Cucumber is almost 98% water. And looking at this green pimply vegetable, it is difficult to understand where it comes from such power, which is capable of accommodating both the wonderful taste, the unique flavor, and the whole set of useful nutrients for people. Meanwhile, a person helps this vegetable to cultivate, bringing out all new varieties. How, for example, "Semkross", already had time to win the hearts and beds of many vegetable growers.
Variety description
"Semcross", being a hybrid cucumber, has absorbed many positive qualities, among which one of the most important is the absence of bitterness in it. And at the genetic level. This means that, regardless of growing conditions, it will never taste bitter.
Did you know? A cultured cucumber, specially cultivated by man for his table, has existed on Earth for at least six thousand years.
In addition, this variety is distinguished by early ripeness, entering the fruiting period 40-43 days after the first shoots. Another great advantage of this type of cucumber is its resistance to major cucumber diseases.
At the same time, it has an excellent taste both in fresh and in salted, pickled and other types of vegetable canning. It is mainly pollinated by bees, which willingly fly on small, but fragrant yellow flowers. 
The leaves of this vegetable is not very large, radically green and not as wrinkled as other cucumbers. Scourge plants are not long, but they are branched, although they do not make this cucumber a leader among others according to this indicator.
Fruit characteristics and yield
The very fruit of the cucumber plant, called greens, weighs on average 80-90 g with a length of 9 to 11 cm. It has a spindle-shaped form with rare, but rather large tubercles. Its thick green color is diluted with light stripes and large spots.
Get acquainted with the nuances of growing such hybrid varieties of cucumbers as "Claudia", "Herman", "Kibriya", "Berendey", "Aquarius", "Bouquet", "Green Stream", "Ecole", "Merenga", "Buyan" , Crispina, Cupid, Spino, Mommy's Favorite, Shosh, Miranda, Moscow Nights, and Little Boy.
Another main advantage of this variety is its high yield. From 1 square. m open ground, he is able to give up to a dozen kilograms. 
Selection of seedlings
If there is no possibility or desire to grow the seedlings of cucumbers, you can resort to the services of those who do it for sale. And here, in addition to the main requirement - the guarantee that the proposed seedlings belong to the variety "Semcross", some other nuances should be taken into account.
For example, in order for seedlings to be ready for planting in open ground, it is necessary that a third leaf should appear in it. But here one more thing should be taken into account. Seedlings can be planted in the soil under the open sky only after the danger of frost has passed.
Therefore, it is necessary that these two points coincide: the readiness of the seedlings and the readiness of the soil to accept the seedlings without any risk to it. Overgrown seedlings after planting in open ground will hurt for a long time, adjusting to new growing conditions, and the sprout that has not managed to develop to the end may even completely die. 
Soil and fertilizer
According to experts, cucumbers grow on almost any land, although they prefer light sandy and loamy soil with low acidity. But this is when it comes to simple survival of the plant. But in order to achieve maximum yield from a vegetable, it should be above the ground, where the seedlings will be planted, to work hard.
We recommend reading about what types of soil exist, how to improve soil fertility, how to independently determine the acidity of the soil at the site, and also how to deoxidize the soil.
First you need to take into account the fact that It is highly undesirable to plant cucumbers on the plots where other pumpkin plants used to grow. The soil there may be a carrier of various infections accumulated by previous vegetables.
But for cucumbers, the soil on which cabbage, tomatoes, peas and potatoes previously grew is perfect. In autumn, the land in which it is supposed to plant cucumber seedlings in the spring should be dug up and applied universal mineral fertilizers and manure at the rate of 1 l per 1 sq. M. m 
And in the spring, about 10 days before planting, you need to re-dig the beds and prepare the soil in the form of a puff "cake", Why lay out the layers of:
- coniferous sawdust;
- compost;
- peat;
- straw;
- humus with the addition of ash;
- chernozem layer of at least 20 cm.
Important! To guarantee complete safety against infection with a pathogenic infection, immediately before planting the seedlings in each well, it is necessary to pour hot water.
