Is it possible to soak treated cucumber seeds before planting and why to do it

During the pre-treatment of cucumber seeds before planting, various solutions can be used. The procedure is effective and in some cases necessary. Processing ensures good, strong seedlings and a rich, tasty harvest, even when exposed to adverse factors.

Choose the right seeds

To harvest a good crop of cucumbers, you need to choose the right seeds:

• First of all, it is necessary to consider where the crop is supposed to be grown, in open ground or in a greenhouse. For a greenhouse, it is better to choose parthenocarpic varieties (do not require pollination). For open beds, bee-pollinated varieties are chosen.
• It should be decided hybrid or varietal cucumbers will be grown.
• Be sure to get acquainted with the characteristics of the selected variety. At what time it ripens, yield, shade tolerance, drought resistance, level of resistance to diseases and pests, taste.

On the packaging of seeds, you need to pay attention not only to the picture, but also to the description. Basic information about the variety, planting dates, purpose should be posted. You can not buy seedlings that have expired.

Storage of seeds

When choosing seeds, you need to look at their age. If you plant fresh grains, then a lot of barren flowers will appear. For planting choose seeds 2-3 years old. Moreover, storage conditions play a big role in the quality of the future harvest.

Dried seedlings are best stored in paper bags, fabric bags. On the package you need to stick a label with the name of the variety and the date of collection. The package with the possessed is placed in a dry, dark place. Store at a temperature of 15-20 degrees.

Seeds are glued onto paper tapes with a special adhesive at a certain distance from each other. Grains are glued a couple of months before sowing, after which the tape is rolled up and left in a cool, dark place.

Preparing seeds

Before sowing, cucumber seeds must be sorted out by hand. The selected seed material is disinfected, treated with growth-stimulating drugs, hardened and germinated.

Selection of the best specimens

Only dense, evenly colored, undamaged seeds are suitable for sowing. If there are a lot of them, then sorting can be done using a saline solution (50 g of s alt is dissolved in a liter of water). Planting material is immersed in water with s alt for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

For planting, only those seeds that remained at the bottom are left. Empty, damaged seedlings remain on the surface. They need to be thrown away. The remaining grains are washed and dried.

Do I need seed treatment before planting?

If the goods are purchased from a well-known company, then the processing of cucumber seeds before sowing may not be carried out. But most experienced agronomists do not bypass this preparatory stage.

• Soaking guarantees the germination of most planted seeds and accelerates germination. But this procedure will be useless if the weather is good outside, the grains will sprout by themselves.
• When roots appear during soaking, the risk of damage increases, in addition, the seedlings become susceptible to cold and high humidity.
• It is necessary to disinfect planting material, as pathogenic microorganisms may be present on the surface of the peel.
• Hybrid seeds do not need to be treated as they are already treated with fungicides and other treatments.

Pre-sowing treatment can include several items, so you can decide for yourself which one is worth doing and which one will not be needed.

Hybrid seeds

Hybrid seeds are obtained by crossing plants of different varieties to obtain the best characteristics. Hybrid cucumbers are easier to care for, they are more resistant to adverse factors and diseases. But their grains are not recommended for planting next year, as the bushes grow weak, the yield is reduced, and the fruits are formed with poor taste.

Variety seeds

Variety seeds are obtained by crossing plants of the same species. Careful care is required for such cucumbers, they are less resistant to diseases, heat, cold, but their grains can be used as planting material for the next year.

Inlaid seeds

Inlaid seeds are covered with a special shell that dissolves easily in water. Outer shell color may vary. The shell contains components that protect against various infections and pests, stimulate plant growth, and also contains a large number of trace elements.

The size of the seeds does not change during processing. They must be sown in well-drained soil. And in the future, frequent and plentiful watering is required. It is impossible to soak such grains before sowing, otherwise the protective shell will instantly dissolve and there will be no benefit.

Pelleted seeds

Drajated planting material differs from ordinary seeds in that the surface is covered with a protective, nourishing film. It contains components that stimulate plant growth, as well as fertilizers.

Dried beans are large, so they are easier to plant. A distinctive feature of care is frequent and abundant watering. Moisture is necessary for the protective shell to get wet and dissolve. If the soil is dry, the seeds will not germinate.

Seedlings appear together, the growth of cucumber lashes is active, juicy, sweet fruits ripen at the end of the growing season.

Preheat

When preparing planting material, warming up is carried out. The procedure significantly accelerates germination, activates plant growth, reduces the appearance of barren flowers and accelerates the ripening of fruits.

Warming up is carried out for a month at a temperature of +24 degrees. You can put the seedlings in a cloth bag and hang near the heaters. Wet heating can be carried out when the seeds are poured with hot water (+48 degrees) for 25 minutes.

Decontamination and disinfection

During seed calibration, not only empty seeds are selected, but also diseased seeds. As a preventive measure for diseases and pests, the remaining grains must be disinfected. A large number of harmful microorganisms remain on the surface of the grains, which will damage young shoots.

