Pollinating cucumbers on the windowsill: methods

The dishonesty of farmers who grow vegetables, expressed in the generous flowing of chemicals by plants, as well as the cost of fruits on the market, are the main reasons that more and more apartment owners are trying to acquire beds directly on the windowsills. In order for the crop to please, it is important to know how to pollinate cucumbers growing on the windowsill - the amount of ovary depends on this.

Important secrets

Pollinate cucumbers on the windowsill for one reason - the result of the process will be an ovary, which will turn into juicy crispy fruits. For this, it is necessary that pollen from male flowers fall on female.

Inexperienced gardeners, in the absence of experience, will not be able to distinguish between the sexual characteristics of inflorescences, because for them all the flowers are “on one face”. In fact, everything is simple - male flowers are usually located near the main stem and gather in small groups. Females most often grow single, near each inflorescence there is a small long thickening, resembling a tiny cucumber in shape. It is by this process that it is possible to ensure that a small fruit begins to develop and turn into a large tasty green leaf.

You can engage in a fascinating process both in winter and in spring - it all depends on when the seeds of the vegetables were sent to the ground. The sooner you pollinate cucumbers on the windowsill in a private house or apartment, the faster the plants will delight the crop.

It is better to engage in pollination not on the day of the blossoming of the inflorescences, but after 20-24 hours, while trying to increase the humidity on the windowsill. This can be done with the help of a household spray gun, or simply put a wide bowl of water near containers with plants - the vapor will fill the air with much-needed moisture.

Most owners prefer to engage in this process in the winter in order to achieve an early harvest, but it is recommended that the process be repeated for several months, this will allow enjoying the taste of personally grown crispy products for almost the entire season.

It is better not to deal with pollination during the day; the ideal time is early morning or evening hours. If the weather is cloudy, you can start an interesting activity in the afternoon. Pollinating plants in bright sunlight, you should take care of the shadow - you can use a newspaper or a light curtain (tulle).

Read also:

• Watercress: growing on the windowsill
• How to grow dill on the windowsill in the apartment?

With a brush

The easiest option to achieve the appearance of an ovary is to pollinate cucumbers at home with a brush. For plants growing on the windowsill, choose a small tool, but always with natural soft bristles. Such a brush is not cheap, but it will serve reliably for many years.

Act in this order:

1. Armed with a brush and carefully collect pollen from male flowers.
2. Make sure that tiny dry dust remains on the bristles (usually it is a bright yellow shade). In this case, the brush should be absolutely dry, otherwise the pollen will remain on the bristles.
3. Gently apply pollen to female cucumber inflorescences.
4. You can take pollen from the male flowers of one plant during the process, and pollinate the female flowers of other cucumber bushes - this will allow you to grow even beautiful greenery.
5. Cover the worked flowers with “hats” made of paper.
6. The next day, carefully inspect all female inflorescences, remove flaccid.
7. To remove protective "caps" only after it will be noticeable that the ovary increases. Care does not change, but you can increase the amount of moisture during watering.

It is better not to remove male flowers, because pollen can be collected from them for several days. Only after they began to fade, remove them from the plant so that the cucumber bushes do not waste their strength and direct them only to increase and ripen the fruits.

Often, resourceful owners of beds on window sills use cotton buds for pollination. This is not recommended - the efficiency is significantly reduced, a lot of pollen just gets stuck in cotton.

Simple method

To get crisp cucumbers at home, you don’t need special skills and knowledge, because all that is needed will be given by the plant itself. For pollination, only flowers are needed, and they should be both male and female.

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Step by step process:

1. To tear out a male inflorescence, necessarily large and healthy, without spots or dry patches on the petals (often they indicate the presence of a disease).
2. Remove all the petals, leaving only the pestle.
3. Gently hold your finger on the pestle and make sure that there is a lot of pollen on it (it is clearly visible on the skin of the fingertips).
4. Touch the stamens of the female flower with a pestle, you can even rub them.
5. If the cucumber bushes are generous with male flowers, pistils can be left in female inflorescences, this ensures that pollination takes place and the ovary begins to grow.
6. In order not to carry out the process again, worked-out flowers can be identified using a thread for this.

You can visually familiarize yourself with the process when watching an interesting video on how to pollinate cucumbers. An educational video will give answers to questions that often arise during work.

Some useful tips and tricks

In this process, the temperature regime is considered important, increasing the chances of developing an ovary, increasing the number of new flowers. The temperature on the windowsill should not exceed 24-27 degrees.

An increased regime threatens that the pollen will lose fertilization properties, and even if they succeed, cucumbers stubbornly refuse to grow. A low temperature (about 10-14 degrees) also will not contribute to an increase in yield - the fruits will be small and crooked.

After harvesting the first crop, new flowering can be stimulated. To do this, it is enough to reduce the temperature by 7-10 degrees and use top dressing. As a fertilizer, it is recommended to take organics - a diluted infusion of mullein or domestic chickens.

In urban conditions, getting organic components is not easy, so you can use purchased drugs, the main components of which are:

• phosphorus;
• potassium;
• urea.

Urea will be especially useful, because it helps to increase the number of ovaries. You can prepare a solution of several handfuls of compost, 10-20 gr. urea and buckets of water - after such a “treat” the plants will please the owners with lush greenery and plentiful flowering.

It is not difficult to grow an excellent crop of Zelentsy in a city apartment on a windowsill. Do not be upset if you could not get self-pollinated varieties of cucumbers, because you can independently cope with this fascinating process.

Acquaintance with the rules will help to adequately cope with the task, and crispy fruits will be enough to feast on plenty and fill the shelves with fragrant preservation.