Okay, here is the translation following your instructions: Ground cucumber cultivation technology

Author: Wang Qian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1998-06-01
Features: Cucumbers are fragrant, crisp, and tender, making them delicious both raw and as a seasonal dish. They are also excellent for processing, which has made them deeply loved by the people of China, especially as the top choice in spring vegetables. At the same time, cucumbers are highly nutritious due to their rich fiber, various vitamins, and mineral elements, making them an important part of the "vegetable basket project" that aims to improve people's lives and quality of life.
China is vast and diverse in climate. In the Northeast, Northwest, and North China regions, the cold autumn, winter, and spring seasons with short frost-free periods mean that cucumber production in open fields is not possible for 120 to 200 days. In the central and southern regions, especially the Yangtze River Basin, the high summer temperatures and frequent heavy rains make open-field cucumber production difficult and risky. As a result, the demand for year-round cucumber production and supply cannot be met, and the high economic benefits of cucumber production cannot be realized, severely affecting the income of vegetable farmers.
To address this growing imbalance between seasonal production and social demand, cucumbers must be produced year-round, which means overcoming unfavorable environmental conditions: low temperatures in early spring require insulation measures; hot summers require shade and cooling; and severe cold requires heating and insulation. Therefore, protected cultivation () of cucumbers is imperative. Since the 1980s, with the adjustment of industrial structures and the improvement of people's living standards, plastic greenhouses and solar-heated greenhouses have been widely promoted and applied. In the late 1980s, by optimizing the structure of solar-heated greenhouses, improving their light absorption and insulation performance, and adopting cultivation techniques, cucumber production without heating in winter was achieved in the region between 34°N and 43°N, solving the supply issues for early spring and autumn/winter cucumbers. This made year-round cucumber supply and production possible in China.
Currently, the area of plastic greenhouses and solar-heated greenhouses in China exceeds 4 million mu, with 70% to 80% dedicated to cucumber production. However, considering:
① The production and supply still cannot meet the needs of the general public, and for a considerable period in the future, the focus should remain on solving year-round production and balanced supply;
② Vegetable farmers are accustomed to open-field cultivation or have not yet fully mastered protected cultivation techniques, which affects the efficiency of protected cucumber cultivation and the economic income of farmers.
Therefore, with strong government support for the "vegetable basket project," increasing enthusiasm among farmers for protected cultivation, and the continuous emergence of new technologies, we have written this book to introduce the latest techniques in protected cucumber cultivation. We aim to make it easy to understand, technologically advanced, highly practical, and highly operable. Thus, if this book can help and benefit the friends, it will be the author's greatest wish.