What kind of soil do cucumbers like and how to properly treat it before and after planting

To get a bountiful harvest of cucumbers, you need to choose the right place for sowing. The key role is played by knowledge of suitable soil characteristics, the ability to cultivate it and prepare it for planting. How to do this correctly, read our article.

What kind of soil do cucumbers like?

Before planting cucumbers, choose an area with suitable soil or make the soil yourself. The soil should be light, nutritious, well-permeable to moisture and air, and free from silver inclusions in the form of salts.

Reference! The cucumber has a shallow root system, so when choosing and preparing the soil, you need to pay attention to the characteristics of its upper layers.

For this crop, soil with the following parameters is suitable::

• mechanical characteristics - light, loose, air and water permeable;
• acidity - neutral, within 4.5-7 pH;
• temperature - from 12°C to a depth of 20 cm;
• the humus content is high, especially in the upper layers of the earth;
• humidity - constant, moderate, without drying out and accumulation of water;
• microbiological activity is high.

It can be useful:

Why do cucumber ovaries turn yellow and what to do about it?

How and what to feed cucumbers for their record yield

Why do rusty spots appear on cucumber leaves?

The crop grows best on sandy and loamy soils. The ideal soil for cucumbers should include:

• sand - makes the soil light, acts as a drainage material;
• sawdust is an organic leavening agent (microorganisms responsible for the decomposition of wood actively absorb nitrogen from the soil during their activity, which is useful for such plants);
• peat - improves the moisture capacity of the soil and increases its nutritional value;
• turf - contains organic matter and humus;
• mullein - contains substances that give carbon dioxide to cucumbers, creates a greenhouse effect in the garden, protects the crop from sudden drops in temperature;
• humus is a source of nutrients presented in a form convenient for absorption.

The table shows which soils are suitable for growing cucumbers:

What cucumbers don't like

Cucumbers do not yield in alkaline soils with high pH levels. They also do not like dry and heavy soil. In the table you can see unsuitable soils for planting cucumbers:

How to prepare the ground before planting

It is important to properly prepare even suitable soil for planting cucumbers. In beds arranged in boxes (greenhouses and bulk), you can replace the old soil with fresh one, prepared according to one of the recipes:

1. Sawdust, rotted manure and peat are combined in a ratio of 1:2:2, after which 250-300 g of wood ash and a dessert spoon of superphosphate, urea and potassium sulfate are added to each bucket of the mixture.
2. Mix equal amounts of humus, compost and turf. 25 g of superphosphate, a glass of ash and 15 g of potassium sulfate are diluted in 5 liters of water. This volume of liquid is poured into a bucket of soil mixture.
3. Peat, mullein, sand, rotted manure and sawdust in a ratio of 5:1:1:1:1.
4. Turf, compost, high peat and sawdust in equal parts.

In other cases, preparation begins in the fall. To do this, dig the bed to a depth of 25-30 cm and 1 m² soils add 5-8 kg of manure and 10 g of fertilizer with potassium and phosphorus (can be replaced with a glass of ash).

Attention! If the soil is light and crumbly, then the addition of organic matter is postponed until spring.

Spring tillage before planting goes like this::

1. A week before planting, the bed is dug up again, breaking up earthen lumps and removing weeds.
2. Form grooves 20-30 cm deep and fill them with rotted manure, compost, hay, leaves or sawdust at the rate of 5 kg per 1 m².
3. The grooves are filled with fertile soil, loosened and covered with film.
4. A day before planting, add a mineral complex of 45 g of superphosphate, 20 g of nitrate and 30 g of potassium salt.

If the bed is formed in an open area, not protected from direct sunlight, winds and drafts, it is recommended to plant corn or sunflowers around it.

Read also:

Is it possible to trim leaves from cucumbers and how to do it correctly

Why do we need nitrogen fertilizers for cucumbers in a greenhouse?

