Latest Technical Method Tutorial for Preventing and Treating Low-Temperature Injury in Cucumbers

Low-Temperature Injury in Cucumbers

Because cucumbers have a relatively weak tolerance to low temperatures, continuous low temperatures can trigger a variety of symptoms, mainly manifested in the following aspects:

1. When the soil temperature at sowing is too low, seed germination and seedling emergence are delayed, resulting in yellow, weak seedlings, rotted seeds, or the occurrence of damping-off disease, root rot, and so on. On some emerged seedlings, white edges appear along the margins of the cotyledons, the leaves turn yellow, and the root system stops growing.

2. If the soil temperature stays below 12℃ for a long time, the root tips turn yellow or root drowning and root rot occur, and the aboveground parts begin to turn yellow.

3. After cold injury or freezing injury occurs following transplanting, the leaves take on a dark green color, the leaf margins curl slightly outward, and yellow-white patches appear between the veins of the large leaves; as the freezing injury worsens, these patches expand and merge into continuous areas. Alternatively, the plant roots slowly or not at all, or the flower buds do not differentiate, the entire plant grows spindly, flower topping appears, and even the leaves wither to the point that the whole plant dies.

Prevention and Treatment Methods

1. Select low-temperature-tolerant varieties that germinate quickly, emerge rapidly, and grow quickly as seedlings.

2. Place seeds that have been soaked and are about to germinate at 0℃ for 24 to 36 hours before sowing; this can enhance cold resistance.

3. Avoid raising seedlings and transplanting during cold periods. Take warming measures in the greenhouse, such as lighting a stove or adding heating wires to the ground.

4. Apply compost fermented with enzyme bacteria or fully decomposed organic fertilizer.

5. Before a cold wave strikes, spray a plant cold-resistance agent: 100 to 200 milliliters per mu of a 400-fold solution of 10% Baolifeng anti-freezing agent, or a 7500-fold solution of 3.4% Bihu wettable powder, or 50 grams of brown sugar mixed with one bucket of water plus 0.3% monopotassium phosphate.

6. If the temperature is too low and freezing injury has already occurred, adopt slow warming measures, such as using straw curtains to shade the plants after a long cloudy period followed by clear weather, so that the physiological functions of the cucumbers gradually recover. Never rush this process.