[Kim50]

had great success with outside cucumbers last year...but will hold off sowing for another month yet...though tempting to get them started now as with many others like courgettes, pumpkins, beans...

[Trillium]

We had an early heatwave this year due to our unusually mild winter and I saw folks planting things outside, but only early items that don't mind cold: peas, lettuce, early potatoes, etc.

Even I, with our hotter summers, won't think of starting cukes until the very end of April. They really cannot take cool weather, let alone cold weather, unless going into a well heated greenhouse.

[Poolcue]

I started a Piccolino in a heated propagator and all was well until today where it appears to be rotting away

[A Reyt Tayty]

Update:

I've put them back downstairs where the temp is about 21 degrees constant, and they are picking back up. I've also left them without water. I wouldn't have thought a slight drop in temp would haver affected them so badly.

[JayG]

Glad to hear that Tayty. 

Don't go too far with letting them dry out though - they need plenty of water, but don't like sitting in too much of it (cucumbers originated in India which probably explains why we sometimes find it difficult to provide the right environment for them in this country, especially when it comes to temperature.)

[A Reyt Tayty]

I may have spoken too soon. They look dog rough this morning. Might have been a bit nippy for them on the windowledge last night. Not to worry, plenty of time to set some more next month.

[A Reyt Tayty]

Hokey Cokey. Off we go again with the cukes. Planted newe seed today.

One  question: when watering from underneath, how do you gauge when there is enough water. Do you just keep putting water into the "tray" which the pots are standing on until they do not take up any more water? What if the top appears dry when all else seems to be swimming? Don't want to lose these this time.

[sunshineband]

Update:

I've put them back downstairs where the temp is about 21 degrees constant, and they are picking back up. I've also left them without water. I wouldn't have thought a slight drop in temp would haver affected them so badly.

Think of the drop from 21C to 14C and it is quite a bit one really 

Too much for the cucmbers anyway

(That shoud be re-named 'Suicide curcubits' imho  )

[yorkiegal]

I have three cucumber plants on the go. All stood next to each other in identical sized pots, receiving the identical amount of water and light and heat. Pot one is a nice big healthy looking plant with a flower. Pot two has a slightly smaller plant with the bottom leaves starting to die. Pot three has the runt from which i've removed 4 dead leaves today. It's like the bloomin 3 bears!

[Trillium]

If you remember that cukes are mostly a tropical plant, then its easy to realize just how temperature sensitive they are. They wait for any excuse to keel over and die. It'll be another 3 weeks before I start mine. In warmer temps they'll sprout very quickly and put on fast growth so there's little point rushing it, considering how much some hybrid cuke seeds cost  :blink:

[A Reyt Tayty]

But what about my question about how to tell if they have enough water when watering from underneath?

If I don't get an answer I shall thkweem and thkweem and thkweem until I make mythelf thick! 

[mumofstig]

STOP THAT SCREAMING NOW, for heaven's sake!   
I let them absorb what water they want for an hour, say - and then take them out.

[snails2go]

Last year I spent the whole summer tending my suicidal cucumbers and managed to get 3 very short cucumbers from 2 plants.

This year I thought I'd start the sow-grow-die process earlier with lots of sowings a few weeks apart....

Now my earliest sown saturn cukes (all 3 of them) have decided they LOVE living in the dining room by the patio door and have started to produce baby cukes already 

So what to do now? They'll have to stay inside as it's too cold outside - but do I need to help with pollinating the flowers as I've no bees living in the dining room?

Have the same problem with my early tomatoes that are now in flower .... I'll pay more attention to the BE PATIENT advice next year ... honest I will

[DD.]

Depends on whether they are indoor or outdoor, (ridge), cues.

What variety are they?

[snails2go]

Depends on whether they are indoor or outdoor, (ridge), cues.

What variety are they?

DD .... They're Saturn F1.... and I have a small unheated greenhouse if that'll help ?