cultivation of cucumbers in green houses
DESCRIPTION
Green house cucumbers require high temperatures, very high humidity and a minimum night temperature of 18C/60F to grow successfully. One complaint always associated with cucumbers is bitterness of the fruits. This used to be a problem caused by the pollination of the female flowers by the male flowers. The development of the all-female flowering cultivars of cucumber plants has overcome this problem.TRANSCRIPT
Cucumber
-V. Swathi (RC/11-49)B.Sc.,(Commercial Agriculture and Business management)
College of Agriculture , RajendranagarProf. Jaishankar Telangana State Agriculture University
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Growing Cucumbers in a Greenhouse
• Growing cucumbers in a greenhouse isreasonably easy. They do requirefrequent watering, and a support toclimb up, but are absolutely worth theeffort. They are very productive plantsand most families will only need a fewplants. Home grown cucumbers havea vastly superior flavour and texture toany shop bought cucumbers and arewell worth the effort. You canalso grow cucumbers outdoors, butthose grown in the greenhouse willproduce cucumbers earlier and forlonger.
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How to Grow Greenhouse Cucumbers
• Sow in 8cm (3in) pots April to May
• Transplant into larger pots, grow bags or directly in the soil May to June
• Provide support
• Water little and often –do not allow cucumbers to dry out or to become waterlogged
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How to Grow Greenhouse Cucumbers
• Pinch out growing tips when they reach top of supports to encourage bushy growth
• Cucumbers are ready for picking about 3 months after sowing and will continue cropping until the end of September
• Cut the cucumbers when they are about 15 to 20cm (6 to 8in) long and still green
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Greenhouse Cucumber Varieties
• Carmen- excellent yields, bitter-free fruit, excellent disease resistance, ideal for organic gardeners. We’ve grown this many times and have been seriously impressed.
• Swing – very good yields, long dark green fruit, very good slicing cucumber, excellent disease resistance
• Baribal – early maturing, heavy yields, short dark green fruit
• Prima Top – fairly compact, good disease resistance, long bitter-free fruits, RHS Award of Garden Merit
• Picolino – mini cucumbers, juicy and crisp, good disease resisitance
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Planting Cucumbers in a Greenhouse
• Growing cucumbers in a greenhouse starts off with sowing the seeds, 2cm (¾in) deep, in 8cm (3in) pots around April or May time. Keep the pots indoors (or in a heated greenhouse) until all risk of frost has passed (ie. the very low temperatures are over). Starting them off in pots and planting out when they are small plants, helps to protect them from slug and snail damage. When you plant them out, make sure you water them in well.
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Cucumber Plant Care
• Cucumbers grown in a greenhouse need one thing above all else, regular watering! You’ll need to water them daily to keep up with their intake. Their leaves are large and plentyful, resulting in their high water requirement. There is a balance though. Try not to over-water them, regular rather than sporadic but heavy watering is the key.
• You’ll need to provide support for your greenhouse cucmbers, so erect a trellis type system, preferably one that keeps the leaves away from the windows of the greenhouse. Greenhouse cucumbers can be planted either in growbags, pots or direct into the greenhouse soil. Train the leading stem up to the top of your support and then pinch out the growing tip to encourage branching below.
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Picking and Preserving Cucumbers
• Greenhouse grown cucumbers start off slowly with just one or two fruit becoming ready for harvest and rapidly accelerate into full scale cropping. With successional sowing, it’s possible to spread this cucumber explosion into something manageable. When harvesting cucumbers, cut them off with a pair of scissors or twist them gently until they come off with no pull required. Cucumber plants are relatively delicate and pulling the fruit off is likely to damage the plants.
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Preserving Cucumbers
• Cucumbers, in their natural form, don’t store longer than a couple of weeks in the fridge. They don’t freeze, nor can you dry them (I’m not sure there’d be anything left if you tried) So, as far as you can, pick them young and enjoy them seasonally fresh.
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Preserving Cucumbers
• If you’re faced with a glut of cucumbers and people are starting to avoid you for fear of being given more cucumbers, then you can turn your attention to either pickling them whole (mini-cucumbers picked very young) or incorporating them in various pickles. Cucumber and Onion Relish in particular is a great pickle that goes very well with cheese.
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