Feeding nettle cucumbers: how to cook and fertilize

Feeding cucumbers with nettles can be carried out both at the time of growth of the vegetative mass, and during the appearance of ovaries, and when the crop ripens. This natural fertilizer can be found everywhere - not only in the garden, but also along the forests - on the edges, in ravines, along natural reservoirs, along roadsides.

Cucumbers that are not fertilized do not bear fruit as well as we would like. Therefore, summer residents purchase chemical fertilizers in specialized stores, which are ready for use. But after all, a large amount of natural fertilizers grows near any site, which will not harm the human body and will serve as a good fertilizer for garden plants.

Nettle - a natural top dressing for cucumbers

It should be recalled that not all weeds can be used as organic fertilizer. Some weeds are poisonous in themselves or can release harmful substances when they decompose. And some cereals in the process of decomposition release alcohol. All this is harmful to vegetable plants, harmful substances can accumulate in ripening fruits and harm the human body.

But nettle, which is a medicinal plant, can benefit not only humans, but also growing vegetable crops. Zealous gardeners consider this plant a harmful weed and mercilessly deal with it in the garden and in the garden. But the following active substances were found in the composition of this plant:

macro and microelements Ca, K, Fe, Cu, Zn, Mg, N;
vitamins A and C.

True, some livestock and poultry owners use this weed as a vitamin supplement for their animals. But mostly, summer residents simply get rid of nettles in their area. But cucumbers in the process of growth need N and K.

The lack of these minerals leads to a deterioration in the growth of shoots and roots, the ovaries are poorly formed in this vegetable crop, and the fruits do not ripen to the required size. And at the same time, the source of such minerals is simultaneously mercilessly destroyed.

Feeding vegetable crops with nettle infusion saturates the roots and the whole plant with all the necessary nutrients. Nettle infusion will enrich the soil and plants with a large amount of vitamins and minerals, as well as prevent infection of vegetables with various diseases, provide protection from "harmful" bugs.

Those summer residents who tried to use nettle dressing for vegetable crops in their garden began to treat this weed more respectfully.This stinging weed is collected by them wherever possible, dried and used to feed plants as needed. After all, this medicinal herb retains its valuable properties, both fresh and dried. But a number of gardeners prefer to prepare a nettle infusion for watering plants, which they use all season long.

Nettle infusion for cucumbers

The pungency of the stems of this plant is well known to everyone, so many do not like nettles and prefer to get rid of it whenever possible. However, experienced gardeners and plants use this "flaw" for the benefit of their garden.

You can plant cucumbers in rows, and lay a layer of nettles between them. Caterpillars and other harmful insects will not crawl through such a burning barrier. And if you lay the plucked nettle grass directly along the roots of this vegetable crop, then a layer of this mulch will prevent weed grass from growing, while protecting the plants from pests.And from the side it may seem that cucumbers are planted on nettles.

A number of summer residents prepare nettle fertilizer by grinding it and adding mulch to the layer. This additive enriches the topsoil and prevents erosion.

So, with the question: "Is it possible to fertilize cucumbers with nettles?" all clear. It remains to understand how to prepare nettle fertilizer, and how to feed cucumbers with this top dressing.

Nettle fertilizer is very easy to prepare. The weed is collected and crushed. To prepare the infusion, you can use fresh, dried or dry weed grass. Shredded plants are put into large containers.

The main requirement is that nettle fertilizer is not recommended to be infused in a metal bowl.

Usually, any plastic containers are used to prepare the infusion, where crushed raw materials are placed and poured with water. Water should be preliminarily settled for 24 hours.

Then this infusion should be infused in the shade for two weeks. The smell that this natural fertilizer emits is quite unpleasant, because fermentation occurs in containers. Therefore, such an infusion is usually kept away from country houses where people live.

From above, barrels of food being prepared are covered with polyethylene or lids to limit the flow of oxygen inside. When the fermentation process is over, the fertilizer will smell like regular manure.

After fermentation is complete, nettle fertilizer can be used to irrigate cucumbers under the root (or for foliar top dressing).

Nettle solution should be diluted with water. The proportions in which the infusion is diluted:

for applying under the roots - at a ratio of 1:2;
for cucumbers (their aerial parts) - the ratio is 1:5.

Do not feed peas, beans, soybeans, onions and garlic with such a fermented solution - these vegetable plants do not like nettle infusion.

Nettle infusion feeds cucumbers regularly, which leads to accelerated growth of their stems, an increase in the number of ovaries, and rapid ripening of the crop. Moreover, such a fertilizer is valuable even for indoor flowers, which literally two or three days after the introduction of nettle mash come to life, the foliage becomes more brilliant, and the number of buds increases.

You can use nettle ash as a top dressing. In this case, all cut nettles are dried and burned. The resulting ash is dissolved in water and cucumbers are watered. Nettle ash saturates plants with potassium and nitrogen, which is especially valuable for plants in spring and early summer, when they actively increase their vegetative mass.

Preparing nettle beds

This method of preparing beds for cucumbers is especially common in Siberia and the Urals, where the warm season is short, and cucumbers and other vegetable crops need warmth so much (especially in warm beds).

Preparation of beds on which it will be possible to grow cucumbers in the open field (or in greenhouses) is carried out as follows. First, we prepare the beds themselves - trenches are dug along their length and width for one and a half bayonet spades. To a height of half a bayonet, the trench is filled with nettles, and soil mixed with humus, compost or rotted manure is poured onto the nettles. We plant cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, cabbage in the beds prepared in this way - almost any vegetables and greens can be grown on such “warm” beds.