Benefits and features of using soda for cucumbers

Cucumbers

Baking soda for cucumbers is an affordable product that acts as both a fungicide and an insecticide. Using it as a natural fertilizer, vegetable growers can ensure a productive and environmentally friendly garden. Treating cucumbers with baking soda also helps strengthen the plant's immune system. If you spray the bushes with the solution during fruiting, you can significantly extend it, slowing down the aging of the shoots by maintaining the acidity of the soil.

The pros and cons of using baking soda on cucumbers

Despite numerous gardeners' reports of the positive effects of this food additive on vegetable and fruit crops, it can cause fruiting to stop. This occurs if cucumbers are frequently watered with a sodium bicarbonate solution. This rare occurrence is due to adherence to the fertilizing schedule, which helps prevent negative consequences.

Otherwise, spraying cucumbers with baking soda can only be described as positive. The main advantages:

environmental friendliness;
accessibility;
prevention of disease development and pest attacks;
acceleration of fruiting;
slowing down the aging of shoots and extending the period of cucumber production;
protection against harmful organisms after emergence.

Disinfection of seeds with soda

A food additive that can be found in almost any kitchen, it's useful not only during the growing season but also during pre-sowing seed preparation. Gardeners note several positive effects. uses of soda to disinfect seeds:

Increased germination by 30%.
Reducing the risk of infection of seedlings at the initial stage of development.

To soak the seeds, prepare a solution of 1 liter of purified water and 10 g of food additive. Mix the solution thoroughly and wait until the soda completely dissolves. Then, drop the cucumber seeds into the solution. Remove any that float. Wrap the remaining viable seeds in damp cheesecloth and place them on a flat plate. Leave the seeds in this solution, regularly moistening them with water, for 12-24 hours. Before sowing, dry the seeds on a paper towel.

For your information!

To prevent baking soda from washing away the protective coating on pelleted seeds, the latter should not be treated.

Timing of application as fertilizer

A soda solution is effective as a nutrient mixture: it increases plant resistance to adverse environmental conditions, shortens the time between germination and fruiting, and improves the yield and quality of cucumbers. However, to realize all these benefits of the nutritional supplement, it is necessary to adhere to the timing of application.

You can feed cucumber bushes with a 5% soda solution. Apply the nutrient mixture in the morning or evening, watering the plants at the roots (as shown in the video), avoiding contact with the foliage, as this concentration can burn foliage. For foliar feeding, use a 1% solution. The optimal time to spray is after 6 pm, when the sun's rays are no longer strong. This treatment is carried out weekly. If the grower notices wilting of the shoots, stop using the soda solution.

Spraying technology

An effective method of applying the solution is foliar application. Since the solution will be applied directly to the shoots, a specific technique should be followed to avoid negative impacts on the green mass. First, prepare a mixture: take filtered or well-settled water and thoroughly dissolve the baking soda in it to prevent sediment.

Avoid using boiling water to spray vegetables. Adding baking soda to water above 60°C changes the properties of sodium bicarbonate. Pour the spray solution into a fine-mist spray bottle to treat shoots against diseases and pests. This will ensure that the liquid reaches all parts of the shoots, preventing dry patches on the leaves.

How often should I introduce soda as a complementary food?

The frequency of fertilizing depends on the developmental characteristics of the vegetable crop. If a vegetable grower uses a soda mixture as an immune booster to help resist disease and pest attacks, cucumbers should be watered three times during the growing season:

after the development of 3-4 true leaves;
at the beginning of flowering;
during fruiting.

Natural farming enthusiasts who avoid chemical-based products to ensure vegetable crop resistance to pests use a different soda fertilization schedule. The interval between applications is:

14 days after emergence;
20 days after the first feeding;
then every 10 days until the end of the growing season.

For your information!

To ensure abundant fruiting, vegetable crops require complex nutrition: soda feeding of cucumbers is combined with the application of mineral or organic fertilizers.

Folk recipes for soda fertilizers for cucumbers

Cucumbers are treated with soda solutions of varying concentrations. A 1% solution is most commonly used for foliar feeding, while a 3-5% solution is used for irrigation. The solution is also effective for slowing weed growth. In this case, the concentration is 0.5%. However, to compensate for the lack of nutrients in cucumbers, additional sources of macro- and microelements should be added to the soda solution.

With ash

This combination of herbs not only strengthens the plant's immune system, but also helps combat aphid infestations on shoots.

