Grow strong and stocky cucumber seedlings at home, without a greenhouse

How can you grow healthy, not elongated cucumber seedlings in the open field, without a greenhouse?

The advantage of the seedling method is that you can get an earlier harvest of your cucumbers in June, in the absence of the spread of powdery mildew and other diseases. By July, the plants will already be quite strong and have strong immunity.

For planting in a greenhouse, I choose ultra-ripening hybrids. Sowing seeds for seedlings is carried out from April 15-20. I pre-soak the seeds for 20 minutes in hydrogen peroxide, then rinse them under running water in gauze and leave them to germinate in wet cotton pads.

Seeds germinate quickly (literally overnight) at temperatures from + 25- + 28 degrees, if left near the battery.

I sow the germinated seed material in 200 ml plastic cups, which I fill with fertile soil. The latter consists of garden, sod land, river sand and wood ash. The soil for cucumbers turns out to be loose, air-consuming.

I make drainage holes at the bottom of each cup. Sprouted seeds are laid out in containers with soil. I cover them a little with soil and spill Fitosporin according to the instructions.

Seedlings grow for the first time in cups at home under an ultraviolet lamp, then I take them out in boxes covered with film on top to a summer house with a large window or a veranda well-lit by the sun. With night frosts, I bring the plants into the house.

If the ambient temperature is more than +16 degrees, then cover or remove the film completely. After a month, I transplant young plants by transferring them into a greenhouse or a newly-made greenhouse. Plants take root quickly, because the roots are practically not damaged.

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