W elcome to the part 2 of this article. I believe you are reading this probably because you find part 1 interesting. This very one promis...
Welcome to the part 2 of this
article. I believe you are reading this probably because you find part 1 interesting.
This very one promises to be as informative and knowledge based as part 1.
Contrary to general insinuation,
veggies farming carry certain degree of risk especially if the farmer fails to
understand GAPs, skill/techniques and market/marketing knowledge which is the
bedrock of successful farming business. I would try as much as possible to
cover so many topics with few words. You may also read: Cucumber Cultivation Dictionary (Part 1)
1. Soil/Plant
fertilizer management
As cucumber is meant to be fed on, they (cucumber crops) need to feed on
nutrients in turn in order to produce. Cucumber plant is a heavy feeder.
Therefore, you may need to boost soil nutrients and plant nutrients to obtain
maximum yield. I would dwell majorly on inorganic fertilization albeit ensuring
Good Agronomic Practices GAPs.
Unless you have access to
affordable soil test analysis, you may need to apply your fertilizer blindly.
In this case, I would advise you use at least three different targeted
applications.
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| Fertilizer application using soda cap as measurement |
First application: (Mixture of
NPK 15:15:15 with SSP or DAP or DSP)
This should be done a week or
less after planting or in form of basal application. Among all these, NPK is the most available at
least in this part of the world. The N (Nitrate) and P (phosphate) are the most
required at this stage. While the former is needed for folia enlargement, the
latter would ensure adequate root development. The SSP (Single Super Phosphate) and its other
variations like DAP or DSP are used to boost root establishment which is
proportional to degree of nutrients uptake. If you can find SSP, it is fine but
if you can’t please make do with only NPK. The mixture of NPK and SSP could be
in ration 5:2 respectively.
You may also read: Agrochemicals application/Fertilizer protocol for tomato and other veggies
Second application: (Urea with
NPK)
This should be done 2 to 3
weeks after planting. What cucumber plants need during the vegetative stage is
Nitrogen but the challenge with using only urea is that it burns easily
therefore leading to the death of the plants. I would advise you mix Urea with
NPK in the ration of 2:10 respectively; providing enough Nitrogen around this
time results to rapid establishment of leaves and sturdy stems which in turn
prepare a stage for high yield. Cucumber plants with many healthy broad leaves
would be able to trap adequate sun light therefore ensuring high yield.
Third application: (SSP or its
other forms with Potassium Nitrate)
This should be applied at
flowering stage. Phosphorus among other uses in plant ensures adequate movement
of water to the fruit thereby increasing fruit size, coloration and market
appeal. Potassium on the other hand ensures flower blossom which is
proportional to fruits numbers. In case you can’t find SSP or its other forms
and Potassium Nitrate, you can still stick with NPK 15:15:15 or 10:15:15 or
0:10:10. Ideally, you don’t need any Nitrogen at this stage again but for the
fact that finding single nutrient fertilizer may be a bit difficult. Fourth
application is optional after first harvest but you are just fine even without
it.
Remember to apply soil
fertilizer to only wet soil or thoroughly irrigate after application and
observe the required distance (6cm-10cm) from plant stand otherwise you may
have just dug the grave of your crop.
Asides soil fertilizer
application, folia fertilizer is very essential for maximum yield and total
wellbeing of the plants. Folia fertilizer supplies micro nutrients you would
not readily find in soil applied fertilizers. This micro-nutrients increase
yield, resistance to pest and disease and prevent flower abortions. There are
number of folia fertilizers you can find in the markets. I advised that you
apply it according to the label every one to two weeks.
You may as well use manure
application in addition to inorganic fertilizer to boost soil properties.