How to disinfect

To disinfect the soil in a greenhouse or garden bed outdoors, you can treat it with one of these products.

What to feed

The soil is fertilized not only at the preparation stage before planting, but also at different periods of plant development. At the same time, it is important to correctly combine organic matter and mineral fertilizers, as well as apply them at the right time. The following table will help you understand all the intricacies.

Acidity test

You can measure soil acidity using time-tested traditional methods. Such methods will not determine the exact pH value, but will help you get your bearings before planting cucumbers.

Acidity test:

1. Take a handful of dry soil from the garden bed and pour it with table vinegar. If small bubbles appear on its surface, then the pH is normal. If no reaction occurs, the soil is acidic and needs to be limed.
2. Place 5-6 cherry or bird cherry leaves in a transparent glass container and pour 200 ml of boiling water. When the liquid has cooled to room temperature, throw in a handful of soil. If the infusion turns green, it means the soil is neutral, blue means slightly acidic, and red means acidic.
3. Place some soil in a glass of natural grape juice. If bubbles remain on the surface of the drink for a long time, the soil in the garden is neutral.
4. Common weeds will help determine the acidity of the soil. Note which grass you most often see in your area and compare it with the data in the table.

Acidic soil is not suitable for growing cucumbers, therefore, before the autumn digging, 200-300 g per 1 m are added to it² the following means:

• gypsum;
• slaked lime;
• dolomite flour;
• chalk;
• wood ash;
• crushed eggshells;
• limestone;
• peat ash;
• cement dust.

Before adding these products, humus and cow manure should not be added to the soil., otherwise the substances will not work.

Attention! If the deoxidation procedure was not carried out during the autumn preparation of the bed, water the soil with an infusion of manure and liquid nitrogen fertilizer.You can also sow a place for cucumbers with phacelia, and after 15 days dig up the soil along with the sprouts.

Gardeners use citric and oxalic acid to acidify the soil.. Dilute 60 g of the substance in 10 liters of water and water the soil. The resulting volume of solution is enough to combat alkaline and neutral environments per 1 m² beds.

0.5 kg of rotted pine needles or a mixture of 100 g of sulfur and 1.5 kg of peat will help increase the acidity of the soil. The product is applied to the soil in late autumn. Also sYou can acidify the soil using rotted manure and mineral fertilizers:

• superphosphate;
• magnesium sulfate;
• ammonium or copper sulfate.

To increase acidity, you can sow the bed before winter green manure plants, and in the spring dig it up along with the seedlings. They will not only improve the quality of the soil, but also fertilize the site.

How to treat a garden bed after harvesting cucumbers

After the final harvest, all cucumber vines and weeds are removed from the garden bed.. Then the ground is dug up and sprayed with a solution of trichodermin: for an area of ​​10 m² take 2-5 g of the drug and dilute it in 1 liter of water.

The best predecessors of cucumbers

Before planting cucumbers in the garden, remember what grew in this place before them. This culture can be planted after the following crops:

• all varieties of cabbage help loosen the soil;
• legumes and peas - form nitrogen-fixing bacteria on their roots, which improve the characteristics of the soil and make it more fertile;
• nightshades (tomatoes, peppers) - have bactericidal properties (they disinfect the soil on which they grow);
• onions, especially those grown from sets;
• potatoes, rapeseed, alfalfa, rye, mustard, clover and barley - increase the acidity of the soil, so they will be good predecessors of cucumbers in areas with low pH.

What to plant after cucumbers

It’s not worth planting cucumbers in the same place every year.. After them, the following will take root well in the garden:

• radish;
• beans;
• cabbage;
• peas;
• potato;
• beet;
• onion;
• tomatoes;
• garlic.

Conclusion

Proper selection of soil and its proper preparation is the key to obtaining a rich harvest of cucumbers. Soil cultivation begins in the fall and ends in the spring, before planting the crop. A week before sowing, gardeners bring acidity back to normal and also saturate the soil with nutrients.