This is how I grow Cucumbers from Seeds.
Select the right cucumber
Select a type of cucumber that is good for your final growing destination. If you want to grow your Cucumber Plant in a bucket or a container you might want to choose a smaller plant, than if you have a greenhouse or a garden plot. For some Cucumber Plants it’s recommended to cut the top of after 5-7 leaves, and those types are in general great for containers.
Outdoor sowing
You can do the sowing on the final growing destination, but if you want to do this you need to wait with your sowing until the weather is nice and warm and the freezing risk is over.
Indoor propagation
Indoor propagation gives you better control over the temperature, and minimizes risk of weather destroying your small plants. It also gives you Cucumbers earlier in the season. Take a tray, a small pot, a Homemade Seed Starter, a plug box or any other suitable container to plant your seeds in. The Cucumber Seeds are quite big, so planting is easy:
– Fill your pot/propagating container with soil.
– Water.
– Put one seed in each pot.
– Cover with 1-2 cm of soil.
Cover your sowing with plastic, or a plastic lid. Keep in room temperature or slightly above, if you can give them 25 degrees it’s perfect. (I put mine on a window sill above a radiator.)
Cucumber seeds germinate fast, and you often see them sprouting within a few days. Lower the temperature to around 16-20 degrees then the plants are showing.
I do my propagation in a plug box. Here’s a picture of the small plants (second row from the right):
Repot the plants
I try to only repot the cucumber plant once before planting them on their final growing destination. I then use a 9cm pot. This is because repotting Cucumber can be a bit tricky. The roots of the Cucumber plant is sensitive. Try not to disturb/touch them more than neccessary when you repot them, and make sure that the new soil is room temperatured when you do the repotting. Also do NOT plant your cucumber deeper than it was in the old pot. The stem is sensitive to moisture and does not grow new roots like for example Tomatoes does.
After repotting, water the plants by placing your pots in a tray, and pour some room temperatured water into the tray. The soil in the pots will then absorb the amount of water it needs. When they do not absorb anymore, pour the extensive water of the tray so that the plants doesn’t get to much water. Leave them for a few days until you water them in the tray again.
Keep your plants in a sunny place, or under a grow light. Give them some support to climb on as they grow bigger.
Transplant your plants to the final growing destination when the weather is stable and freezing risk for sure is over. I grow cucumbers both indoors during the winter, and outdoors during summer.
