Cucumbers are a little different than other members of the squash family. Let's look at what they need and how to plant them.

cucumber plants tall climbing up trellis yellow flowers
Get your cucumber game right and you can unlock the infinite pickle glitch

Cucumber Seedlings

How Do You Plant Cucumber Seeds?

How Long for Cucumber Seeds to Germinate?

marketmore cucumbers in bowl zoomed in spiky pickling organic
The sooner you get those cucumber seeds planted, the sooner you can get harvests like this. These are Marketmore 76, a classic variety used for slicing or making pickles

Leggy Cucumber Seedlings

If your cucumber seedlings end up leggy from lock of light during their first couple weeks, not to worry. You can bury them deeper when transplanting without any risk of smothering them.

Thinning Cucumber Seedlings

Transplanting Cucumbers

Can Cucumbers Be Transplanted?

Cucumbers are a great candidate for transplant. While they can be a bit sensitive early on, they transplant easily enough with just a bit of care.

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Cukes grow quickly from seed, ond starting them early indoors or in a greenhouse can help you get a jump on the season.

When to Transplant Cucumber Seedlings

Where I live in the Sonoran Desert, cucumbers grow during the shoulder seasons (spring and autumn) when temps are not summer inferno nor chilly winter.

In more temperate regions, cucumbers grow in the summer.

When to transplant cucumbers seedlings depends on where you grow and you'll want to reference local grow guides where possible.

In general, what they're looking for is a long warm season - not too cold and not too hot. Frost will kill cucumbers, as will excessive heat and drought.

How to Transplant Cucumbers

How Deep to Plant Cucumber Plants

bury plant stems

How Far Apart to Plant Cucumbers

Cucumber Transplant Shock

How to Grow Cucumbers in Pots

You can grow cucumbers in pots successfully, but remember: they are a pretty big plant with robust root systems and grow quickly.

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Many folks have success with growing cukes in buckets, grow bags, or plastic totes.

These give you the flexibility of pots, but with a larger volume for less money.

Aim for at least 5 gallons of soil for 1 or 2 cucumber plants. You can adjust this a bit if the variety you choose to grow is a larger or smaller plant than average.

You could probably get away with a 3-gallon if you don't mind feeding supplemental nutrients frequently, but the roots will be cramped at that size and might inhibit growth somewhat.

How Big a Pot Do Cucumbers Need?

Using a Trellis for Cucumbers

How Do You Trellis Cucumbers

How Big Should a Cucumber Trellis Be?

Fertilizing Cucumbers

Common Cucumber Pests

Squash Vine Borer

Cucumber Beetles

Check out are article on dealing with cucumber beetles.

FAQs

How Long to Grow Cucumbers From Seed?

How Big Do Cucumber Vines Get?

How Deep Do Cucumber Roots Grow?


That's all for now, thanks for reading!

If you have any questions, comments, or would like to connect with fellow gardeners, head on over to the forum and post there.