Growing cucumbers in the greenhouse, it will not only provide the family with high-quality and healthy vegetables, but also become the basis for its own business. Properly equipping the greenhouse, you can shoot several harvests in year. Cucumbers can be sold through retail chains or catering, but many manufacturers prefer to open their own outlets in the market.
Greenhouses: industrial and amateur
Amateur gardeners start growing cucumbers since April, arranging heated beds in summer greenhouses and greenhouses without heating. To heat the ridges used biofuel, sheets of roofing material and other tricks. Light greenhouse protects plants from the weather, frost and other adverse events. In closed ground without additional heating, cucumbers grow until the end of September.
Capital heated greenhouses allow you to make the process continuous. In regions with a temperate climate, greenhouses for cucumbers allow for excellent harvesting in late autumn and winter. To ensure good fruiting, it is important to choose the size of the greenhouse.
Novice farmers should start with designs. area of 100 square meters. m. Such greenhouses can be heated with electric or water boilers, stoves, fires, infrared cable. Smaller facilities are unprofitable, large costs will be required for heating large greenhouses.
Industrial greenhouses for growing cucumbers, have a much larger size and height. Along the perimeter of greenhouses support columns are installed, the structure itself is made on a cinder block or metal frame and a solid foundation.
To grow cucumbers in a greenhouse in winter, it is necessary to prepare greenhouses in a certain way. Greenhouses are sheathed with a double layer of polycarbonate or glass. Industrial greenhouses for cucumbers, equipped with a system of automatic irrigation, temperature control and air humidification. Mandatory automatic curtains for shading in hot weather.
The best greenhouses for cucumbers are made leaning. This form of the roof does not linger in the snow and guarantees good insolation. Ideal for the farmer - durable galvanized metal framecovered with polycarbonate.
Such a greenhouse is not cheap, but it is guaranteed to last several years without restoration. For additional warming, the glazed greenhouse can be duplicated with a dense polyethylene film.
Advantages and disadvantages of business
Growing cucumbers in a greenhouse, as a business, has a lot of advantages in front of the open ground.
- Heated designs provide an opportunity to harvest all year round.
- Possible cultivation of any varieties: salad, universal or intended solely for canning.
- Exists many varieties and hybridssuitable for indoor use and yielding fast and abundant yields.
- Varietal-grown cucumbers are in high demand in shops and catering establishments.
- Harvested cucumbers are well kept and do not suffer during transportation. Harvest can be sold not only in your region, but also to export to neighboring ones.
Industrial cultivation of cucumbers in the greenhouse all year round, has the following features:
- Construction and equipment of greenhouses requires a large initial investment.
- Heating in winter is expensive.
- For successful cultivation of cucumbers need a flat area with running water for the organization of the irrigation system.
- Indoor cultivation requires constant watering and regular fertilization.
- In the summer, the mark-up for products decreases, and competition increases.
- For the business of growing cucumbers in the winter greenhouse, suitable for people with experience in vegetable production.
What cucumbers are suitable for greenhouses
When choosing varieties and hybrids for greenhouses, consider the following points:
- Terms of ripening. Early green and mid-season hybrids with a shorter growing season are ideal for greenhouses. Only hybrids that do not require pollination are grown in greenhouses.
- The appearance and taste of the fruit. In the greenhouse you can grow cucumbers, intended for salads or canning, there are also universal varieties.
- Customer preferences. Consumers are more likely to get short-cucumbers with brightly colored, not too dense skin and elastic flesh.
- Yield. For closed ground choose varieties that give the maximum number of ovaries.
- Resilience to diseases and pests. Soil cultivation can not completely protect plants from insects, Pest-resistant cucumbers will do without regular treatment with insecticides.
- Endurance. In regions with a cold climate, it is better to grow hybrids that do not require large amounts of sunlight and calmly tolerate temperature fluctuations.
- Origin of the variety. Greenhouse business professionals recommend giving preference to hybrids of domestic breeding. In temperate and warm climates, German, Dutch and Polish varieties bear good fruit.
Among the most popular are the following hybrids:
- Early - Emelya, Evita, Leandro, Courage, Anyuta, Mazai.
- Mid-season - Matilda, Connie, Zozulya, Balagan, Claudia, Regia.
Equipment and agricultural technology
Farm cucumber greenhouse should be equipped with heating and ventilation. Preferred drip irrigation, providing perfect moisture not only the soil, but also air. It is desirable to make the doors double or equip them with a vestibule. Summer time needs a shading system, its can be made automatic or adjustable in manual mode.
In large industrial farms, cucumbers are often grown hydroponically, but most farmers rely on the ground. Ground cucumbers have a pleasant rich flavor, they are dense and not watery. Plants very demanding of soil. Find out on our website how to form and tie up lash of cucumbers in a greenhouse.
A light mixture of turf and peat is preferred. It is disinfected by spilling a solution of copper sulfate, mixed with ashes and complex mineral fertilizers and laid out on the prepared ridges.
For additional relief and warm ground sawdust added, sunflower seeds husks, straw, rotted manure.
For successful maturation and formation of ovaries, cucumbers need moisture not lower than 80% and temperature from 23 ° C. At night, it can drop to 18 ° C, a further decrease inhibits the development of plants. About how to grow cucumber seedlings in the greenhouse, you can specify on our website.
Indoor soil reduces the nutritional value of the soil. Weekly application of mineral fertilizers will help restore it: superphosphate, potassium chloride, ammonium nitrate. Water plants can only warm water. The lack of moisture adversely affects the taste of the fruit.
How to calculate profitability?
Planning a greenhouse business is worth prepare for significant expenses. These include:
- lease or purchase of land;
- construction and equipment of the greenhouse;
- purchase of varietal seeds, fertilizers and agricultural equipment;
- registration of a farm or individual entrepreneur;
- single tax;
- spending on heating, water and lighting;
- fare.
Some information about the business of growing cucumbers in the greenhouse, in the video below:
Serving a greenhouse size of 100-120 square meters. m can deal with the owner himself with the help of family members. With the expansion of greenhouses will have to attract employeesIn this case, their salary should be included in the cost estimate. It is worth considering that with year-round cultivation of cucumbers in cold climates, the cost of heating significantly reduces profitability.
Other popular crops for greenhouse business, which you can find out in more detail on our website: berries, flowers, greens, tomatoes and other vegetables.
Income greenhouse management depend on yield, season, level of competition and availability of developed distribution channels. Business on cucumbers is most profitable in regions with a temperate climate and a small number of greenhouses. In winter time can significantly increase revenueby increasing the markup on products. The fewer competitors and better product, the more you can earn.
The profitability of greenhouses for growing cucumbers for business is 50-70%. In a lean year, it can exceed 100%. Greenhouse will pay off in 1-1,5 yearspayback periods are reduced with an increase in the area of the structure.
Increase revenue will help:
- the expansion of greenhouses;
- work with retail: large retail chains, restaurants and cafes;
- selection of the most productive varieties and hybrids;
- product promotion.
Having achieved success, you can take up business expansion on cucumbersby building another greenhouse.
A farmer who has made a name for himself can count on high demand and a good price for products. Cucumbers in the greenhouse can be combined with other popular crops: herbs, tomatoes, sweet peppers.
Universal vegetable farm guarantees a big profit and protects against damages.
