Cucumber "Alpaka" F1

* How to protect cucumbers from cold weather?
Unpredictability of weather often destroys young vegetable plants, which we grow with such care through seedlings or direct sowing in the spring.
Cucumber is a heat-loving crop, the death of which occurs even at low positive temperatures. When planting cucumbers early, the likelihood of cold damage to the plants increases. Don't rush into cucumber season. Cold snaps in mid-May (when bird cherry blossoms and oak leaves bloom) and the last spring frosts at the end of May determine the timing of sowing/planting. But how can you still protect plants from low temperatures?
There are agrotechnical ways to increase the cold resistance of cucumbers. Here are some of them:
1. Pre-sowing hardening of seeds. Seeds (ungerminated) in a damp cloth are placed in the refrigerator for 2 days and kept at a temperature of 0…-2ºС, after which they are immediately sown. The material must be moistened all the time.
2. Growing cucumber on steam beds allows planting in unheated greenhouses from the first ten days of May. 2 weeks before planting seedlings, dig a trench 30-40 cm deep along the ridge, lay biofuel there in a layer of at least 30 cm (fresh unfrozen manure, sawdust, household waste), spill it with hot water with the addition of mineral fertilizers and cover it on top and sides fertile soil in a layer of 15 cm. Cucumbers are planted when the soil temperature, after self-heating, drops to +25ºС. Cucumber roots are more sensitive to cold than above-ground organs. Plants whose root system is in normal temperature conditions thanks to the heated biofuel can tolerate drops in air temperature to +1...+5ºС for 1-2 days.
3. Cover young plants with two layers of plastic film, between which there is an air gap. The air gap works on the principle of a thermos. In high greenhouses, film frames are installed during the cold period. With the onset of warm weather, one layer of film is removed. Instead of inner polyethylene film, you can use lutrasil.
4. Before a strong drop in temperature around the plants, birch branches with leaves are densely stuck into the ground to create shading. After a few days, the branches are removed. Also, just before frost, you can make a frame of slats over the plants and put spruce branches, dry grass or any other heat-retaining material on top of it. You can keep cucumbers under this “blanket” for 3-5 days.
5. Grafting a cucumber onto a cold-resistant rootstock - figoleaf pumpkin. In the same seedling pot, a cucumber is first sown, and after 4-5 days - a pumpkin (at a distance of 2-3 cm from each other).
At the stage of 2-4 true leaves, grafting begins. Using a razor, cuts are made on the subcotyledon or the first internode of the cucumber and pumpkin. The length of the cuts is 1.5-2 cm, the depth is up to half the diameter of the stems. The skins of the tongues are removed using a sharp razor. The tongues are inserted into the cuts of the stems; The grafting site is wrapped with soft aluminum foil.
Plants are placed in conditions of high air humidity for 10 days. Fusion occurs in 10-14 days. After this, remove the foil, remove the upper part of the rootstock (pumpkin) and the root system of the scion (cucumber).
If the soil is not contaminated with root rot pathogens, both root systems can be left on the graft. To get high-quality vaccinations, you should first practice.
6. Growing cucumber in open ground among tall crops: dill for seeds, beans, corn, which optimize temperature and humidity conditions and are used by cucumber plants as a support.
7. Cold resistance is enhanced by soaking seeds and spraying plants with "Epin" and microelements, hardening off seedlings, and finely dispersed sprinkling (watering) of cucumber beds immediately before frost.