Currently, a large number of varieties of cucumbers are bred, which differ in both appearance and ripening. Variety Mullet has a high yield, rapid achievement of technical maturity and excellent appearance of the fruit.
Variety description Red mullet
Hybrid varieties of vegetables are resistant to pests and diseases, grow quickly and, under certain conditions, are able to produce two crops per season or have long fruiting. The hybrid Red mullet belongs to such grades.
Plant description
This young variety was bred by Russian breeders at the beginning of this century. Its industrial cultivation began only in 2008. And since then, these small delicious cucumbers have gained the respect of both farmers and consumers.
A hybrid type plant with accelerated vegetation and strong branching. Female flowers, which does not matter, since pollination is not required for the formation of ovaries. Cultivation is possible both in a greenhouse and in a conventional garden.
Bush characteristics
The bush has a powerful branched structure with medium green leaves. The plant can grow to quite large sizes, and with proper care it will please a good harvest. These indeterminate bushes form from 3 to 12 ovaries in each sinus - the closer to the main stem, the more there are. Vegetation in the variety is fast - after emergence, the crops begin to be harvested after a month and a half.
Check out other varieties of partenocarpic type cucumbers:
Description of the fetus
Dark green fruits have almost the same size (10-12 cm) and weight (about 100 g). Cucumbers are omitted unevenly from the end towards the middle. The pimples are light and even white, and the neck is very short. Taste is high, bitterness is completely absent.
Yields
Due to the branching of the bush, a fairly high productivity is included in the characteristics of the mullet. On average, one bush per season can bring up to 6 kg of fruit. In terms of a square meter of plantings, this is about 15 kg. The plant is characterized by friendly ripening of cucumbers. This variety has no tendency to form overgrown fruits.
Advantages and disadvantages of the variety
- Practically any quality of these cucumbers is positive:
- resistance to diseases and pests;
- universality - at any stage of maturation, it can be used as food and for conservation;
- excellent taste;
- precocity
- high germination;
- lack of bitterness;
- the same and small sizes.
The variety does not have any significant flaws. You can only complain about a large number of secondary stems and, as a result, a significant depletion of soil. However, many other plants also deplete the land a lot, so it always needs to be restored and prepared well for the next season.
Did you know? In ancient Egypt, cucumbers were considered so valuable that they were put in the tombs of the pharaohs on a par with gold.
Growing Features
Planting cucumbers is usually done by seeds, the harvesting of which must be taken care of in advance. With the development of agricultural technologies, growing seedlings with its subsequent placement in the soil is gaining more and more popularity. For the described variety, this is not important, it grows well with any method of planting.
Seedling method
Seedlings are prepared in greenhouse or home conditions when planting in mid-April. They sprout well and grow in neutral soil and transplanted into open ground before the start of summer, when several (3-4) true leaves appeared on the bush.
Before planting from greenhouse conditions, plants need to be tempered. It is practiced to lower the temperature in the greenhouse, to open the windows of the greenhouse for a short time or to place the seedlings almost ready for planting in fresh air during the warm time of the day. The bushes are planted on the beds in a checkerboard pattern with a pitch of 50 × 50 cm. Before planting, the soil is dug up in advance and maintained in a slightly moist state.
Reckless method
By the seed method, cucumbers have been planted for a long time. Its advantages are that you do not need to spend time and energy on seedlings, and where seedlings have not appeared, you can re-sow. The disadvantage of this method is weak germination, which depends on the seed.
Important! The soil for the mullet needs neutral, loose, with good ventilation. In such conditions, the plants will give the maximum yield.
The method of sowing seeds is as follows:
- Seeds are placed for 20 minutes in a weak aqueous solution of potassium permanganate.
- The material is germinated in wet gauze or at least soaked for a couple of hours in clean, warm water.
- Hatching grains are planted in moist soil in the early to mid-May. The planting pattern is bed (20-30 cm between plants and 50-60 cm between beds) or chessboard (step, as in the seedling method, is 50 × 50 cm). If night frosts are still present, you can cover the beds with agrofabric.
- When the first seedlings appear, the plants are watered with barely warm water.
Care Features
Care for the bushes of this variety is simple, you just need not to overdry and waterlog the soil, apply fertilizers on time, monitor the bushes and fight weeds.
Watering and fertilizing
As the top of the soil dries, watering the plants is necessary. The average meatiness of the stems of cucumbers allows these plants to tolerate small droughts. But do not abuse it, because the lack of moisture can adversely affect the formation of fruits or have a detrimental effect on the health of the bush.
Feeding cucumbers with a mixture of saltpeter and mullein is 2-3 times a month, adding a solution to the soil near the plant. When flowering begins, superphosphate and potassium salt are introduced. Organic fertilizers will also be useful for the formation of ovaries and reduce the number of empty flowers.Important! The plant is responsive to basal watering with warm water and does not tolerate drip well. Cold water leads to degeneration of the root system.
Garter and bush formation
There are several opinions about the need for garter and herding of cucumber bushes. Of course, every gardener or farmer will prove the correctness of his methods tested by many crops.
Here are the main ways:
- Bush formation. A certain similarity of the stem is created when the side shoots are removed to a height of about 1 m, all this is tied to the trellis and grows in different directions.
- Pinching shoots. On the trellis, the vertical growth of shoots is organized to the required height (for example, to the height of human growth), after which they are pinched.
- Directed cultivation. When the shoots reach a sufficient and convenient height, their growth rotates in a horizontal plane.
There are also quite exotic methods, such as growing crops under trees, for which the shoots cling to their antennae and successfully climb up, after which their growth is manually directed down. Some do not bother with bushes at all, and the plant grows lying on the ground and occupying large areas.
Soil care
In a good loose light soil, any garden crop feels great. Cucumber is no exception, it is even more demanding than, for example, tomatoes. To preserve moisture, you can mulch the soil with agricultural tissue or improvised materials - large sawdust, hay, etc.
After rains or watering, the soil on the beds must be carefully loosened so that the crust that appears does not interfere with the ventilation of the soil. Weeds that appear in the aisles or near the bushes themselves are necessarily weeded.
Did you know? As a wild plant, cucumber began to be used more than 6 thousand years ago at the foot of the Himalayas. And his cultivation began in India. In Russia, the first mention of this vegetable is dated 1528.
Pest and Disease Control
This new hybrid variety has increased immunity, so it is not afraid of insects, diseases or fungal spores. To be sure, you can occasionally inspect the leaves for the presence of randomly arrived insects and manually remove them. And root diseases are treated with moderate watering and timely loosening of the soil. Many gardeners in the summer heat cover their plantations with a mesh with a throughput of 40-50% in order to protect the delicate ovaries from the scorching sun.
Harvesting and storage
You can start harvesting when young cucumbers reach a length of 3-5 cm. Like all these vegetables, they are not stored for too long. In order not to lose part of the crop, it is better to use it as food or process the product as soon as possible.
If you want to enjoy crispy fruits for longer, you can use a dry vegetable box in the refrigerator, laying it with paper. In this form, cucumbers are stored for about a month. Mullet is a great variety for beginners. Its unpretentiousness and productivity will not only please a large number of cucumbers, but also stimulate summer residents to further gardening activities.