It is believed that the Chinese grow vegetables using large amounts of harmful substances and pesticides. In fact, Chinese cucumber spray mixture — is a completely harmless foliar fertilizer. It can prolong the growing season of cucumber vines in late summer and even protect plants from fungal infections.
Why use Chinese mixture?
During fruiting and active growth, cucumber vines gradually become exhausted. This occurs due to the increasing amount of green mass and the constant formation of numerous fruits. By harvesting the cucumbers, the gardener stimulates the formation of new ovaries. This is especially true for modern parthenocarpic gherkin hybrids. They produce exclusively female flowers, arranged in clusters. Under such conditions, the root system and the entire plant are practically exhausted.
To increase yields and prolong the life of the vines, gardeners fertilize their plants by applying fertilizer mixtures under the plant's roots and hilling up the base of the stems, where new roots grow. However, this method slows down the delivery of nutrients to the stem tissues, leaves, ovaries, and flowers, and some parts of the cucumber vine suffer nutritional deficiencies.
As the plant weakens, diseases begin to set in, the leaves turn yellow and die, disrupting photosynthesis. As a result, malformed cucumbers begin to form on the vine, and the vine soon dies.
One of the active ingredients is boric acid. A boron deficiency causes the vine to produce numerous ovaries, but cucumbers fail to grow, drying out or rotting early. Spraying the plant with boric acid corrects the deficiency within 24 hours.
Manganese and potassium, found in potassium permanganate, affect the plant's ability to produce flowers and fruit. If they are deficient, the clusters of ovaries on the upper part of the stem become sparse, may contain only one flower that does not develop into a fruit, or the ovary may grow crooked. Foliar feeding increases the plant's vigor and allows it to continue producing full-fledged fruits for a while longer.
Urea, a nitrogen fertilizer, promotes overall growth above ground and allows the vine to form normal leaves and develop stems that will support new cucumbers. Excess nitrogen during fruiting is harmful, so avoid exceeding the recommended urea dosage to prevent nitrate accumulation in the cucumbers.
When applied foliarly, the necessary nutrients penetrate the leaf tissues much faster, allowing the plant to resist attacks by pathogenic microorganisms and insect pests (such as mites). In addition to fertilizers, the Chinese mixture also contains small amounts of copper and iron sulfate, which not only supply the vines with micronutrients but also directly target and destroy harmful fungi. Plants treated with the Chinese mixture are free of powdery mildew and downy mildew pathogens, which are the most common causes of yellowing leaves on cucumbers.
How to prepare Chinese mixture yourself?
To avoid harming the plant or yourself, it's important to follow the recommended dosages and application times for cucumbers. The mixture itself is harmless; nitrates and other substances don't accumulate in the cucumbers, and any fertilizer that gets on the skin can be easily washed off with water when preparing the cucumbers for salad. You should not eat unwashed vegetables for 2-4 days after treating the plantings.
To prepare a nutritious and medicinal mixture according to a Chinese recipe, you will need the following:
- boric acid - 1 g;
- potassium permanganate - 1 g;
- ferrous sulfate - 1 g;
- copper sulfate - 3 g;
- urea (ammonium nitrate) - 100 g.
All ingredients can be purchased at gardening stores.
Before preparing the Chinese cucumber fertilizer, dissolve the powdered ingredients in a small amount of water until the crystals dissolve. Urea dissolves easily, so the entire amount of fertilizer can be poured into a large container (at least 15 liters) and mixed with 5 liters of cold water.
When dissolving boric acid, keep in mind that it does not dissolve in cold water. A knife-sized amount of powder can be added to a glass of hot water (60–70°C) and stirred until completely dissolved. Potassium permanganate, copper sulfate, and iron sulfate dissolve in both cold and warm liquids.
The prepared solutions are poured into a container with diluted urea, 10 liters of water are added there and mixed thoroughly.
How to treat plants?
Spraying with a homemade Chinese solution is done using a special device or household sprayers. For spraying outdoor cucumber beds, wait until rainfall has ceased for at least 2-3 days to allow the mixture to penetrate the plant cells and kill any established fungal colonies. In a greenhouse, spraying can be done at any convenient time.
When carrying out processing, it is necessary to observe basic personal safety rules:
- put on special clothing (robe, gloves, headdress);
- It is advisable to protect the respiratory system and eyes with a respirator or bandage and glasses;
- For processing in open ground, choose windless weather.
Although the mixture is harmless to plants, if it gets into the eyes or if the spray is inhaled, it can cause irritation of the mucous membranes.
It's best to harvest the newly grown cucumbers before treatment. Apply the Chinese mixture to the plants, ensuring the solution reaches the undersides of the leaves, their tops, and the entire stem from top to bottom. After treatment, avoid walking among the trellises until the cucumber vines are dry. Any cucumbers that appear within 2-3 days of spraying should be washed before use, as they will be exposed to the fertilizer mixture.
Apply the Chinese fertilizer mixture at two-week intervals if the weather is favorable for powdery mildew and downy mildew. For plants in good condition and without precipitation or cold snaps, spraying can be done less frequently, depending on the appearance of the vines.
When signs of nutrient deficiency (small leaves, malformed fruit, etc.) or disease (powdery bloom, yellowing, or spotting of the leaf blade) appear, treatment is quick and effective. Plants regain their normal color and healthy appearance within just a few days of spraying.
By properly applying fertilizers and fungicides, you can extend the growing season of cucumber vines and ensure they produce high-quality, marketable fruit. Both the health benefits and taste of the cucumbers themselves depend on the plant's nutritional status.
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The mixture is quite harmful, so you need to calculate the exact proportions needed for the soil. I think it's much easier to use bioactivators; they're no less effective. I buy "BioGrow".