It's best to apply fertilizer during the fruiting phase, as ash is a source of phosphorus and potassium, which make the cucumbers crisp, sweet, and shelf-stable. To follow this recipe, you'll need:

wood ash and soda - 50 g each;
laundry soap – 40 g;
water – 10 l.

With iodine

A folk remedy that adds a medicinal product to a baking soda solution is effective for treating late blight. It also increases cucumber resistance in greenhouse conditions, characterized by high humidity. The product should not be used more than six times, either in protected soil or in the garden. The fertilizer is prepared from the following ingredients:

soda – 50 g;
laundry soap – 30 g;
iodine – 5 ml;
water – 10 l.

With laundry soap

Using soda solution for diseases

The value of a food supplement for vegetable crops lies in its protection against fungal diseases. These develop for many reasons: poor seed preparation, poor crop rotation, poor weather, and inadequate maintenance. And an affordable solution like baking soda can often help remedy the situation and prevent cucumber crop failures in greenhouses and gardens.

Baking soda for powdery mildew and gray mold

The most common cucumber diseases in regions where they are common sometimes affect even resistant hybrids. To protect the plants, vegetable growers use an effective folk remedy: a solution of baking soda and potassium permanganate. Take a liter of water and dissolve 30 grams of the food additive in it. Add a pinch of potassium permanganate to the mixture until the liquid takes on a light pink tint.

For your information!

Spray cucumbers weekly in the evening until signs of disease development disappear.

White rot

This disease, common in greenhouses, is caused by a fungus. It results in shoots becoming covered with a white coating. If the growth is not stopped promptly, the plant will die. Every 3-4 days, the plants are sprayed with a mixture of water and baking soda, prepared from 10 liters and 75 grams, respectively. Stop treatment immediately when signs of the disease appear in unaffected areas.

Yellow spots

The development of spotting is caused by a combination of internal and external factors, ranging from poor weather to weakened immunity due to transplanting seedlings. The disease begins on leaf blades, which gradually become lighter in color and dry out. To protect plants, water the trunks with a weak soda solution, additionally treating the lower part of the central shoot with it, and fertilizing cucumbers with superphosphate.

Barren flowers

Excessive flowering and a lack of fruit set is a common problem faced by vegetable growers when cultivating cucumbers. As a preventative measure, use a strengthening solution. Prepare it by mixing 50 g of baking soda and 10 liters of water. Spray the plants with the mixture three times: during flowering, fruiting, and cucumber set.

Using a soda solution against pests

Sodium bicarbonate is an alkali. This is why small insects, especially those common on cucumber shoots such as aphids and spider mites, react negatively to it. As a preventative measure, plants are watered or sprayed with a soda solution every week after 3-4 true leaves have formed. At the first sign of harmful insect activity, additional ingredients are added to the formula.

Spider mite

This pest, which feeds on cucumber shoots, most often infests vines in dry conditions with a lack of air moisture. The presence of this harmful insect can be recognized by the webbing in the leaf axils. If left untreated, it completely sucks the sap from the shoots, causing them to die. Weekly treatment with a 1% soda solution helps prevent this.

Baking soda on cucumbers to get rid of aphids

This microscopic insect inhabits the underside of shoots, feeding on sap, causing leaves to curl and dry out. The pest reproduces very quickly. Control of melon aphids is essential immediately. For protection, use 60 g of baking soda, a similar amount of wood ash, 10 liters of water, and a small amount of liquid soap as an adhesive.

For your information!

Aphids are often caused by ants. If there are a large number of them in the area and folk remedies are ineffective, treat the plantings with a biological product or insecticide.

Other insects

In addition to the pests described above, cucumber plantings may be attacked by other pests, including thrips, whiteflies, mole crickets, and slugs. Regular foliar spraying is effective against the first two. However, gastropod pests and the polyphagous mole cricket can be repelled by scattering a small amount of a food additive around the perimeter of the plant's trunks. Thanks to the alkaline nature of baking soda, this method produces excellent results.

Precautionary measures

Baking soda is often used as a fungicide, insecticide, or fertilizer in both open and closed soil. However, due to its sodium content, this food additive requires careful handling. If applied incorrectly, it can actually delay fruit ripening. High alkali concentrations impair calcium absorption, causing cucumbers to develop a curved, hooked appearance.

If treatment with a soda solution doesn't produce a noticeable effect, it should be replaced with another solution, as excessively frequent application of the first solution can cause the plant's death. It's also important to select the correct ratio, taking into account the plant's intended treatment: 1% solutions are suitable for prevention, while 3-5% solutions are suitable for treatment.