How to choose siderata for growing cucumbers

Quickly heal the soil siderates for cucumbers will help replenish stocks of useful elements and crop rotation in small areas.

Siderata for growing cucumbers

Why sideeding is needed

During the period of intensive growth, cucumbers extract from the earth elements that are necessary for this particular vegetable, producing colins. These secretions accumulate in the soil and can delay growth and reduce the yield of cucumbers in subsequent years. Keeping the same crops in a permanent place leads to the accumulation and propagation of pathogens and pests. Siderata can solve this problem. They can be planted in the fall, immediately after harvesting, or in spring, as soon as the snow falls.

Autumn sideration

Immediately after harvesting the cucumbers, it is necessary to remove the remains of plants, loosen the soil and sow seeds. To do this, suitable crops that:

• actively increase green mass,
• quickly decompose,
• well loosen the soil,
• heal soil and nourish it.

The plants planted in the fall will not pick up moisture accumulated during the winter period, and all nutrients will go to the laying of a new crop.

Which siderates are suitable:

• white mustard,
• oil radish,
• phacelia,
• peas,
• beans,
• lupins.

All these plants quickly sprout and develop. They heal the soil, replenish it with trace elements. Gentle stems do not require mowing, crumple, leaving under the snow, and easily decompose in spring.

Mustard repels the moth, slugs and serves as a preventive measure against diseases. In autumn itself, it is not affected by the cruciferous flea, and therefore does not contribute to its spread.

Oilseed radish increases fertility and serves as a prophylaxis against the development of viral and fungal diseases.

Phacelia quickly emerges at temperatures up to 10 ° C and until the first frosts it builds up well.

Beans and peas actively sprout for about 5-6 days. They, as well as lupins, give a large and easily biodegradable biomass, are a good source of nitrogen.

Autumn plantings of useful grass grow more slowly due to a decrease in sunny day, but if phacelia or mustard were planted a little earlier and started to bloom, they can be mowed.

Siderates heal the soil

If you did not manage to sow siderata in time, you can plant them like winter crops, just before the cold. The main thing is that they do not have time to climb, but hatch when the snow comes down and the soil warms up.

Spring sideration

It is necessary to sow siderata in early spring so that they can grow before the time when the planting material of the cucumbers will need to be transferred to the ground. To do this, as soon as the weather permits, sow the seeds of oil radish, rape, mustard, phacelia and close with a film. When the shoots appear, the film is removed.

Cucumbers in the open ground can be sown directly on overgrown siderates, you just need to clean the place and cover with a half of a plastic bottle. When cotyledons or first leaves appear, greenhouses can be removed. Growing green manure around the hole protects young cucumbers from the wind or too hot sunlight. Later, the greens need to be cut: it will serve as a mulching material.

You can mow the grown siderata, sown under cucumbers in spring, or mow down with a plane cutter a week before the expected date of planting the main crop. Green biomass is left on the ground as mulch. It will gradually dry out, begin to decompose, and, accordingly, will bring benefits for the future harvest. For greater effect, you can treat the mulch with the EM preparation.

Sideration in the greenhouse

It is difficult to maintain crop rotation in the greenhouse. And if fertility can be improved by fertilizing and humus, then it is more difficult to get rid of the accumulated pathogenic flora and wintering insects. Siderata for cucumbers will help to cope with this.

From beans, you can use vetch, beans, peas, lupins, clover, clover.

From cereals you can use oats, barley. Rye should be used only if there is a desire to suppress the growth of weeds, but then it is necessary to mow it 3 weeks before planting the main crop. After mowing, you need to use drugs that accelerate the decomposition process.

Consider which siderat is best for cucumbers in the greenhouse. The most optimal and diverse properties are phacelia, rapeseed and mustard. Double benefits will bring planting watercress. It will not only disinfect the soil, but also fill the soil with vitamins.

All auxiliary plants are sown densely, are raked in the soil or mulched on top with compost, humus. They need to be cut before the trunk becomes stiff and seeds begin to form.In this case, siderates will bring maximum benefits:

• restore fertility,
• will structure the soil,
• destroy pathogenic microflora,
• accelerate microbiological cycle,
• protect the earth from drying out and weathering,
• improve the taste of vegetables.