After the formation of layers for two days before planting, the prepared soil should be poured with hot water heated to about +80 ° C, with the addition of 1 teaspoon of copper sulphate for every 10 liters. On 1 square. m beds need to spend 3 liters of solution. This operation is needed to disinfect the soil. 
Growing conditions
Cucumber is a light-loving and thermophilic vegetable. Therefore, the seedlings must be planted in well-lit areas when the ground is already warmed up and the air temperature is within + 15-17 ° C. The optimum temperature for the growth and abundant fruiting of a cucumber is the air temperature between +25 and +30 ° C with its humidity at least 70%.
This vegetable prefers moist soil and needs regular watering. But before flowering, watering should be carried out in moderate quantities, and during flowering and during the fruiting period, watering should be done twice as abundant, bringing its volume to 12 liters per square meter. m every two days. Watering should be in the evenings, using warm water at room temperature. 
Growing from seed to seedlings at home
If the seeds are pre-grown seedlings in protected ground, it is possible to significantly approximate the onset of the harvest in the open. But for this you need to follow simple, but mandatory rules.
Seed preparation
Usually, cucumber seeds are sown at home in the second half of February. Although these seeds are able to be stored without losing germination, up to ten years, experts believe that the optimum age of seeds for sowing is two to three years.
Depending on where the seeds of the "Semcross" variety were obtained, in the distribution network or procured independently, they should be prepared for sowing. For store seeds, read the instructions carefully and follow them exactly.
If the seeds were harvested at home on their own, then they need preventive measures, as well as carrying out several stages of preparing them for sowing, which are as follows:
- in a calibration, during which the seeds are poured into a 3% saline solution and the floating ones are removed from it, and those remaining on the bottom are removed and dried;
- in disinfection using a 1% solution of potassium permanganate, in which the seeds are soaked for half an hour and then washed with warm water and dried;
- in sprouting, for which cucumber seeds are laid out on a damp cotton fabric and kept there until the stemmed stem reaches 2 centimeters; to activate the process, biostimulants can be added to the water with which the fabric is soaked;
- in hardening, which consists in sending the germinated seeds to the fridge for two days, for which they are carefully wrapped in a damp cloth, which was on it all the time.
Content and location
The optimal capacity for planting sprouted seeds is considered to be a plastic cup with a diameter of 7 cm.
It is filled with soil for seedlings in the composition:
- 40% turf land;
- 40% lowland peat;
- 10% of sawdust;
- 10% of manure.
And you can also prepare the soil for seedlings from:
- 60% of humus;
- 30% turf land;
- 10% of sand.
When preparing these soils, they must also be added at the rate of 5 liters:
- superphosphate - 7 g;
- potassium sulfate - 4 g;
- urea - 3 g;
- magnesium sulfate - 1 g.
In addition to traditional plastic cups, you can use as places for growing seedlings:- peat tablets;
- sawdust;
- plastic film in the form of diaper around the ground;
- egg shells;
- and even toilet paper.
The main condition for the placement of all these containers with growing seedlings is a bright and warm place. The temperature should be maintained at a level not lower than +20 ° C. To ensure it, phytolamps are often used, which on cloudy days also preserve the necessary illumination.
We advise you to read about when the best time for planting cucumbers for seedlings, as well as how to plant cucumbers for seedlings.
Seed planting process
In each plastic cup intended for seedlings, a hole should be made at the bottom to remove excess water. 
After that, the bottom must be filled with drainage in the form of sunflower husk or expanded clay and fill the cup with prepared soil for 4/5 of its volume.
Did you know? The mirror wiped by the inside of the cucumber in the bathroom does not fog up.
When the sprouts go higher, the soil will need to be added. Having made a notch of 2 cm in the ground with a finger, you need to put a seed in it and sprinkle it with soil.
Then you need to pour the earth and cover it with plastic film to create the greenhouse effect. In this state, at a temperature of about +25 ° C, the cups should be kept for three days. After opening the cotyledons, the temperature must be reduced by five degrees.