Combining both manure and inorganic fertilizer give better result than using
any of this two nutrients sources alone. Remember that if you must use animal
manure, it must be cured manure (one that has been stored for a considerable
period of time). Courtesy: www.hybridveggies.com
2. Water
management
Do you know that cucumber
fruit is made up of 90% of water? Cucumber and water are great company. Without
adequate water, cucumber plants would be greatly stressed (especially during
dry season) and become very unproductive. A good sign of stressed cucumber
plants are “sleeping leaves” during the hot afternoon that would then “wake up”
again in the morning and twilight. Also, the fruit eventually produced under
this condition would be bitter therefore rejected by buyers. Most importantly,
cucumber plant responds to a lot of factors which often make it to produce
predominantly male flowers rather than female flowers. One of those factors is
heat stress in the absence of enough irrigation water.
Before starting your cucumber
farm during dry season, get your irrigation method right. Many methods of
irrigation would do: spray tubes, drip tapes, furrow flooding, spot wetting
etc. No matter the irrigation method used, make sure it makes the soil very
moist round the clock.
3. Understanding
flower pattern
As I promised you in part one
of these series of articles, I would provide you with resources you haven’t
seen elsewhere before and are extremely practical based. To be successful in
veggies farming, you need to understand flower pattern. This knowledge would
inform you on how you would design your chemical protocol. Please come along. According
to biology, there are basically two types of flower (in this respect): PERFECT
and IMPERFECT FLOWERS.
A perfect flower
This type of flower has both
male and female gametes (Sex organs) on THE SAME flower piece. It is usually
self-fertilization i.e. it does not require cross pollination. If this occurs
in animal kingdom, they are referred to as hermaphrodites.
The chances of pollination are very high. Most often than not, easy pollination
occur readily through flower parts movement or slight wind. Tomato, pepper, eggplant, okra etc. fall into
this class. You need no extra measure to ensure fruiting. You can use any form
of registered insecticide.
Imperfect flower
In this type, male and female
gametes (sex organs) are not on THE SAME flower piece therefore fertilization
only occurs through cross pollination MOSTLY by INSECT (Athropods). There are
two types of imperfect flower: Monoecious
and Dioecious or Gynoecious
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| Cucumber female flower |
§ Monoecious
flower: In this type, male and female gametes are on DIFFERENT flower piece but
SAME parent plant. In order word, male flower on its own while female flower on
its own as well but on the same parent plant. For example, if there are 20
flowers on the plant, 15 flowers could be exclusively female and 5 exclusively
male. In this flower pattern, there is a
need for cross pollination most especially by insects and wind. Cucumber (by
nature), watermelon, squash, maize (all cereals) fall in this group.
§ Dioecious
flower: In this type, male gamete and female gamete are on DIFFERENT flower and
DIFFERENT parent plants. In order word, when you see one parent plant, it
carries ONLY male flowers while another plant carries ONLY female flower. This
requires strong wind, and a lot of insect activities to ensure fertilization.
Some veggies like Cucumber (through biotechnology), pawpaw (by nature) etc.
belong to this class.
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| Cucumber male flower |
This shows that cucumber plant
needs cross pollination to fruit. Most effective cross pollination is carried
out by insect activities (I mean beneficiary insects like Bees, Wasp and
Butterflies etc.). If this is lacking, the yield would be very poor and many
deformed fruits would be produced from incomplete fertilization (mostly caused
by wind pollination). The question is how do you manage the presence of
beneficiary insects?
Having a good understanding of
flower patterns would inform you on how to manage insect infestation. Do you
know that if you want your cucumber to produce average or great yields, there
are some insecticides you should not use? Find more on this and also diseases
management, choice of seeds, engineering pollination to increase yield,
market/marketing of cucumber etc. in our next article. You would get to know that some cucumber seeds from some seed companies are monoecious while some sell dioecious seeds. What are the merit and demerit of your choice? Watch out for this in our next article: (CUCUMBER CULTIVATION
DICTIONARY (Part 3).
I hope you fine this useful.
If you do, be kind to leave comment behind. Cheers!
Courtesy: www.hybridveggies.com
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