How to Properly Plant and Grow Cucumbers in 5-Liter Bottles

One new technology for growing cucumbers is planting them in 5-liter plastic bottles. While it offers many advantages over traditional methods, it requires careful preparation of the substrate, container, seeds, planting, and subsequent care.

Benefits of using unusual containers

The main advantages of this type of container for growing cucumbers include:

1. Inexpensive – a five-liter container used as a drinking water container is inexpensive, making it more cost-effective than special disposable peat pots or seedling trays.
2. Convenient soil replacement – ​​this type of container allows you to quickly replace soured or deteriorated soil, if necessary, with minimal damage to the plant's root system.
3. Saving water when watering – due to the limited volume, significantly less water is used when watering than for crops grown in open ground.
4. Space-saving – compact bottles allow you to save significant space, which is especially important when growing cucumbers at home (these containers can be conveniently placed on any windowsill).

Also, thanks to polyethylene's resistance to decay, such containers, if handled with care, will last practically forever.

Note. Only plastic 5-liter drinking water containers are used for growing cucumbers. Bottles that held antifreeze and other industrial liquids are not used for growing cucumbers, as they contain toxic residues that cannot be removed from their interior walls.

Preparatory work

Before sowing seeds, prepare the nutrient substrate and the container itself.

Preparing the substrate

To grow cucumbers in water bottles, both store-bought soil mixtures for vegetable seedlings and homemade substrates are used.

The simplest homemade substrate is prepared as follows:

• well-rotted lowland peat and turf soil from an area where legumes (peas, beans, clover) grew last year are mixed in equal proportions;
• a small amount of rotted leaves of fruit trees is added to the resulting mixture;
• To make the soil mixture loose and permeable to air and moisture, drainage components are added to it - eggshells, dry sphagnum moss, onion or sunflower peels.

To disinfect the resulting soil mixture, it is watered with a low-concentration 1% solution of potassium permanganate.

Preparing the container

To grow cucumbers, prepare the container as follows:

1. The paper label is carefully removed from the outer surface of the bottle.
2. Depending on the planting method, the top of the container with the neck and cork is cut off or it is cut lengthwise.
3. Using a hot nail, make drainage holes in the bottom of the resulting container.
4. The inner surface of the container is treated with a low-concentration solution of potassium permanganate.

The prepared containers are filled with soil substrate and placed in a warm and dark place to warm up.

Seed planting technology

For growing in plastic bottles, seeds of self-pollinating varieties and hybrids are used.

We stratify and prepare the seed material

Preparation of seed material consists of the following operations:

1. Calibration and removal of shrunken, non-viable seeds: To do this, soak the seeds in a 3% salt solution for 15-20 minutes. Remove any shrunken or non-viable seeds that float to the surface, and remove any healthy seeds that settle to the bottom, draining the solution from the container.
2. Washing – selected healthy seeds are thoroughly washed to remove any remaining salt under running cold water for 10-15 minutes;
3. Warming up - for this, the seeds are placed in a small canvas bag, placed in a thermos and filled with hot water at a temperature of 45-50 ⁰The thermos is sealed and left for 20-25 minutes. After this, the seeds are removed from the thermos and immersed in a container of cold water for 15-20 minutes.
4. Soaking in a growth regulator solution - for this, prepare a growth regulator solution in a small container according to the instructions for use and soak the seed material in it for 10-12 hours.
5. Germination - after soaking in the regulator, the seeds in it are filtered through cheesecloth, placed in a small container with clean boiled water at a temperature of 20-25 C, and keep in a warm place for 12-14 hours. When small sprouts appear, place the seeds, along with the cheesecloth, on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator or in another cool place.

In some cases, seeds are disinfected between washing and warming. This involves soaking the seeds in a 1% potassium permanganate solution for 10-15 minutes.

Schemes and methods for sowing cucumber seeds

Depending on the location of the container, the prepared seeds are sown in the following ways:

1. If the top of the future container is cut off and it will be located vertically, 1-2 seeds are sown into it.
2. If the container is cut lengthwise and placed horizontally, 3 to 5 seeds are sown into it.

Note: To ensure that excess moisture drains out of the container through the drainage holes, place a small plastic tray underneath it.