Video: planting cucumber seeds for seedlings
Seedling care
For about a month, cucumber seedlings grow at home.
During this time they are fed twice:
- Half a month after the first sprouts have been proklyutsya. To do this, 3 liters of distilled water should be dissolved 20 g of urea. At least 100 ml of solution should be poured into each container with a sprout.
- A week later, feeding is repeated. At this time, 15 g of nitrophosphate and 30 g of wood ash are diluted in 3 liters of water. After four hours of settling and filtering, top dressing is applied in the same way as in the first case.
Although cucumbers love water, home-grown seedlings cannot be over-humidified. Their roots should be only slightly moist. Water the seedlings as necessary with warm water after it settles. 
Often, to grow high-grade seedlings, it is necessary to apply the lightening method, which is necessary for short light days, prolonged cloudy weather and the lack of sufficient space on bright window sills. Supplementation is carried out by means of fitolamps, which provide good illumination with a small power consumption.
Important! When applying doshochivaniya seedlings should be watered twice as often - in the mornings and evenings.
A week or ten days before planting in an open ground, Semcross cucumber seedlings are hardened, for which they are watered more rarely, reducing the temperature by five to seven degrees and then exposing them in a shaded windless place under the open sky. Starting hardening from ten minutes, it is gradually increased.
Video: caring for cucumber seedlings before planting
Transplanting seedlings to ground
The best seedlings intended for transplanting into open ground have three, maximum four leaflets. If there are more, then such seedlings are considered to be overgrown and need to be deepened when disembarking. But after that, she will be ill, hardly adapting to the new growing conditions.
The optimum time for planting seedlings in the open ground comes at a stable daytime outdoor temperature within + 21-23 ° C, and the night temperature should not fall below +18 ° C.
When transplanting from pots to open ground, seedlings are under serious stress. Therefore, it should be as smooth as possible. The easiest way to plant seedlings at a permanent place in the peat pots. They are simply buried in the ground without disturbing the plant. 
Plastic cups neatly cut along the bottom and walls and remove the soil ball from them. Placing it in a well prepared in advance, fall asleep seedling to cotyledon leaves.
Agrotechnics growing seeds in open ground
The main rule that should be followed when growing cucumber seeds in open ground is the need to warm up the soil to +15 ° C and the guaranteed absence of frost. Sowing seeds in a colder soil makes no sense, since they will germinate for a very long time, if they do not die at all.
But it is not necessary to delay sowing, since the peak of plant development may coincide with the heat of July, as a result of which the harvest will be unsatisfactory. Therefore, in different regions the optimal time for sowing cucumbers comes in different ways. 
Outdoor conditions
Comfortable most of all cucumbers feel in a bright place, protected from winds and drafts. And the areas where cucumbers have grown before, as well as pumpkin plants and beets, are very harmful to them.
Since the beds after planting cucumber seeds on them are covered with polyethylene to create a greenhouse effect with high humidity, and also from time to time the tender shoots from the burning sun are covered with the same film, it is thought that it is most convenient to grow cucumbers all summer in a greenhouse.
Often this is what happens with self-pollinating varieties. However, varieties of cucumbers pollinated by bees, to which "Semcross" belongs, should be in the open during flowering.
The area allocated for the cultivation of cucumbers, should first be covered with a thin layer of cow manure or chicken droppings, after which the soil must be dug up. For each square meter of beds, it is recommended to apply 5 kg of organic fertilizers. 
It is very useful to scatter wood ash over the surface of the ground. In addition, the soil should be disinfected with a solution of copper sulphate. Immediately before planting the seeds, holes and grooves of 2 cm depth are drawn up on the bed, which should be about half a meter apart.
The process of planting seeds in the ground
To make a straight groove on a garden bed of 2 cm depth, you can use a wooden batten for this, which should be laid on the ground and lightly pressed down. And the wells are very easy to do with a chopper.
Read more about when it is best to plant cucumbers in open ground.
