Cucumbers are tender, crisp, and nutritious, making them a popular fruit and vegetable for all ages and extremely popular in the market. While they're easy to grow and maintain, maintaining healthy cucumbers requires considerable effort. This is especially true for a vegetable like cucumbers, which require a lot of fertilizer, so proper fertilization is crucial. So how should you fertilize cucumbers correctly? Let's find out.
Cucumber Fertilizer Requirements
Cucumber plants have different requirements for nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium at different stages of growth. Generally speaking, before fruiting, the plant's nutrient intake primarily supports root and leaf growth and flower bud differentiation. However, after fruiting, nutrient demand gradually increases, reaching a peak, with nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium accounting for approximately 50% of the total. In the later stages of fruiting, nutrient absorption begins to decline, with nitrogen and potassium absorption particularly declining.
Cucumber Fertilization Methods
1. Base Fertilizer
Base fertilizer should primarily consist of well-rotted organic fertilizer, supplemented with chemical fertilizers. Generally speaking, for plots with medium soil fertility, 4,000-6,000 kg of well-rotted chicken manure plus 20-30 kg of superphosphate can be applied per mu.
2. Seedling Stage
One week after planting, apply a water-soluble fertilizer for rooting and seedling growth during the mulch-covering and watering period. Typically, an amino acid-based water-soluble fertilizer should be used, with an application rate of approximately 5 kg per mu. This is primarily intended to encourage new root sprouting and robust growth during the seedling stage, laying the foundation for later fruit production.
3. Early Flowering Stage
Spray 0.3-0.5% urea or 0.2-0.3% potassium dihydrogen phosphate solution on the leaves. Plant fertilization should primarily consist of diluted human manure and urine, applied in small, frequent applications.
4. Flower Bud Differentiation
It generally takes about 15 days for cucumbers to differentiate from flower buds and determine sex. By this time, the cucumbers are typically already planted in the field. Therefore, it is important to apply additional fast-acting nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertilizers during the planting period. This is crucial for improving flower quality and increasing early yield and quality. 5. Topdressing
Fertilize during the expansion phase. Water when the cucumber stems begin to swell, and apply 10 kg of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium compound water-soluble fertilizer along with the water. During this period, the lower stems need nutrients for growth, and the vigorous growth of the stems also requires nutrients, so water and fertilizer management should be strengthened.
6. Harvesting
During the harvesting period, every 1,000 kg of cucumbers requires 4 kg of nitrogen fertilizer, 3.5 kg of phosphorus fertilizer, and 5.5 kg of potassium fertilizer, with an absorption ratio of 1:0.87:1.34. Thereafter, water every 7-8 days and apply topdressing regularly according to the nutrient requirements during the growing period.
The above is an introduction to cucumber planting and fertilization methods. Of course, specific adjustments should be made based on the plant's growth and soil conditions. In short, avoid blindly applying fertilizers to avoid fertilizer overload.
