Potassium fertilizers for cucumbers: types and application of dressings

Many gardeners neglect the use of mineral and organic fertilizers while growing crops. Potash fertilizers for cucumbers are a necessary fertilizer, without which it will be impossible to get a good and stable crop. During cultivation, the soil becomes thinner and needs to be fertilized regularly.

Characteristics of potash fertilizers

Potassium fertilizer is one of the most common mineral fertilizers in agriculture, which is used to improve plant immunity and accelerate growth during the growing season.

The use of potassium for cucumbers helps create a protective barrier in the soil that prevents the development of harmful insects.In addition, potassium fertilizer for cucumbers has a beneficial effect on their he alth. With sudden changes in temperature and prolonged rains, cucumbers are less likely to get sick. Fruits of vegetables that have been fertilized with potassium last longer after harvest.

Deficiency of minerals always negatively affects the growth and formation of ovaries in vegetables. Organics alone will not be enough to grow a rich harvest.

Varieties of potash fertilizers

Potash fertilizers are divided into two main types:

Simple;
Complex.

As you can understand from the names, complex dressings contain several minerals, and simple ones contain only one.

Varieties of simple dressings:

Potassium humate liquid

Potassium humate in liquid form is diluted with cool water and watered cucumber beds. This fertilizer can be used together with organic matter.

Feeding cucumbers with potassium humate helps to increase the yield and the percentage of germination of planting material, stimulates the immune system of plants, and also increases the shelf life of the crop.

One of the main benefits of potassium humate for cucumbers is the ability to remove toxins and nitrates from plants. Cucumbers can be treated with this agent before sowing seeds and during the growing season.

Potassium sulfate

If cucumbers do not have enough nutrition, then potassium sulfate can be used. It helps to improve the circulation of fluid in plant tissues.This ensures that nutrients are evenly distributed throughout the plant. Potassium sulfate also has a beneficial effect on the formation of shoots in cucumbers.

You can fertilize the soil at any time. If the soil on the site is heavy, then it can be fertilized in the fall to prepare for planting the next crop. If the soil is light, then top dressing is applied in the spring during the digging of the soil and during the growing season for cucumbers.

Potassium s alt

The lack of potassium in a cucumber can be replenished by regularly watering the beds with a solution of potassium s alt. This fertilizer is obtained by mixing two substances: potassium chloride and sylvinite. It is necessary to make potassium s alt only in sandy or peaty soils, where there is a lack of potassium. Fertilizer has the last effect on the growth and development of cucumbers.

Feeding in autumn after harvest.

Complex:

Monopotassium phosphate

Potassium monophosphate dissolves in water. Feed cucumbers during planting in a permanent place in the spring. Fertilizer improves immunity and promotes active growth. Under the influence of substances, flowering in cucumbers begins earlier, and the ovaries form more actively.

Nitrophoska

If there is not enough potassium, then you need to feed the cucumbers with nitrophoska. This is a nitrogen-potassium fertilizer, which provides the bushes with active flowering of crops, the formation of ovaries and fruits.

Potassium nitrate

How to feed cucumbers? You can also feed cucumbers with potassium nitrate. The most favorable period is fruiting. Potassium nitrate is especially suitable as a fertilizer for greenhouse cucumbers. It contains potassium and nitrogen.

If crops are fertilized with several substances, then their dosage should be halved. It is not advisable to overfeed cucumbers. Since in this case they will begin to bear fruit worse.

When to feed

Lack of potassium negatively affects the growth and development of cucumbers. Therefore, it is important to apply fertilizers to the soil in a timely manner. To ensure positive results, it is important to accurately determine the period when top dressing will be most acceptable for cucumbers.

The initial state of the soil is also important. If the soil contains enough nutrients, then you can do without fertilizing.

How to feed cucumbers at home?

If the soil contains enough potassium, then cucumbers do not need additional fertilizer. If there is a lack of potassium, then it is necessary to apply simple or complex fertilizers, which include it.

It is important to remember that at different stages of the life of cucumbers they require different substances.

When to feed potash plants:

During planting in a permanent place, there may be a lack of potassium in cucumbers;
Suffer from potassium deficiency plants and during the growing season and the formation of shoots;
It is especially important to feed cucumbers with humic fertilizers during the fruiting period. At this time, potassium is actively absorbed by the bushes from the soil.

For greenhouse cucumbers, the potassium solution should be less concentrated. In greenhouses, due to high humidity and high air temperature, the amount of substances only increases.

Feeding with potassium differs in the way it is applied to the soil. There are two types:

Root;
Foliar.

But with any method, only warm water can be used to dilute the product.

How to understand that cucumbers need potassium

If there is not enough potassium in the soil, then this will be clear from the appearance of the bushes. To know exactly when a mineral deficiency began, it is important to know the signs of potassium deficiency.

Symptoms of Potash Deficiency:

Scourges and leaves begin to grow actively, but practically no ovaries are formed;
Leaves turn darker;
A yellow border appears on the leaves, gradually they begin to dry out;
Zelentsy become pear-shaped.

Another sign by which one can determine the lack of minerals in the soil is empty flowers, as well as a strong stretching of the bushes up. If any of these signs are observed, then manure can also be used as an organic fertilizer.

How to feed cucumbers with potassium

The first feeding with potassium should still contain phosphorus and nitrogen. It is introduced at the stage of germination. When the first three leaves appear on the seedlings, you can start applying mineral fertilizers. Then repeat it every 15 days.

Frequently feeding the bushes is also not recommended. Otherwise, there will be an excess of minerals in the soil and the plants will begin to actively grow deciduous mass, and the fruits will stop growing.

In the greenhouse, the application of dressings should not exceed 5 times. In the open field - 7. Cucumbers fed in this way grow more actively, and the fruits are stored longer.

Many gardeners prefer to alternate between organic and non-organic. But this advice should be followed only if the soil is very poor. If during the planting of seedlings organic fertilizers were already introduced into the soil, then during the season it is necessary to feed the cucumbers only with minerals.

For potassium top dressing, it is preferable to choose foliar top dressing, because in this case, if the bushes are overfed, then ripe vegetables will not be bitter.

If ready-made complex fertilizer is used, then it should be prepared according to the instructions.

Before the flowering of cucumbers:

250 gr. mullein (you can take bird droppings);
2 tsp superphosphate;
2 tsp potassium;
10 liters of warm water.

Mix all ingredients and dilute with warm water. Water from a watering can closer to the roots of the bushes. After such top dressing, cucumbers will have more nutrients.

Next time, homemade cucumbers should be watered by the beginning of the fruiting period, when the formation of ovaries begins.

10 liters of warm water;
200 gr. mullein;
1.5 tbsp l. nitrophoska.

Water cucumbers under the root, trying not to touch the leaves.

You can also water the bushes with potassium monophosphate. But before using, you need to pay attention to the appearance of the greens. If the shape of the cucumbers is pear-shaped, then top dressing can be applied. If greens are of normal form, then there is no need for it.