Content
Zucchini are among those crops that can be found in absolutely any area. This annual plant from the pumpkin family has gained such distribution due to its dietary composition and universal application. What they don't do with it: they add it to the roast, stuff it, not to mention processing it into squash caviar. You can plant zucchini both in a greenhouse and in open ground. In our climate, it is better to leave the greenhouse for other more thermophilic crops, and plant the squash directly in the ground. How to germinate seeds and plant squash seedlings into the ground, and our article will tell.
Requirements for soil and planting site
Zucchini plants do not require careful maintenance from the gardener, but they strongly need the nutrient composition of the soil. Of course, zucchini will be able to grow on poor soils, but the yield of such plants will be extremely low. Before applying all available fertilizers to the soil, you need to decide on its composition:
- If the soil is peaty, then compost or humus is recommended. Two kilograms of fertilizer will be enough for one square meter. In addition, you can add one spoonful of potassium sulfate and superphosphate, and several tablespoons of ash.
- If sand predominates in the soil, then a heavier soil will need to be added to it. For this, sod land, humus with sawdust and peat are suitable. Only then can fertilizers such as ash and superphosphate be applied.
- With black soil in the beds, additional fertilization can be omitted.Experienced gardeners still recommend diluting black soil with sawdust at least once every few seasons. For one square meter, 2 kilograms of sawdust will be enough. When applying, you can add a couple of spoons of mineral fertilizer.
- It is recommended to add sawdust, peat and humus to clay soil at 3 kilograms per square meter.
All these preparations are best done in the fall, at least in the spring, after the snow melts in the beds. After fertilizing, the garden must be dug up to a depth of 25 centimeters, tamped and watered. If fertilizers are applied in the spring, then it will be useful to cover the garden bed with any covering material. This will allow the fertilizer to decompose faster and saturate the soil. If the soil is prepared in the fall, then there is no need to cover the ground.
We have decided on the composition of the soil, but where is it better to plant zucchini? The most optimal place for them will be a sunny and wind-free place. For those gardeners who follow the rules of crop rotation, it is recommended to plant zucchini after the plants:
- both early and white cabbage;
- potatoes;
- tomatoes;
- eggplant;
- any root crops;
- Luke.
Planting plants of this culture after green manure gives good results.
Places after plants are not suitable for zucchini:
- cucumbers;
- pumpkins;
- squash.
Zucchini not only should not be planted after these crops, but also next to them. They are able to pollinate among themselves, thereby having a negative impact on the quality of the future harvest.
Many gardeners and gardeners try to plant zucchini in the same place for many years in a row. This is fundamentally wrong. Zucchini very quickly suck out all the nutrients from the soil, thereby making the garden unsuitable for themselves and other crops of the pumpkin family. Without fertilizing and saturating the soil with the necessary minerals, it is impossible to plant zucchini in the same place for several years in a row.
If a completely new piece of land is chosen for the zucchini, on which not a single crop has grown before, then the first thing to do is to dig it up and apply fertilizer. In the process of digging, it is necessary to remove not only the roots of weeds, but also the larvae of pests.
Preparing and planting seedlings
The quality of the future harvest is influenced not only by the place of planting, but also by the quality of the seedlings. In order for young zucchini plants to have good immunity and increased productivity, the process of preparing seedlings must be taken seriously.
Preparation of zucchini seedlings should begin 3 to 5 weeks before the expected date of planting in a permanent place. And the very first thing to do is prepare the zucchini seeds for planting. This training includes:
- Selection of substandard seeds - plant only intact and full zucchini seeds. It is very easy to understand that the seed is not empty. To do this, all the seeds are immersed in water for a few minutes. Floated zucchini seeds are thrown away, and those sunk to the bottom are left.
- Warming up the seeds - in order to wake up the zucchini seeds, it will be enough to put a container with them on the battery overnight.
- Seed soaking Don't just leave the zucchini seeds in the water. To make them swell, they need to be evenly spread on a damp cloth. It is not recommended to use cheesecloth to soak zucchini seeds. Seeds in the process of soaking give young roots that can get tangled in gauze and break.
For planting zucchini seeds, you can use both purchased soil and made independently from equal parts of sod land, humus and sand. And in fact, and in another case, before planting seeds, the earth must be spilled with boiling water. Such a measure will not only disinfect it, but also protect young plants from the insidious black leg.
As a container for zucchini seedlings, you should choose either seedling pots or cups 10-15 centimeters deep and up to 8 centimeters wide. Zucchini seedlings have a very delicate root system that does not tolerate any transplantation and picking. That is why it is recommended to plant no more than 3 seeds in one container.
In prepared containers with earth, small pits are made up to 3 centimeters deep. Seeds are laid horizontally in them, covered with earth and watered.
A video in which they will clearly show how to plant zucchini seeds for seedlings:
At first, the cups with seeds should be in the warmest place of the house, as a rule, this is the place near the battery. With this temperature regime, zucchini seeds will be able to sprout already on the 5th day. After that, they can be rearranged on a well-lit windowsill and grown at temperatures between 18 and 23 degrees. Already at this stage of growing zucchini seedlings, frail and weak sprouts will be visible. If they are pulled out of the ground, then they can understand a strong sprout behind them. Therefore, they must be carefully cut with scissors at the root.
Zucchini seedlings are watered every 10 days and only with warm water. In this case, it is important not to fall on the leaves, but to water only under the stem. Fertilization of young seedlings is done only twice:
- After 10 days from the emergence of shoots, young zucchini plants are fertilized with a pale solution of potassium permanganate with the addition of superphosphate at the rate of 2 grams per 1 liter.
