How and When to Start Cucumbers Indoors: For New Gardeners!
Cucumbers like the warm weather. It is best to start them indoors about four weeks before you have regular 60 degree nights and when the garden soil is warmed. That is about one week to germinate. Two weeks to grow indoors and one week to slowly be acclimated to the outdoor sun. You can push it a bit at mid 50 degree nights if you want. They seem to grow best in the 65-85 degree day range.
There is not a great advantage to pushing them out the door early. They like the heat and mature quickly like in 45-55 days. They will just sit there in the ground if it is too cold.
Your should feed your seedlings with 1/2 strength liquid fertilizer 10-14 days after germination. I recommend watering from the bottom as a way to prevent disease issues and soil splash, plus it will save you time.
Because they grow so fast... you have to really supply them with nutrients and water when put in the garden. A well composted planting hole goes a long way. Regular feedings help too and I would recommend a feeding every 2 weeks or so with a liquid fertilizer. If you are growing your cucumbers in containers you will need to ensure consistent waterings and increase the liquid feedings.
Cucumbers are often susceptible to soft bodied insects like spider mites. A basic soapy water spray on the top and bottom leaves, 1x a week, is a good prevention against soft bodied insects. Here is the basic soapy spray recipe I use. As always... test any sprays on a few leaves and wait 48 hours to make sure the plant can handle them.
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