Top dressing is an important agricultural measure in the cultivation of zucchini. Fertilizers must be applied in stages. There are several types of dressings for zucchini, each of which has its own purpose. Substances must be used in a specific dosage.
The need to feed zucchini
Fertilizers are applied several times, including at the stage of preparing the soil for planting. Top dressing has several goals:
- optimization of the chemical composition of the soil, increasing its fertility;
- stimulation of the growth and development of culture, the formation of ovaries and fruits;
- disease and pest prevention;
- yield increase - indicators can double or even double;
- providing good taste characteristics of the fruit;
- Improving the chemical composition of fruits - increasing the amount of sugars, vitamins and other beneficial elements.
Proper feeding of zucchini is useful, but the use of fertilizers can lead to the opposite effect - to harm the culture. This happens with excessive feeding, improper dosages, the use of only one type of fertilizer.
Fertilizer Stages
Feeding zucchini should be phased. Fertilizing at each stage pursues its goals and has a number of features.
Spring preparation of beds
The site is dug up in the fall, the same treatment is repeated in the spring. Be sure to remove all weeds and make the first fertilizer.
For zucchini, compost or humus is used, the use of fresh manure is unacceptable. It is recommended to add 2-3 kg of organics per square meter, adding mineral fertilizers - 2 tbsp. l potassium and 20 g of nitrophosphate.
First feeding
Zucchini can be planted with seeds or seedlings. The first feeding is carried out 1.5 weeks after sowing the seeds, regardless of the chosen method of planting the crop. Fertilizing at this stage helps to strengthen the root system and its correct formation, stimulates the growth of shoots.
Nitrogen must be added to the first top dressing so that the culture builds up green mass. Effectively use organic and mineral fertilizers together. Contribute them in the root way.
When feeding at the seedling stage, it should be remembered that the concentration of the compounds used should be half that of adult plants.
After transplanting seedlings into the ground
Fertilizers are needed a week after planting. Additional nutrition at this stage contributes to the rooting of seedlings, activates its growth and development. Fertilizers are applied under the root. You can use different top dressings, but it is recommended to stay on inorganic substances.
When flowering
When inflorescences appear on zucchini, they resort to organic fertilizers or folk methods. This provides additional nutrition to the culture.
At the beginning of flowering, yeast dressing is effective. Yeast contains various vitamins and elements, their composition is very rich. Use should be a fresh product, not a dry mix in bags. When preparing the infusion, you can add wood ash.
During flowering
At this point, zucchini needs more potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen. The problem is solved by the application of mineral fertilizers. You can mix different substances on your own or resort to ready-made combinations. Effectively use a solution with ammonia.
It is possible to carry out foliar top dressing. To prepare the solution, take the mullein and nitroammophoska.
During fruiting
Fertilizers should be used at this stage especially carefully, since they can affect the chemical composition of the fruit. You can feed the culture with organics or apply safe mineral formulations.
Fertilizing zucchini during fruiting stimulates the growth of fruits, improves their taste characteristics and quality. Effectively use potassium preparations, urea, superphosphate for this.
Types of fertilizers for squash
Fertilizing the culture is carried out with various substances: organic and mineral fertilizers, complex compounds and folk remedies. You can apply them by the root or extra-root method.
Root dressing is considered the main. More often, fertilizer solutions are used, but some are applied in dry form. Substances arrive at the roots, but this takes some time.
Foliar top dressing involves spraying the leaves. The plant receives nutrients faster, but in smaller quantities, since concentrated solutions cannot be used. Foliar top dressing is carried out additionally, often for the prevention of diseases and pests.
Organic fertilizer
These top dressings are of plant or animal origin. For zucchini, manure, compost, humus, and wood ash are more often used.
The introduction of organics has many goals:
- soil structure improvement;
- carbon dioxide emissions for air nutrition crops;
- activation of zucchini growth and stimulation of their development.
Organic fertilizers are popular:
- Mullein. It is effective to use before flowering. Fertilizer should be diluted with 10 parts of water, mix and water the plants under the root. A bucket of infusion is distributed on 10 bushes.
- Fresh chicken droppings. It is good to use during flowering. It must be diluted with 3 parts of water. Additionally, you can use complex mineral fertilizer, breeding 1 tbsp. in a bucket of water. This composition is used for root dressing, a bucket of infusion is distributed on 5 plants.
- Wood ash. It contains dozens of vitamins and other beneficial substances. For root dressing, a solution of the product is effective - add 3 tbsp for each liter of water. ash, insist a week. Water the zucchini, spending 0.5 liters of the composition. Be sure to fertilize the crop with plain water after top dressing.
- Effecton. Ready-made organic fertilizer based on compost. It is used for both root and foliar top dressing. In the first case, a bucket of water needs 200 g of the drug per bucket, in the second - 30 g.
You can not use only organics to feed zucchini. It is necessary to correctly combine it with mineral fertilizers.
Mineral fertilizers
Thanks to minerals, biochemical processes are accelerated, which ensures the growth and formation of plants. Their application also pursues other goals:
- yield increase;
- improving the quality of the fruit;
- increasing the resistance of the culture to droughts, cold, diseases.