- After 1 - 1.5 weeks from the first feeding zucchini seedlings are fertilized with any organic matter. Most often, bird droppings and manure are used for zucchini.
Very often, in an apartment, due to a lack of lighting, the seedlings of zucchini are strongly stretched. In this case, you should not pinch the top of the plant, like with tomatoes. You just need to add earth to the stems of the seedlings. This clever trick stimulates the formation of roots on the elongated stems of squash seedlings.
As soon as the first 2 to 4 pairs of leaves are formed in zucchini plants, they should be transplanted to a permanent place. If you overexpose zucchini seedlings, then its root system will fill the entire pot and the plants will begin to turn yellow.
In our climatic zone, marrow seedlings are planted in unprotected beds from mid-May to late July. At the same time, experienced gardeners are advised to plant seedlings in parts. This technique will allow you to extend the fruiting period of zucchini plants.
Small pits up to 5 centimeters deep are made on the selected bed. The optimal distance between adjacent pits is 50 to 70 centimeters.
Typically, seed producers indicate the recommended planting pattern on the seed package.
If the seedlings of zucchini were grown in cups, then before planting the plants must be carefully removed from them. If peat pots served as a container for seedlings, then you do not need to remove the plants. In both cases, the zucchini plants are buried in the hole up to the first cotyledons.
There are two opinions regarding watering planted squash seedlings:
- Water the garden bed before planting seedlings.
- Water the garden bed after planting, directly under the root.
There are no particular differences between them, so each gardener uses the method that is more convenient for him.
It is recommended to mulch the land in the garden next to each zucchini plant. This will allow not only to maintain the necessary moisture in the soil, but also to maintain the optimum temperature. After the young zucchini plants are planted and mulched, the bed is covered with a covering material.
In this case, it is important to slightly drown the edges of the bottle in the ground so that it is not blown away by the wind.
Care of young zucchini plants
As noted above, zucchini is not very demanding to care for. Despite this, the gardener will still have to give them a little attention, which includes:
- Hilling - this procedure should be carried out only in the phase of the 4th or 5th leaf. Hilling will allow the squash plants to grow an additional root system.
- Watering - this is the most important thing in caring for zucchini plants. Their plants should be watered not only regularly, but also quite abundantly. Before the formation of ovaries, one plant needs up to 10 liters of water, and after that even more - about 12 liters. As soon as young zucchini appear on the ovaries, the frequency of watering should be increased. Zucchini are very sensitive to the temperature of the water they use for watering. They like warm water between 22 and 25 degrees. But for watering with water below 15 degrees, zucchini will respond with a sharp decrease in the number and quality of ovaries, which will affect the harvest. During watering, it is very undesirable to get on the leaves of zucchini plants. It is best to water the plants at the root.
- Weeding and loosening - for the whole season they are held no more than 2 - 3 times. If the beds with plants are mulched, then the gardener can safely skip these procedures.
- Top dressing - zucchini fertilization is carried out twice. First, zucchini plants are fed in the active flowering phase. For this, mineral fertilizers containing phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen are used. Then the zucchini plants are fertilized at the beginning of fruit formation with any fertilizers that do not contain nitrogen, for example, ash. If the zucchini are not gaining weight well, then you can make additional feeding with nitrophos or urea, but not more often than once every 2 weeks.
You can learn more about caring for zucchini plants from the video:
Possible diseases and pests
Most often, squash plants are affected by the following diseases:
- Cucumber mosaic - even the most inexperienced gardener will immediately be able to identify this disease. The leaves of squash plants are covered with yellowish or greenish spots and tubercles. The carriers of this disease are aphids and ants, so it is impossible to completely protect plants from mosaics. Today there are many drugs that will help to cope with cucumber mosaic on squash plants, for example, Aktara and Aktelikt. Of the folk methods, the most effective are infusions of onion peel and garlic. They should be sprayed with infected zucchini plants, but it is worth remembering that it is possible to stop any disease on the plants of this culture only at the initial stage.
- Powdery mildew - appears as a white bloom on the leaves. Old leaves are attacked first, and then the whole plant. Powdery mildew is easily carried by the wind, so when the first symptoms appear, you must immediately begin to fight the disease. Of the chemicals, Nitrafen, Kefalon and Carboran have proven themselves well. You can also spray the zucchini plants with an ash solution.
- White rot - the most common and most dangerous disease of zucchini growing in open beds. It infects plants as a result of improper care and unfavorable weather conditions. Unlike other diseases, it develops not only on plants, but also on zucchini, softening them to a mushy state. If white rot occurs, remove all infected plants and squash. Then treat the foci of the disease with chemical preparations containing copper, for example, Cuproscat or Oxychom. You can also sprinkle the hearths with lime or crushed charcoal.
Of the pests, zucchini plants most often affect:
- Melon aphid - spraying plants with infusions of tobacco and yarrow, as well as the chemical Iskra DE, will help to cope with it.
- Sprout fly - its larvae are contained in the manure, so if the gardener does not properly embed it in the soil, then in the spring they will begin to feed on zucchini plants. To cope with them will help the introduction of the preparations Fufanon and Karbofos into the soil. You can also sprinkle the zucchini beds with ash, pepper, or tobacco dust.
If the growth of zucchini seedlings planted in the ground is not allowed to take its course, but take care of them in time, then the likelihood of diseases and pests is minimized.
And the result of such plant care will be an excellent harvest, which, no doubt, will pay off all the efforts of the gardener.
