Salad cucumber is most suitable crop for poly house since they can reproduce without pollination.
In poly house, beds are prepared at one metre distance. Drip lines are laid and beds are covered with mild sheets. Seedlings are planted on the beds. Water and required nutrients are supplied through drip line. Plant is strained on floriculture net. GI pipes are fixed at both ends of the beds and floriculture net of around 2 m height are strained on these GI pipes.
Ordinary cucumber and KPCH1
Plants will flower in about 35 – 40 days and fruits will be ready for harvest in another week. Ordinary cucumber produces both male and female flowers but in KPCH1 it produces only female flowers and all these female flowers will develop into fruits.
Fully grown vine at 2 – 2.5 metre height will be trained downwards for facilitating farm operation.
Care and Yield
Once in a week, fertilizer mixture 19:19:19 should be given through drip dissolved in water at the rate of 5 gram per litre. Also the later on branches should not be allowed up to a height of 1m.
25 fruits can be plucked from one plant. Average yield from a single plant comes to around 5kg. From 10 cent poly house on an average 5 tonnes fruit yield can be expected in one season.
Salad cucumber seeds
In India, private company hybrid are selling the seeds of these salad cucumber types at a rate of minimum 5 rupee per seed.
At Kerala Agricultural university, they sell seeds of the KPCH1 at a rate of minimum only 1 rupee per seed to the farmers. The high yield potential of KPCH1 make this crop ideal for poly house cultivation.