In the prepared holes or grooves, the seeds can be put flat, and it can be sharp ends up, slightly pressing the opposite part into the soil. Then the seeds are sprinkled with a small layer of soil and slightly pressed down.
Video: the process of planting seeds in the ground
Watering
As long as the planted seeds are under a film cover in a humid atmosphere, they do not need to be watered. However, this does not mean at all that during this period it is not necessary to control the soil moisture. If for some reason the ground dries out, it will immediately lead to the death of barely sprung shoots.
Important! Watering cucumbers growing under the open sky should be water, the temperature of which is not lower than +18. WITH. Cooler water significantly impairs the ability of the root system to absorb nutrients.Cucumbers love moist soil, but do not like waterlogging. Therefore, in the rainy season they are not watered. And during the growing season, when the weather is dry, vegetables are watered every two to three days. The most useful watering in the morning or in the evening at sunset.
Soil loosening and weeding
Cucumber roots are located close to the surface of the earth, so it is impossible to loosen the earth around this plant. Weeds that have grown alongside will have to be weeded by hand. To prevent this from happening, the soil around cucumbers must be mulched with sawdust, straw or hay.
In addition, this litter will protect ripening fruits from contact with wet soil. In order that the roots located close to the surface of the earth do not become bare, it is very useful to carry out hilling, which, besides protecting the roots from the sun, stimulates the emergence of new processes.
Hilling is done when the cucumber stalk rises to a height of a quarter of a meter, and then the operation is repeated as necessary. 
Masking
In the first half of summer, cucumbers can be sacred, that is, to remove leaves and ovaries, which are formed in the axils of the leaves. This operation helps to improve the illumination of the bush and through the redistribution of nutrients in the bush increases its productivity, forming many female flowers on the side shoots.
It will be useful for you to read about when and how to stick cucumbers.
Pinch the plant after the fifth to sixth leaf. However, according to experts, such manipulation is effective for mid-season and late-ripening varieties. As for the early ripening varieties, to which the “Semcross” also belongs, then stading is inexpedient for them.
Garter
To reduce the risk of infection with fungal diseases and to simplify the care of plants in open ground, cucumber stems over 30 cm in length should be tied up.
Video: cucumber garter This is done with the help of vertical or horizontal trellis, which is a pair of two-meter-long pillars, between which several wire or rope rows are stretched at intervals of a quarter of a meter.With the help of narrow strips of soft cotton fabric, the stems are carefully and in turn tied up to wire or rope rows.
Important! In no case can you pinch the stalks during the garter.
Top dressing
There are two ways to feed cucumber plants - root and foliar. The first method is advisable in the warm summer, when the root system copes well with its responsibilities.
In cool and rainy summer, the roots do not so effectively absorb nutrients from the soil, and the plant has to be fed through the leaves. Which, by the way, does not cancel the root feeding at all, which just needs to be somewhat reduced. 
During the season, cucumber plants should be fertilized several times:
- 15 days after the appearance of the first shoots. Fertilizer soil is carried out with fresh chicken manure, diluted with water at a ratio of 1:15. This fertilizer can be replaced by urea, superphosphate and potassium sulfate in the form of a proportional mixture of each of the ingredients.
- From the beginning of flowering, green grass infused with water, or potassium nitrate (20 g), ammonium nitrate (30 g) and superphosphate (40 g) in a mixture are used for fertilizer.
- During maximum crop growth, fertilizer is made on an infusion of green grass or urea, 50 g of which is diluted in a bucket of water.
Learn how to feed cucumbers after planting in the ground, as well as during flowering and fruiting.
- A couple of weeks after the previous top-dressing, a two-day infusion of refracted hay or a glass of wood ash poured into a bucket of water is used.
Video: what and when to feed cucumbers With active fruiting, wood ash fertilization is very effective, which should be done every week.
Pests, diseases and prevention
Semcross variety cucumbers are resistant to the most common cucumber diseases. However, one hundred percent guarantee against infection by their diseases or the invasion of pests on them, of course, does not exist.
Read more about how to deal with pests and diseases of cucumbers.
