Cucumber Artist

The cultivation of such a crop as the Artist cucumber is a reliable and easy way to obtain high yields of vigorous and tasty cucumbers with minimal labor intensity. The bush forms not one, but several ovaries at once in one place.

This hybrid culture (Artist) was the fruit of the works of the Dutch specialists of the agricultural firm Bejo Zaden B. V. The breeders pursued the goal of creating an early maturing, self-pollinating crop. This task was successfully solved, and in 2010 the hybrid vegetable was entered into the State Register of the Russian Federation. The artist is productively grown in many regions of Russia, including the northern ones.

The culture is indeterminate, requiring formation and tying (the lashes reach a height of 2 m). Designed for growing in open ground and temporary film shelters, it is distinguished by ultra-early (no longer than 50 days) ripening of fruits. In other words, cucumbers can fully ripen even in the northern regions of the Russian Federation with cool summers.

Vigorous cucumber bushes are capable of productively forming shoots on the sides of the lashes with a good degree of foliage.

The pluses of culture include a number of factors:

• early ripening of cucumbers and good productivity;

• long fruiting period;

• high level of seed germination (up to 100%);

• ripe cucumbers do not turn yellow when overripe;

• a high degree of resistance to damage by cucumber mosaic, cladosporium and powdery mildew;

• the ability to bear fruit in partial shade conditions;

• excellent presentation of the fruits allows them to be grown for sale by farms;

• high resistance of the crop to hot climates and droughts;

• with partial drying of the lashes in conditions of moisture deficiency, they soon recover after irrigation;

• versatility in use;

• good level of transportability and keeping quality.

Minuses:

• since the culture is hybrid, it is not worth collecting its seeds; it is more expedient to purchase them every year in special stores;

• an increased level of sensitivity to the quantity and quality of nutritional supplements.

The branching of cucumber lashes of the culture is average. Leaves are medium to large in size, emerald in color, slightly wrinkled, with large denticles at the edges.

The female flowers, which form in the leaf axils one at a time, do not need pollination, since the culture is parthenocarpic. The number of zelents of gherkin type in a bunch is 5-8. Their body is covered with many tubercles with darkish and small spines. The peel is firm, of dark green shades at the base, with short stripes and not intense spotting, lightened at the ends of the fruit, not yellowing even in overripe specimens. Ripe cucumbers have a cylindrical configuration, aligned, almost the same in size (8-12 cm), weighing 90-95 g.

The pulp is compacted, with a juicy crunch and the usual cucumber aroma, does not taste bitter, has no voids, the color is light with a greenish tint.

By chemical composition, gherkins include (per 100 g):

• proteins - 0.9 g;

• carbohydrates - 2.7 g;

• fat - 0.1 g;

• fiber - 0.7 g;

• vitamins C, PP, E, B;

• 95-98% water that quenches thirst and cleanses the body of toxic compounds.

The total calorie content of the removed fruits per 100 g is 16 kcal. Cucumber juice has remarkable qualities:

• eliminates salts from individual organs and articular elements;

• improves metabolism;

• promotes leaching of free radicals;

• stimulates the expansion of capillaries and stabilizes blood pressure;

• eliminates cholesterol formations from blood vessels;

• helps dissolve sand and kidney stones;

• normalizes blood properties.

During heat treatment, cucumbers do not lose their taste, retain the degree of their original density, and voids do not appear in the pulp.

According to the purpose, the culture is salad, the fruits are good in salting and canning. The fruit's taste is good, there is no bitterness. The aroma is pleasant.

Early culture - the fruits ripen in 38-50 days, the fruiting period lasts until the end of summer. The harvest of fruits is carried out every 1-2 days, and during the period of peak ripening of the fruits, the harvest is carried out daily.

With a delayed picking of cucumbers, the growth of the next wave of the harvest slows down, the overall level of fruit production is significantly reduced.

High-yielding crop - average yield 8.5 kg / sq. m.

The standard landing pattern is 30x70 cm.

Typical dates for planting a crop for seedlings is the end of April. Seedlings are planted in open soil at the end of May, at the beginning of June. Sowing seed in open areas - May-June.

It is better to plant high-quality and proven seeds from a Dutch company. Planting soil should be prepared from two parts of humus, peat and one part of sawdust. As an addition, 30 g of nitrophoska and 40 g of wood ash are added to it (per 10 l of substrate). In the future, the substrate must be mixed, calcined, disinfected with a manganese solution and poured into containers.

1-2 seeds are placed in each container, which are sprinkled with a substrate, then covered with a film and placed in a bright place. Irrigation is carried out in the course of drying the upper part of the soil layer with warm water.

Before emergence, the temperature should be kept within the range of + 23… 28ºC. After emergence - + 20… 22ºC.

When 3-4 real leaves appear on the bushes, the plants are planted in the ground.

Crop seeds are planted on the beds when the ground warms up to + 14 ... 15 ° C, and the air temperature is stably kept at the level of + 19 ... 20 ° C. Seeds are placed according to the planting scheme, burying them into the soil by 2-2.5 cm.

After planting, the beds are abundantly irrigated, mulching with humus or compost is performed. At night, it is recommended to cover the seedlings with agrofibre, insuring against possible nighttime temperature fluctuations.

Subsequently, caring for the bushes includes a number of basic activities.

1. Regular loosening and weeding of the root zone of the lashes about once a week.

2. Implementation of the garter shoots. Since the culture is actively branching, it is necessary to tie both the central and lateral shoots to the trellises. At the same time, the bushes are formed into one stem by removing unnecessary stepsons.

3. Compliance with the irrigation regime should be regular and carried out with settled and warm water. Cool water promotes the development of root rot in the Artist.

4. The implementation of regular fertilizing is carried out by alternating the addition of organic matter with the introduction of complex mineral fertilizers ("Isabilion", "Megafoli" or "Teraflex"). The initial feeding of the culture is carried out 2 weeks after transplanting the bushes, or during the period when real leaves appear on them. Further feeding is carried out every 1-1.5 weeks.

5. Carrying out timely fruit picking.

The culture has immunity against the disease of olive spot, PTO, cladosporium. She is not afraid of powdery mildew, but hardly resists downy mildew and brown spot.

Of the pests, the most dangerous is the harmful activity of spider mites, whiteflies, slugs, aphids and other insects.

The best way to fight disease is to use Bordeaux liquid.