Reasons For The Appearance Of Bitterness In Greenhouse Cucumbers

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

7 reasons why greenhouse cucumbers taste bitter

An unpleasant feature of greenhouse cucumbers is the appearance of a bitter taste. A similar sign signals unfavorable conditions and errors in growing a crop. Because of this dacha incident, you have to cut off the peel, depriving the vitamins contained there.

Insufficient watering

One of the reasons for the appearance of bitterness is a lack of moisture. This primarily applies to greenhouse plants. Indoors, the temperature sometimes reaches +40 ℃ and even more. At this point, the fruits are stressed. If the dry weather lasts at least 4 days in a row, the number of tasteless vegetables will increase significantly.

Excess moisture can also negatively affect the taste of cucumbers and spoil them with bitterness. It is important to carefully monitor the condition of the soil, preventing it from drying out and waterlogging. It should be remembered that cucumbers love watering with warm water, not cold water directly from a hose. The optimal water temperature is considered to be within + 22-24 ℃.

If it is not possible to regularly visit the cottage, you should mulch the soil with any available material: weeds, straw or rotted sawdust. Mulch will retain moisture in the soil for a much longer period, allowing you to reduce the number of waterings.

Lack or too much light

Cucumbers prefer bright, but diffused lighting. But direct sunlight should be avoided, since under their influence cucurbitacin begins to accumulate in the peel and lower part of the fruit.

It so happens that fruits of different taste grow on the same bush. Those that were directly illuminated by the sun are especially bitter, and those that grew under the cover of leaves are edible.

With a bitter aftertaste, greens are obtained, growing in opposite conditions - with a lack of light. This situation occurs due to a thickened planting of cucumber bushes or with strong shading by tall neighboring plants.

Additional lighting can be installed to create ideal conditions. If, on the contrary, there is a lot of light, the walls of the greenhouse can be whitewashed or covered from the outside with a white non-woven material.

Low humidity in the greenhouse

A common cause of an unpleasant bitter taste is the lack of moisture balance in the greenhouse. This culture needs regular watering, and if the temperature is +30 ° C and above, then also ventilation. In this case, the main thing is not to create drafts.

The relative humidity in the cucumber greenhouse should be around 75-80%. In hot and dry weather, it is necessary to organize sprinkling of the bushes through small nozzles.

You can put containers with water in the greenhouse, moisten the walls and paths between plantings. All this will help maintain the humidity at the desired level.

Lack of potassium and nitrogen

The reason for the bitter taste lies in the deficiency of nitrogen and potassium fertilizers. An incorrect feeding regime leads to an increased production of cucurbitacin, which is responsible for the amount of bitterness in cucumbers.

With a lack of nitrogen, the growth of new shoots and leaves slows down, the plant itself becomes faded. A lack of potassium can be recognized by the appearance of a yellow border around the leaf blades.

To restore these macronutrients, you need to feed the bushes with urea (at the rate of 25-30 g per ten-liter water container) and potassium nitrate (adding 20-30 g per ten liters of water).

However, feeding too often is also not worth it. Enough once a week. If cucumber bushes develop well, many ovaries are formed, and ripe fruits grow juicy and strong, no additional fertilization is needed.

Certain varieties

The presence of an unpleasant bitter taste in cucumbers largely depends on the choice of variety and growing conditions. In order not to face this problem, it is better to buy hybrids that are resistant to taste changes. Every year, breeders develop strong, productive and high-quality varieties.

For example, such hybrids as "Gerasim F1", "Egoza F1", "Round dance F1" have no bitterness and no voids are formed inside. And the salad variety "Zozulya", beloved by many, has bitter greens, especially closer to autumn. Modern varieties are highly resistant to adverse weather changes.

Temperature changes in the greenhouse

Temperature imbalance is another stressful situation that causes cucumbers to produce cucurbitacin. Regardless of the weather outside, the greenhouse should be warm.

Until the bushes begin to bear fruit, the optimal temperature is +20 ° C during the day, and +18 ° C at night. During the period of active ripening of fruits - +27 ° C during the day, +20 ° C at night.

To maintain the average daily temperature, the greenhouse is ventilated during the day. If it gets colder, they must close it at night so that there is no hypothermia. In addition, it is important to ensure that the leaves of the plant do not come into contact with the walls of the greenhouse, otherwise yellowing of the foliage is inevitable.

Rare harvest

When the period of active fruiting begins, cucumbers are harvested every 3 days, trying not to break the whips. Even at the slightest delay, the culture reacts with an increased release of bitterness into the fruit, and then the gardener gets an inedible crop.

For the same reason, voids appear in cucumbers. These overripe vegetables taste bad and are not suitable for canning.