My small cucumber plants have been growing fast — actually a little faster than I planned for — so I moved them into buckets today. That lets me keep them indoors for a few more weeks and move them outdoors once spring is fully here and the temperature is reliable.
This time I transplanted them into regular buckets rather than my usual grow buckets with a built-in reservoir. I plan to drill holes in the bottom and use an external water reservoir later in the summer, so for now it’s just regular buckets.
Remember to be careful when transplanting cucumbers — it’s always a bit “high risk”. The roots are really sensitive, so try not to disturb or touch them more than necessary, and make sure not to plant the cucumber deeper than it was in the old pot (unlike tomatoes, the cucumber stem is sensitive and won’t grow new roots from being buried). Also make sure your soil is room temperature, since cucumbers are sensitive to cold soil.
Since these plants are staying indoors for a while, I also added a watering pipe. I’ve had some issues with flies and white mold on the indoor soil, so I want the top layer to dry out properly while the plant still gets enough water. I just cut the bottom off a regular plastic bottle, turned it upside down, and dug it into the bucket to water through. As always with vegetables in small containers, remember to add nutrients to the water — I generally do that once a week once the plant is in its final container.