Processing of planting material from diseases can be done in two ways. A simple option is to warm the seedlings for a week in direct sunlight. The sun stimulates development and destroys pathogenic microorganisms. Indoors, you can use an ultraviolet lamp. For wet processing, solutions based on potassium permanganate, hydrogen peroxide, acetic or boric acid, copper sulfate are used.

Thermal methods

Seedlings of cucumbers before planting in open ground are recommended to warm up at a temperature of +58 degrees for 2.5 hours. You can warm up on the stove, in the oven, near heating appliances. If the air temperature is below +52 degrees, then the warm-up time increases.

Heating at high air temperatures before planting in a greenhouse allows you to destroy the pathogens of the virus that can persist inside.

Chemical methods, pickling

There is another way to treat cucumber seeds before planting - a simple dressing. The protective film covers the entire surface of the grains and increases the weight by 2%.

Fungicides such as Premix, Vincit, Dividend, Raksil are used to treat planting material. The active components of drugs produced in the form of liquid and powder are capable of killing pathogens of many diseases.

Cucumber seeds are small and vegetable growers recommend choosing less poisonous preparations. In the pickling process, it is important not only to destroy pathogens on the surface of the grains, but to form a stable immunity.

How to soak seeds?

Whether seeds need to be soaked depends on the pretreatment they have undergone. If during the preparation process a nutritious, protective film is created, then soaking is not carried out.

To carry out the procedure, you will need cucumber seeds, water (melt water or water from a spring is ideal), gauze and a plate. The selected seedlings are spread on a damp fabric surface and covered with another layer of wet gauze on top, then poured with hot water (+33 degrees).

If the water becomes dark during soaking, then it must be changed periodically until the color becomes transparent. The container is moved to a dark place where the air temperature is +23 degrees.

Harm or benefit?

When preparing seeds for planting, many vegetable growers have a question, do they need to be soaked?

If the grains of cucumbers are of good quality, then the soaking procedure is not needed. In good, warm weather, they begin to germinate in three days. In this case, soaking will only harm the treated beans, as the protective film is washed off the surface.

If the soaked planting material sprouts more than 5 mm, this will greatly reduce the resistance to adverse environmental conditions. Cold snap or heavy rains can lead to death.

Soaking is useful for seeds with insufficient moisture inside due to non-compliance with storage rules or for grains that are supposed to be sown for seedlings. In these cases, soaking will be useful: the growth and development of the vegetable crop will accelerate, and disease resistance will increase.

Can treated cucumber seeds be soaked before planting?

Experienced gardeners do not recommend treating cucumber seeds before planting that have been treated. When soaking, water washes away the protective film from the beans.

It is recommended to soak only those seeds that have been disinfected in potassium permanganate or hydrogen peroxide. Before soaking, it is recommended to keep the seedlings in growth stimulants.

Soaking time

The soaking time depends on how the cucumber seeds are processed before planting. In some solutions, it is necessary to withstand throughout the day, in others it is enough to hold for 4-5 hours.

On average, the soaking procedure lasts three days.

If cucumbers are supposed to be grown in a greenhouse, then soaking is carried out in early May. Planting seeds in open ground should be postponed until the end of May, when the threat of frost will decrease and the soil will warm up well enough. Soaking is carried out three days before sowing.

Saline solution

Liquid with s alt allows you to determine suitable seeds for planting. There is nothing complicated, how to properly prepare the liquid. Dissolve 8 g of table s alt in a glass of warm water. Planting material is poured with a ready-made solution.

After 8-10 minutes, the seedlings that have surfaced are removed, and the remaining seed material is washed and dried at a temperature of +21 degrees.

Soda solutions

Before sowing, it is useful to treat the grains with a soda solution. Soda-based solutions are able to have an antimicrobial effect and prolong the fruiting period. To prepare the composition, you need to dissolve 5 g of baking soda in a liter of water. Seeds with this composition are poured for a day. In addition, thanks to the soda composition, the top layer of grains softens, and moisture penetrates inside without obstacles.

Bioactive drugs

It is useful and effective to soak the seed material in biological products, such as Zircon, Epin, Ivin, Potassium or sodium humate.

All drugs are aimed at stimulating growth, increasing resistance to infections and adverse external conditions.

Zircon stimulates the germination of seedlings and strengthens the immune system. A working solution based on Zircon is prepared at the rate of 3 drops of the drug per 320 ml of water. The grains are kept in solution for up to 17 hours. During this time, the first sprouts hatch.

In the ashes

At home, an ash solution can be prepared for soaking seedlings. Ash contains many micronutrients that contribute to better plant growth.

To soak the seeds in the solution, first make an infusion. In a liter of boiled water, 60 g of wood ash is insisted for two days. Then the grains are kept in the finished infusion for 6-7 hours.

Aloe juice

Aloe juice can not only activate plant growth, but also strengthen immunity. Young sprouts treated with juice rarely get sick and are not attacked by pests.

The solution is prepared from the juice of the lower, fleshy leaves of aloe. Pre-cut leaves are wrapped in paper and placed in the refrigerator for 12-14 days. During this time, the maximum amount of useful components will accumulate in the juice.