Most often cucumbers are affected:
- Powdery mildew, which is a harmful fungus, leading to yellowing of the leaves and their fall. This disease is provoked by excessive irrigation, excessive concentration of nitrogen fertilizers and high humidity, therefore, in the form of prophylaxis it is recommended to optimize irrigation and fertilizer application. As a treatment, infected bushes should be sprinkled with wood ash, and completely sick should be removed and destroyed.
- Gray rotwhich is expressed in gray spots on the leaves and a touch of the same color on the fruit. Sick plants should be sprinkled with wood ash and stop watering them.
- Root rot, leading to decay of the stems and the death of the root system. As a treatment, the affected areas should be sprinkled with wood ash, and watering should be done without soaking the stem. For prevention, it is necessary to disinfect the soil before planting a vegetable.
- Spider mitewhich leads to yellowing of the leaves and their drying.
- Gourd Melon, deforming the upper part of the plant, which leads to its drying. Very good help in the fight against this pest ladybugs.
Harvesting and storage
The frequency of collecting greens depends on their further use. For example, canning requires fruits that have reached a maximum of 10 cm in length. Zelentsy are more suitable for salting - up to 18 cm, but lettuce cucumbers should reach an initial size of 12 cm.
Learn how to store cucumbers for the winter.
During active fruiting, the fruit must be harvested at intervals of not more than two days. But it is better to remove them from the bushes twice a day. The more often the fruits are harvested, the more abundant small greens appear for canning, and the less often they are harvested, the more successful the cucumbers grow to the size needed for salting or salads.
When harvesting to separate the greens from the lash need to remove the stem from the bush. Therefore, it is best to use a knife for this purpose, avoiding twitching, twisting and turning the lashes. 
The best time to pick fruit is morning or evening. Cut cucumbers must be quickly placed in a shaded and cool place. Due to the fact that green leaves for a long time are not saved, they are salted or preserved after harvest. However, a couple of weeks to extend the life of greenhouses still possible.
For example, they can be put in a plastic bag, which guarantees freshness to greenhouses for five days. Fruits will hold out even longer if the stalks are left on them and then put them on the bottom of a pot or can with these stalk stems, systematically changing the water.
Not bad is the preservation of freshness of cucumbers even outside the refrigerator, if they are well washed, then covered with a layer of egg white and dried.
There is another popular way to preserve Zelentsa in a fresh state. They are put in an airtight wooden container and with a load attached to it are lowered to the bottom of a deep stream. Provided that the stream does not freeze to the bottom in winter, the greens will delight with their freshness in winter. 
Possible problems and recommendations
Often it happens that the plants are not subject to any diseases or invasion of pests, but, nevertheless, for some reason they have yellow and fall ovary.
This can occur when:
- poorly chosen landing site, which is flooded by rain and is in the shade;
- overly contrasting daytime and nighttime temperatures;
- excessively high or low ambient temperatures;
- watering with cold water;
- sparse watering;
- excessive amount of side shoots;
- lack of minerals in the soil.
With the elimination of these reasons, the plants will quickly come back to normal and enjoy a good harvest. It often happens that cucumber bushes for no apparent reason begin to turn yellow and curl leaves. 
This can happen when:
- incorrect irrigation algorithm, when it is either too rare, or frequent, but scanty, due to which the plant becomes dehydrated;
- nutritional deficiencies, especially when there is a shortage of nitrogen fertilizers;
- hypothermia, which causes stress in a vegetable and leads to yellowing of the leaves;
- sunburns obtained after day-watering, when water droplets fall on the leaves focus the sun's rays and burn the leaves;
- low humidity of the air, which provokes the plant to twist the leaves into a tube, to reduce the area of evaporation.
With the timely elimination of these problems, the vital activity of cucumber plants should become normal. Favorite vegetable by all is not so difficult to grow. 
However, being a heat-loving plant, he gratefully responds not only to the warmth of the earth and air, but also to the warmth of human hands, responding to it with a tasty, fragrant and uniquely crisp on the teeth crop.
