How to pinch cucumbers in the greenhouse and on the street: step-by-step instructions and useful tips

Growing cucumbers in open and closed ground is slightly different. Changes in care also apply to pickling cucumbers. How to form bushes correctly in both cases? You will find detailed instructions below.

What are stepsons and picking cucumbers

The side shoots of the cucumber bush growing from the axils of the leaves of the main stem are called stepchildren. They feed on the central shoot, weakening it and reducing the number of fruits.

Instead of forming ovaries and fruits, the plant spends energy on the formation of long lashes and foliage. The central and lateral shoots compete with each other for nutrients and solar energy. The main stem begins to grow strongly, due to which the foliage becomes small, and the fruits are weak and inconspicuous.

The essence of pinching is the separation of excess lateral shoots from the bush. A correctly performed procedure heals the plant and significantly increases its yield, on average by 2 kg per bush. Another plus of pinching is thinning, after which the main parts of the plant gain access to light. Grazing is necessary for both greenhouse cucumbers and open field plantings.

Nothing terrible will happen if this procedure is not carried out at all, because the abundance of side lashes is a natural form of a cucumber bush. However, the use of pinching improves the condition of the plantings and has a positive effect on the harvest, so it is definitely worth including this procedure in the care.

The need for pinning

Some varieties do not need pinching. On the contrary, pinching can harm them. How to identify such varieties? These are single-stemmed plants that do not curl, with poorly developed lateral branches. Passionking is not carried out on varieties with predominantly female flowers - they do not need it.

For all other varieties, pinching is necessary. On the bush, along with the female flowers, male flowers are formed. They participate in pollination, but do not bear fruit. Because of the excess of such flowers, cucumbers have a bitter taste. Up to 80% of such stepchildren are removed.

General rules

During pinching, it is easy to damage the main shoot, thereby further weakening the plant. To avoid mistakes and loss of a significant part of the crop, follow these tips:

1. The stepson is pinched off by hand or cut off with well-sharpened scissors.
2. First, you need to bend the leaf with one hand, and then gently pinch off the side shoot near the stem with the other.
3. Not all stepsons are removed: you need to leave one or two shoots on the bush in the lower part. When the formation of ovaries stops on the central shoot, these lashes will take the baton.
4. It is forbidden to remove all appendages and because of their need for the formation of glucose, which is involved in the formation of fruits.
5. The procedure is carried out until about mid-late July. In the future, pinching is not necessary; it will rather reduce the quality of the crop.
6. A sign that it is time to pinch the shoots - they have stretched out to 3-6 cm. This is the optimal length to notice and painlessly remove the branches. Cutting or breaking off little stepsons is easier for the plant. It is important not to start the growth of cuttings, since they pull the bulk of the food onto themselves, depriving the growing fruits of valuable substances.

Instructions for greenhouse cucumbers

In the greenhouse, due to the constant comfortable conditions, cucumber lashes grow more strongly than in a garden bed. Moreover, being under the hood, the plants receive little light.There is a constant struggle for this resource between the lashes. Stepping into children in such conditions is mandatory. Thinning will make the plantings healthier, and the number of full-fledged fruits will increase markedly.

How to pinch cucumbers in a greenhouse, step by step instructions:

1. The start of the pinching procedures occurs at the time of the formation of the fourth leaf on the central shoot.
2. All stepchildren below this level are carefully removed in a convenient way.
3. The next stage of pinching is planned on the day the eighth true leaf appears. On each side branch, one leaf and one ovary are left.
4. The third stage is carried out with the appearance of 10-11 leaves. On the side shoots, two ovaries and two leaves are kept.
5. When more than 12 leaves are formed, the main stem is tied to a trellis. Three leaves of the ovary are left on the lateral stems.
6. The last stage is pinching the top, when the stem is extended by 50 cm. So the remaining side shoots will also develop and form fruits. Grasshopping of lateral shoots should be continued as needed.

Advice! Even if fruits began to form on the stepson, he must still be removed. The central whip will bear fruit better anyway.

Open field grazing: rules

Although the cucumbers growing in the garden receive more light and nutrition from the soil, pinching will not damage them, but, on the contrary, will increase fruiting. Since mainly insect pollinated varieties are grown in the open field, they form barren flowers - male flowers. Such shoots must be removed.

How to pinch cucumbers growing in the open field, recommendations:

1. Trellises are installed on the garden bed before planting cucumbers so that the stem wraps around them as it grows.
2. Bushes should be planted at an interval sufficient to illuminate and ventilate all parts. The optimal step between the holes is 50 cm.
3. When the lash grows 20-30 cm, the top is pinched off and the adventitious shoots are removed from 3-4 leaves.
4. With the appearance of the sixth leaf along the entire length of the central shoot, the whiskers and processes must be removed.
5. When the plant stretches up to 1 m, it will not hurt to pinch the growing point and tie up the vine.

Grazing cucumbers is not an easy procedure, but the effort is worth the more abundant and tasty harvest. In thinning the bush, the main thing is moderation, since excessive pruning is harmful as well as its absence.