Mineral fertilizers are usually used not one at a time, but in combination, combining 2-3 substances in one feeding:
- For the first feeding after emergence, a mixture of 40 g of superphosphate and 20 g of ammonia and potassium nitrate per bucket of water is effective. Zucchini with this solution should be poured under the root, spending 1 liter per bush.
- During the fruiting period, potash and phosphorus fertilizers will be needed. You can take superphosphate and potassium nitrate, you need 50 g of each element in a bucket of water. Add top dressing by the root method, spending 1.5 liters per bush.
Urea helps improve crop growth and reduce the risk of disease. Contribute it in two ways:
- Foliar top dressing. It is necessary to dissolve 15 g of the substance in a bucket of water, add 5 g of manganese sulfate and 4 g of copper sulfate. Spraying can be carried out three times per season with an interval of at least 2 weeks. With poor growth of zucchini, weak stems and pale color of foliage, it is useful to spray them with a solution of urea - 10 g per bucket of water. Spraying can be done several times before flowering.
- Root dressing. To do this, dissolve 10 g of the substance in a bucket of water. Effectively fertilize plantings several times - during flowering and when pouring fruit. Between feedings to withstand at least 1.5 weeks.
Keep in mind the moderation of fertilizer application and adherence to dosages. Mineral deficiency increases the risk of infectious diseases, but their overabundance is harmful.
Ready-made complex formulations
Such fertilizers are universal or intended for certain crops. Their use makes life easier for gardeners, since you do not need to prepare the mixture yourself - you only need to dilute the concentrate in the right proportions.
Among the popular complex fertilizers for zucchini, gardeners distinguish such:
- Nitroammofoska. It is introduced even before sowing seeds in dry form at 40 g per 1 sq. m. During the growing season, prepare a solution of 20 g of fertilizer in a bucket of water. Watered under the root, spending a liter per bush. The first dressing can be done 2 weeks after sowing the seeds, again during flowering with the formation of the ovaries.
- Bud. There are several varieties of this fertilizer. Use it to stimulate growth, flowering, fruit formation. Foliar top dressing is carried out, adding 20 g of the product to a bucket of water.
- Vermicompost. A complex of organic and mineral fertilizers. A liquid preparation is added 100 ml per bucket of water. The solution is used for root dressing, they can be carried out once a week. You can do foliar dressing by adding 25 ml of liquid to a bucket of water.
Folk remedies
Such fertilizers are safer than many chemical compositions from the store, if used correctly. There are several options for feeding zucchini with folk remedies:
- Sugar syrup. For 1 liter of water, 0.5 kg of sand will be required, in addition, add the oil of any honey plant. The resulting composition is used in a foliar way. It attracts bees that provide pollination of the culture - this is necessary for the formation of ovaries.
- Ammonia. Such a tool is used instead of nitrogen fertilizers. Apply it for the first feeding. Need to add 1 tbsp. funds for a bucket of water. The composition is suitable for any type of top dressing.
- Yeast. It is necessary to dilute 100 g of the product in 0.5 l of warm water and leave for a day. Add the resulting mixture to a bucket of water, pour the culture under the root.
- Green Fertilizer with Yeast. The composition is saturated with nitrogen, it must be used reasonably. For cooking, you need to fill the bucket with grass by a third, it is better to use nettles. Add 50 g of yeast and warm filtered water to the top. Insist 2 days, apply after straining.
- Iodine. After such top dressing, the plants increase immunity and resistance to diseases, they better absorb nitrogen. Fertilizer is applied under the root, 40 drops of iodine are needed per 10 liters of water. Feeding is best done during flowering or fruit formation.
- Boric acid. This tool promotes the synthesis of nitrogen and the assimilation of potassium, stimulates the formation of ovaries, positively affects the taste of the fruit. It is effective to use top dressing before sowing, spilling the beds with a solution of 2 g of substance per 10 l of water. For 1 square. m need 1 liter of fertilizer. Boric acid is also used for rotting fruits as foliar top dressing. To do this, dissolve 4 g of the substance in a liter of hot water, then dilute in 20 parts of ordinary water.
- Onion peel. The infusion of it is the prevention of many diseases. The husk must be boiled in an arbitrary amount, filtered and diluted with water - the color should resemble tea. This infusion is used for foliar dressing.
How to understand that zucchini need top dressing?
During the cultivation of zucchini beds should be inspected regularly. The following signs indicate the need for top dressing:
- slow fruit growth;
- pale color of leaves;
- yellowing of the leaves of the lower row;
- curling leaves at the edges;
- fragility and fragility of stems and leaves;
- a lot of greenery, but no inflorescences;
- signs of fungal diseases;
- few fruits;
- withering fruit, yellow spots on them.
Proper application of fertilizers when growing zucchini will lead to the desired result - a plentiful and high-quality crop. Thanks to fertilizers, the culture grows and develops better, the fruits grow larger, accumulate the necessary elements.