Cucumis sativus, Cucurbitaceae
Origin : India
Cucumber is one of the widely cultivated climbing plants which bears cylindrical fruits used for culinary purpose.
It contains 95% of water, 1% protein, 4% carbohydrate and negligible fat. It has low content of micro nutrients and is rich in Vit k and Molybdenum which has many benefits. It can be used to treat skin, heart and kidney problems.
Cucumber can be served as a salad or eaten raw or cooked as a vegetable.
Botany : Plants are light green to dark, large sized climbers,having cylindrical, elongated fruits with tapering ends. Leaves are hairy, triangular in shape and flowers are yellow in colour. Their length may be 24cm and breadth may be 5-6cm.
Varieties and Hybrids
Pusa sunyog, Japanese long green, Poinsett, Balaam kheera.
Some varieties and hybrid seeds available in our app are as follows
- Vivanta Kaundinya Hybrid sambar cucumber seeds
- Vivanta Mansi-55 Hybrid cucumber seeds
- Cucumber seeds Arya GS-22
- Cucumber shravani
- Netra and Supriya
Climate
It requires a warm climate and grows best in 25-25 degree temperature. It doesn’t withstand frost. It requires rainfall of 120-150cm.
Soil
It can be grown in different kinds of soil ranging from well drained sandy loam rich in organic matter to heavy soils. It require a ph of 6-7.
Land preparation
Land should be free from weeds. 3-4 ploughings should be given to bring the soil to fine tilth. FYM has to be added to increase the soil fertility.
Nursery beds have to be prepared having 60cm distance and 2.5m width.
Season
It can be grown in the month of February – March
Seed rate
1kg of seeds is required for 1 acre of land
Seed treatment
Seeds are treated with Thiram or Captan @ 2gm/kg of seeds before sowing in order to protect the plants from diseases and pest attack.
Sowing
Sow two seeds per hill of bed having 2.5m wide spacing of 60cm. It can be done by different methods like Dibbling, Basing, layout in ring method etc. Sowing depth of 2-3c has to be maintained.
Manures and Fertilizers
It requires Urea of 90kg/acre, 125 Kg/acre SSP and 35Kg/acre of MOP.
Basal dose – 45 kg of urea, 60 kg of SSP and 20 kg of MOP has to be applied. Remaining has to be given at the time of vein production.
Weed management
We can observe different weeds in cucumber plantation which can be controlled by hand hoeing and By using herbicides like Glyphosate @ 1.6lit/150 lit of water. It has to be used only on the weeds.
Irrigation
It requires frequent irrigation is summer season and it doesn’t require water during rainy season. Drip irrigation is mostly followed. Totally it requires 10-12 irrigations. Frequent irrigation has to be gives after sowing in the interval of 4-5 days.
Harvesting
Plants start to produce fruits 45-50 days after sowing. 10-12 harvestings can be done. Harvesting is done when the seeds of cucumber are soft, green and young. Harvesting is done with the help of sharp knife.
Yield
On an average we can obtain 32-40 quintals/acre of cucumbers in a season.