ovaries, albeit at a slower pace than in summer. The "Chinese" did not suffer from peronosporosis, which cut down the rest of the cucumbers in August. But then their non-obvious shortcomings came to the fore.
The main and most important thing is that cut fruits are not stored for a long time, they quickly flabby W. With all our desire, we could not eat so many zelents. As part of the experiment (and on the scale of a new greenhouse), I planted 8 bushes, so I didn't know what to do with the fruits.
But since there was essentially no cucumber for canning, I decided to take a risk, to use the "Chinese" in business. I cut them into pieces and pickled them. They did not turn into porridge (which I cautiously expected) and turned out to be no worse than ordinary cucumbers.
I liked the taste the most of the white cucumber. He is more tender, perhaps the Seeds are imperceptible, they are almost invisible. A luxurious variety for salads! So fragrant that even cutting it is a pleasure. In second place is F1 Chinese heat-resistant. It turned out to be the most fruitful, and in canning it turned out to be gorgeous - plump, without voids, crispy. And the third was F1 Dark Night.
The 50 cm long fruit was still tasty. Well, in the last place I would put F, Ni Hao and cucumber chinese snake... They grew suspiciously the same, if I had not sowed them from different packages, I would have decided that they are one and the same. They lost in the competition in terms of yield - they still had less fruit than others.
© Author: E. UDALTSOVA Moscow region
See also: Chinese cucumbers - planting and care, experience and feedback on varieties
CHINESE CUCUMBERS - VIDEO REVIEWS
Below other entries on the topic "Dacha and garden - with their own hands"
- Cultivation of cucumbers in the Novgorod region
- Extending the fruiting of cucumbers in the greenhouse and saving them from ants and spider mites
- Cultivation of cucumbers in the Kursk region
- The three most delicious varieties of cucumber - my reviews
- To make cucumbers tasty - tips for leaving
- Cultivation of cucumbers in the Krasnodar Territory
- The earliest cucumbers in an unheated greenhouse
- Chinese cucumbers - planting and care, experience and feedback on varieties
- Cucumbers on a warm bed for an early harvest - my way of reviews about it
- Cultivation of cucumbers - the difference between varieties and hybrids
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Last year I grew Chinese cucumbers for the first time. Judging by the picture on the package, they were supposed to grow thin and long, but they turned out to be plump, with a hard crust and tasteless. Maybe overseas varieties need to be grown in some special way?
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- Chinese cucumber is not the most demanding plant to care for, but there are subtleties in its cultivation. The age of seedlings should be no more than 30 days from the moment of emergence of seedlings to planting on the site. It can be planted in a greenhouse at the end of May, and in open ground - in early June.
The land on the site should be loose, moisture and breathable. To loosen the soil, add river sand (a bucket of 1 sq.m). Water plantings with heated water daily, but do not allow moisture to stagnate. Grow Chinese cucumber on a trellis - so the plants will be better pollinated and develop.
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Why did the long cucumbers grow hollow, with holes inside?
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- There are many reasons for the hollowness of cucumber fruits:
- a feature of the variety;
- uneven and untimely watering (cucumber should be watered in small doses every 1-2 days and do not use cold water);
- the hollowness of the fruit may be the result of an excess of nitrogen, especially with late fertilizing with nitrogen fertilizers, as well as a lack of phosphorus, potassium, calcium or boron;
- lack of light, especially when growing cucumbers in a greenhouse;
- temperature drops, especially its drop below +12 degrees, (often observed when growing cucumbers in the open field).