How to feed cucumbers with ammonia

Cucumbers

Ammonia is a solution of ammonium hydroxide. It's often encountered in outpatient clinics during blood draws—it's held under the nose of overly sensitive patients who begin to faint at the sight of blood. But its use extends beyond medical purposes. It's also used in everyday life to clean dirty surfaces and as a fertilizer. Fertilizing and treating cucumbers with ammonia will help them get a decent harvest.

Fertilizer properties

From a chemist's perspective, it's incorrect to call the 10% aqueous solution diluted for spraying or watering cucumbers "ammonia." Ammonia is the ammonium salt of hydrochloric acid, or ammonium chloride. However, this is the common name.

Ammonium hydroxide solution is a colorless, transparent liquid with a pungent ammonia odor. It is suitable for use in garden plots and greenhouses for both preventative and therapeutic purposes. Its nitrogen content is 41% by weight, a chemical compound often deficient for plant development. Furthermore, its action is selective: fertilizing cucumbers with ammonia does not acidify the soil or inhibit the activity of beneficial microorganisms.

Interesting!

The chemical substance ammonia was synthesized only in 1774. But its use began much earlier, in Ancient Egypt. At that time, it was extracted from soot deposited on chimneys or from camel urine.

Benefits of fertilizer

When planting cucumber seedlings or seeds, the bed must be prepared in advance. The soil is loosened, they feed Nitrogen fertilizers. Watering cucumbers with ammonia solution:

accelerates plant growth;
replenishes nitrogen reserves;
the foliage acquires a rich green hue;
stops the invasion of insect pests.

It is important that using ammonia for cucumbers does not harm surrounding plants and enriches the soil.

Safe fertilizer with ammonium hydroxide

If you water correctly and follow the recommended dosage, there's no need to worry about harmful effects on the plant. The key is to choose the right time of day—early morning or evening—as ammonia oxidizes in the sun. Cloudy weather is ideal. However, ammonia is dangerous for humans. It enters the body not only through oral ingestion but also through absorption into the bloodstream through epithelial tissue and mucous membranes and through the respiratory tract, damaging the bronchial branches. Even a weak solution can cause a burn upon direct contact with the skin.

Therefore, cucumbers must be handled carefully, observing safety precautions:

Don't forget about rubber gloves, glasses, a respirator - personal protective equipment.
When spraying in windy weather, stand so that the spray does not fall on your clothes and face (that is, on the windward side).
When treating cucumbers with ammonia in a greenhouse, ensure fresh air access. To do this, open the frames and lift the curtain at the entrance to create a draft.
Avoid contact with wiring, garden hoses, or decorative elements. The solution can damage them. While it's easy to buy a new hose, after a short circuit, the entire wiring often has to be replaced.
When fertilizing cucumbers or applying top dressing, keep pets confined and ensure the safety of children.
You can't eat cucumbers from vines treated with ammonia, "straight from the bush." They must be washed.

Attention!

Drops of concentrated ammonia solution should not be wiped off the skin; instead, they should be rinsed with copious amounts of running water. If symptoms of intoxication due to inhalation of toxic fumes occur, it is recommended to drink milk and seek medical attention. Gastric lavage may be necessary.

Indications and contraindications for the use of ammonia solution

The following signs indicate a nitrogen deficiency:

the lower leaves turned yellow and lost turgor;
the stems are too thin, discolored, and break when touched;
the liana stops growing, loses leaves and flowers;
inflorescences lose petals, but ovaries do not form;
A slight cold snap leads to the death of the plant.

In these cases, treatment with ammonia will help to cope with the problem.

You cannot fertilize cucumbers with ammonium hydroxide solution in open ground during severe temperature fluctuations, frosts, or in bright sunlight until the first 3-4 leaves appear on the seedlings.

Instructions for preparation and types of fertilizers

To make a general-purpose fertilizer for cucumbers, dissolve 50 ml of ammonia in 4 liters of water. For aphid treatment, mix 20 ml of ammonia with 1 liter of water. A diluted solution is safe for humans unless they are allergic to ammonium hydroxide—pour 20 ml (1 tablespoon) of the caustic solution into a bucket of water. There's no noticeable odor. The latter solution can be used to water young seedlings as a preventative measure. However, it's still advisable to water the young plants with clean water after treatment.

