[lovemyveg]

I have 3 Femspot cucumbers in the greenhouse, in large pots.  All were doing really well, with lots of flowers and now small cues.  I have fed them once a week at the same time as the tomatoes with Tomorite.  One plant however developed yellowing to the leaves so I gave it a solution of Epsom salts and water, thinking that this was a magnesium deficiency.  But the poor thing is looking even sadder now with all the leaves soft and hanging pretty lifeless on the main stem.  The small cues are still attached.  I have inspected for bugs, but cannot see anything present.  Any suggestions please?  Presently I have separated this plant from the remaining two and the toms, just in case it is something that is "catching".

[lisa80]

I had a couple of the bottom leaves go like that on my fem spot so i just took them off ,i presumed that i had caught them with water whilst trying to get to bottom of stem to water .I have had 4 big tasty cucs off it so far. Hopefully someone will be along soon with the answer for you.

[beansticks]

I know it has been raining a lot recently,but when the sun does come out it hots up very quickly,has this plant been more exposed than the other?i ask this because i nearly lost one last week,even though the one next to it was fine.There was recently a discussion about feeding toms with tomorite,some of us prefer to use a feed high in nitrogen others on here dont.Also their requirements are different,toms like it hot ,cucumbers like it humid.

[farmersue]

I think they are a bit sensitive about being watered from the bottom.

[lisa80]

am complete novice! should i have been watering them differently? i just presumed that with them being in green house watering them at the bottom would stop scorching?

[Greengirl]

Could be stem rot where the stem meets the soil, they're very susceptible.

[farmersue]

I'm not sure how to post a link, but if you type 'watering cucumbers' in to search, you'll get lots of advice. I'm a complete novice too, but read about the watering thingy on here, so i put bottles in the ground near my cu's to avoid the stem getting wet. Seems to be working so far ... I've just re-read your original post and realise you  might be doing it that way already. Apologies if that is the case.  

[lovemyveg]

Great replies, thanks to everyone who has taken the time to give advice.  I have some green shading on the greenhouse (I put this up when we had that really hot week), I was thinking that I should take this down now, but to remove all the pots from the greenhouse in order to take this down, seems a huge task.  The 3 cucumbers are nearest to the door, the tomatoes further back.  The withered plant is on the shaded side, with one of the other cues, which is doing the best out of the 3.  I have perlite on the top of each pot so that I do not disturb the soil and top roots too much when I water, and water as carefully as I can into each pot.  Its too late to insert a plastic bottle now without damaging the roots, this will have to wait until next year.  Presently, I have not got drip trays in the greenhouse and maybe it is the excess water running from the pots that is being absorbed by the cue and giving it too much water??  But then they are all in the same boat, as it were and so far the other 2 plants are fine.  I will check the stem tomorrow to see if that is still OK, I didn't know about this being vulnerable. 
The advice about Tomorite is interesting, what do you feed your toms on? 

[strangerachael]

I lost a couple this year, I have never had trouble with cucs before so put it down to the variety (a particularly fussy one), but watering from below does seem to help. Alternatively you can make a hollow in the compost at the side of the pot and water into that to keep water off the stem.
For shading I drape an old sheet over the outside of the greenhouse, secured with clothes pegs, it's easy to pull aside when the weather turns cooler.

[richyrich7]

Sounds like it's too dry an atmosphere. They really do like it humid and warm, try watering the floor around them or putting plant pot saucers with water and gravel in underneath them, and don't remove the shading till every things finished. 

Just check the really bad one sounds like your going to loose that anyway, so when you pull it up take a careful look at the root ball for insect larvae, grubs etc

[lovemyveg]

Sounds like it's too dry an atmosphere. They really do like it humid and warm, try watering the floor around them or putting plant pot saucers with water and gravel in underneath them, and don't remove the shading till every things finished. 

Because all the tomatoes and cues are in large pots in the greenhouse, the excess water from watering the pots runs all over the floor, so the atmosphere is generally humid.  I was worried that the cues were sucking up too much of the water spillage and becoming too wet.   I am rather pleased that the shading can remain there, this is only on "the sunny" side of the greenhouse the other 3 sides are free from shading.  We shall wait and see if the one plant perks up and bears us cues and more importantly the other 2 remain healthy.

[beansticks]

I feed my Cucumbers on Chempak No2,once a week.