The sowing depth for these methods is 2.5-3 centimeters. The containers themselves, when placed in hotbeds, greenhouses, or open ground, are arranged according to the traditional single- or double-row planting patterns for this crop, with a distance of 70-80 centimeters between rows, 40-50 centimeters between rows, and 30-40 centimeters between adjacent plants within a row.

How to use plastic bottles when planting cucumbers

The main way to use this container when growing cucumbers is to plant them, together with the bottle, in a plastic rim, under a cap.

Landing with a bottle

In this case, the bottle is cut lengthwise or crosswise, holes are made in the bottom to allow excess moisture to drain, and drainage is provided using eggshells or other loose material. The prepared container is filled with potting soil, leaving 2-3 centimeters of space below the rim.

Most often, cucumbers are grown this way in closed ground, on windowsills and balconies.

We put it in a plastic rim

To do this, cut off not only the top of the bottle but also the bottom. The resulting rim is placed on a tray, filled with potting soil, and the prepared seedlings are planted. This bottle, along with the seedlings, is then planted in open ground or, with the soil ball removed through the top along with the plant, is used to grow new seedlings.

We plant it under a hood

This effective method of growing cucumbers involves the following manipulations:

1. The top and bottom of the bottle are cut off.
2. Place the plant in a hole in a garden bed in open ground or a greenhouse, deepening it so that no more than 10 centimeters protrude above the surface.
3. Fill the container with soil mixture and moisten it well.
4. Sow seeds in it (1-2 pieces per container).
5. Cover the container with a cut-off neck and a lid (cap).

To water and ventilate cucumbers growing in plastic bottles, unscrew the lid of the container to allow fresh air in, and spray the leaves with a spray bottle. When the weather warms up and the plants reach a significant height, remove the lids.

This method can be used to grow ultra-early self-pollinating varieties in open ground.

The nuances of caring for cucumbers in 5-liter bottles

Cucumbers are grown in 5-liter bottles on balconies, windowsills, greenhouses, and even in open ground. Each of these methods has its own nuances for caring for the plants during the growing season.

On the balcony

When growing on a balcony, the following care measures are required for plants sown in plastic bottles:

• additional lighting using special lamps;
• moderate watering with water at room temperature;
• Root fertilization with ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate (15 grams of each), and simple superphosphate (30 grams), dissolved in 10 liters of warm, settled water. The average consumption of the fertilizing liquid per plant is 1 liter;
• periodic removal (pinching) of lateral shoots;
• mandatory tying of the plant when its height is more than 30 centimeters;
• Spraying against spider mites with garlic solution.

The use of chemical pest control agents in an apartment is unacceptable - even a small concentration of a pesticide sprayed on leaves can cause serious poisoning if it evaporates and there is no proper ventilation.

In open ground

In open ground conditions, the following measures are necessary:

1. Covering the container with a cap cut from it (containers can also be additionally covered with spunbond).
2. Ventilation and watering.
3. Top dressing during the period of active growth, flowering and appearance of ovaries.

It's also very important to promptly remove the plastic rim when planting cucumbers outdoors in plastic bottles. To do this, when the weather warms steadily, carefully unscrew it from the soil, being careful not to damage the root ball, which contains the plant's root system.

In the greenhouse

Growing cucumbers in a greenhouse requires the same care as growing on a balcony. The only difference is the option of burying the containers with cucumber seedlings in the soil or planting seedlings already grown in trays.

Gardeners' reviews of the growing method

The main indicators of the effectiveness of this technology are the reviews of gardeners who have used it.

Alla Petrovna

"I grew cucumbers in five-liter water bottles for a couple of years—the technology is generally good and quite simple. I recommend it to anyone who wants to grow fresh vegetables (cucumbers, tomatoes) for salads in an apartment."

Igor

"A very convenient and simple way to grow fresh cucumbers on your windowsill or balcony. I've been using it for three years now, and I'm very happy – from February to March, even before the first greenhouse vegetables appear, I always have fresh home-grown cucumbers on the table!"

Sergey

Last year, I grew two cucumber vines this way indoors and got a very good harvest for an apartment: I had fresh cucumbers or cucumber salads on the table almost every day. Next season, I want to try planting cucumber seedlings this way in a greenhouse and in the open ground at my dacha."