After two weeks, juice is squeezed out of the leaves of the plant and diluted with water. The seed material is immersed in the prepared solution for a day.

Manganese solution

To disinfect the surface of seeds, a solution of potassium permanganate is often used. To prepare a 1% solution, you need to dissolve 3 g of potassium permanganate in 250 ml of water. The water should turn bright purple. A weak solution does not cope with the infection.

Prepared seedlings are immersed in the solution for 25 minutes, then washed with water. Manganese solution protects against infections that are located on the surface of the grains. The effectiveness of the procedure is reduced if the seeds stick to each other.

Extracts from young seedlings

Effective soaking of cucumber seeds in extracts of young seedlings of any grain crops. The seeds of the selected grain crop are crushed to a powder, poured with water and left to infuse for a day. The finished solution is filtered and the seedlings prepared for planting are poured.

Epin

The active components of the Epin preparation promote rapid seed germination, increase resistance to diseases and pests, and allow you to endure a humid environment due to rain or flooding of the site.

To prepare an effective composition, two drops of the drug must be dissolved in 90 ml of water. The seedlings are kept in the biostimulator for 19 hours. The room temperature should be +22 degrees.

Process Features

For soaking it is ideal to prepare melted water, the water temperature should be +26 degrees. The fabric in which the seeds are located should not dry out. Before soaking, it is recommended to carry out a disinfection procedure.

Germination

If there are doubts about the germination of seeds, then it is better to germinate them first. The disadvantage of the procedure is that such seedlings must be looked after especially carefully. They are often watered and protected from the cold. In addition, if the seeds are planted too deep or their shell dries out, the sprouts will not be able to get rid of the seed coat on their own.

The most popular way to germinate seedlings for planting in open ground is using toilet paper. Toilet paper is folded in several layers, placed on strips of polyethylene and moistened with water using a spray bottle. Cucumber seeds are placed on wet paper at a distance of 4 cm from each other. Then rolled up and placed in a glass of water.

There are other ways to germinate seeds at home for planting in open ground. The beans can be placed in a damp cotton strip and wrapped in a plastic bag.

You can germinate seeds in sawdust. A small container is filled with sawdust, spilled with hot water. After cooling, the seedlings are laid out, lightly sprinkled with sawdust on top and compacted. The container is covered with a plastic bag. Sprouted grains can be easily pulled out, or left to grow cucumber seedlings.

Increase plant immunity

There are many ways to increase the resistance of cucumber bushes to viral, bacterial and fungal infections.

Treatment with growth stimulants

Seed treatment with growth stimulants is carried out not only to enhance the development of the plant, but also to improve immunity and increase the resistance of planting material to adverse environmental factors. Grains are soaked for an hour in preparations such as Epin, Zircon, Sprouts, Amulet. These products are safe for humans and plants, but the dosage must be observed during the preparation of the solution.

Hardening or stratification

Hardening helps plants to better tolerate temperature changes and develops resistance to other adverse environmental factors. Seeds that have undergone a hardening procedure feel better in cold soil, rarely get sick with rot.

The grains are wrapped in a damp cloth and placed in the refrigerator for two days. The best storage place is the refrigerator door, where the temperature is +3 degrees. After hardening, the grains can be processed in nutrient formulations and planted.

Bubbling - oxygen treatment

Bubbling is carried out to saturate the planting material with oxygen. It is advisable to carry out the procedure with cucumber seeds that are more than 5 years old. Bubbling activates energy and promotes better growth.

The seeds are put in a cloth bag and placed in a jar of warm water. After that, air is supplied using an aquarium compressor. The compressor tube is placed close to the bag so that air bubbles evenly surround its contents. The procedure lasts throughout the day.

Planting seedlings

In order for young seedling bushes to feel good in a new place, you need to transplant correctly. If the planting material was processed correctly, and the seedlings were watered on time and correctly, fertilizers were applied and other important care items were carried out, then adaptation will be quick and easy.

To the greenhouse

Seedlings are ready for transplanting into the greenhouse when two pairs of true leaves unfold on the stem and two tendrils appear. If the greenhouse is not heated, then you need to wait for the air temperature to be +23 degrees during the day, and at least +16 at night. The soil should warm up to +15 degrees. This time approximately coincides with the first days of May, seedlings are planted a month before transplantation.

Open ground

Seedlings of cucumbers in open ground can be planted when the ground warms up to +13 degrees. The site intended for planting is preliminarily dug up, loosened and fertilized. Cucumbers love light, loose soil.

With increased acidity, wood ash is added to the soil. Two weeks before transplanting, ammonium nitrate, superphosphate and potassium sulfate are added to the soil.

The distance between the sprouts in the garden bed should be 13 cm. Humus or compost is laid out at the bottom of the hole. After that, a sprout is planted along with an earthen clod. It is good if the seedlings were grown in separate peat pots. In this case, the sprout along with the glass is visited in the hole. Then it is abundantly watered with water and sprinkled with earth.

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