Darina cucumber seeds are one of the most productive cucumber seeds available in the market. The matured fruits of Darina F1 are usually deep green in colour with a big size and cylindrical shape. This variety has predominantly female flowers and may not necessarily need bees for pollination. It is a downy mildew resistant slicing cucumber with good yield potential in later harvests

How To Plant Darina Cucumber Seeds

Below is the step to take while cultivating Darina F1 variety:

Planting

• The farmland should be ploughed, harrowed, and ridged. The soil should be loose enough. All hardpans must be broken.
• Chicken manure and compost can improve the soil. It can also lead to higher yield. Manure should be spread on the soil.
• If you are using drip irrigation, there should be an intra-row spacing of between 30 and 40 cm. Two rows can be created on a 1-meter bed.
• Ensure that your soil pH is within 5.5 – 6.9. The optimal pH is 6.0.
• 10,000 – 13,333 seeds can be used on one acre of farmland.

Staking

• Bamboos and ropes can be used to stake the cucumber plants. This enhances aeration. It also prevents fruits spoilage and diseases.
• Wooden stakes and binding wires can also be used for staking.

Irrigation

• Use drip irrigation for Darina cucumber seeds planting. Drip irrigation ensures uniform growing and can also increase the yield of crops significantly.

Fertilization

• During the planting of the seeds, diammonium phosphate fertilizer should be buried beside each seed hole. If this fertilizer is not available, NPK fertilizer can be used.
• NPK fertilizer, potassium nitrate, calcium nitrate, and urea should be used weekly as directed by your agronomist.
• High potassium and calcium fertilizer should be used during flowering and fruiting.
• During harvesting, weekly application of NPK fertilizer, potassium fertilizer, and calcium nitrate should be used.
• Fertigation can also be done daily as advised by your agronomist.

Pests and diseases

Some diseases that can affect the Darina F1 variety include downy mildew, powdery mildew, pythium root rot, and gummy stem blight. The variety has resistance to some diseases too.

Major pests are leaf miners, melon flies, whiteflies, aphids, thrips, and mites.

Control

• Appropriate fungicides, insecticides, nematicides, and acaricides, etc can be used to control diseases and pests that can attack cucumber plants.

Harvesting

• Darina F1 variety produces fruits profusely. Harvesting should be done every 2-3 days. It is better if harvesting is done early in the day.