Root feeding

It's best to apply a universal solution under the roots. You can water the bed after the seedlings have rooted, at the beginning of branching, that is, throughout the growing season. Fertilize once every two weeks at first, and then once a month until autumn. Depending on the plant's condition, adjust the frequency.

Foliar feeding

To treat the vines, use a watering can—a spray bottle is not suitable. The solution is low-concentration. Work should be done in cool, windless weather; otherwise, the solution will barely reach the leaves or will evaporate quickly.

For foliar feeding in a greenhouse, use a concentrated solution. However, before spraying with ammonia, water the plants with clean water at room temperature.

Pest control

To get rid of onion flies, fruit flies, and aphids on cucumbers in your garden, use this mixture: 2 tablespoons of ammonia, 200 grams of grated baby or laundry soap, and 1 bucket of water (9-10 liters). Stir the solution until the soap is completely dissolved, then water the cucumbers. Another solution that works well is 40 ml of ammonium hydroxide per 7 liters of water. Apply once every two weeks.

To enhance the effectiveness of the treatment, cucumbers can be fed with a mixture of milk and iodine. Dissolve half a glass of milk and 1 teaspoon of iodine in 1 liter of water. Alternate watering with the different solutions.

A soap-ammonia mixture will also help get rid of slugs, snails, ants, wireworms, and caterpillars. When preparing the mixture, double the amount of the strong-smelling solution.

Against diseases

To prevent the development of fungal or bacterial diseases, ammonium hydroxide treatment is used prophylactically. In the fall, a dug-up bed is watered with a highly concentrated solution, followed by approximately half a glass of a low-concentration solution in each hole when planting seedlings. Subsequently, spray the cucumbers against diseases every two weeks. Affected shoots are removed and burned outside the plot.

Attention!

If last year's plantings suffered from bacterial or fungal infections, the soil should be treated after the harvest season. However, another location should be found for the cucumber bed. And for the next four years, grow onions, cabbage, potatoes, beets, or greens.

Feeding rules

You can watch a video on how to make an ammonium hydroxide solution. For the most effective treatment, begin when the plant is actively growing. A universal solution is used. If the leaves are rich green and the shoots are firm, watering once a week is sufficient.

From the moment the ovaries appear, a concentrated mixture is used. If barren flowers appear, watering is increased—spraying the vines once every 4-5 days. Once fruit appears, only root application with a low-concentration solution is used. In all cases, the plant's response to the fertilizer should be analyzed.

Nitrogen fertilization should be combined with phosphorus fertilizers. Those wary of using chemicals can use hydrogen peroxide for cucumbers. To prepare the mixture, use milk (1 liter), iodine (40 drops), and hydrogen peroxide (40 ml). Dilute the mixture in 1 liter of water. This treatment normalizes photosynthesis, nourishes the plant, and improves growth and vegetation.

Reviews

Valery, 47 years old, Moscow:

I love experimenting and using different fertilizers. I can share my experience—you need to combine or alternate fertilizers. For example, ammonia one season, and then iodine, hydrogen peroxide, and organic fertilizers the next. This is the only way to achieve a good cucumber harvest.

Tatyana Vasilievna, 62 years old, Rostov region:

Let me warn you right away that a single or double treatment against pests is not enough. For aphids, you need to repeat the spraying three times, and for slugs and mole crickets, up to four times.

Vitaly Ivanovich, 70 years old, Krasnodar:

I tried ammonia a few times, but had to return to fungicides and industrially produced fertilizers. I understand adding manure or compost, but ammonia, in my opinion, is useless, as are other folk remedies. I don't believe it.

Semyon, 51 years old, Kaliningrad:

After purchasing a new plot, I discovered the soil was infested with wireworms. I lost my entire harvest. The following year, I treated the beds in the fall, then added a 10% ammonia solution to the planting holes. I managed to save the cucumbers.