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Vegetables · annual
Cucumber from seed
Cucumis sativus
- Germination temperature
- 65 to 95°F (18 to 35°C)
- Minimum soil temperature
- 60°F (16°C)
- Sowing depth
- 1 in (25 mm)
- Days to germinate
- 3 to 10 days
- Light
- Cover the seed; darkness helps
- Before sowing
- Nothing needed
- Start indoors
- 3 to 4 weeks before planting out
- Plant out
- 1 to 2 weeks after the last frost
- Sow outdoors
- 0 to 2 weeks after the last frost
- Spacing
- 6 in (15 cm) trellised; 24 to 36 in (60 to 90 cm) on the ground
Your dates from your last frost Seed not coming up?
Sowing
Vine crops do best direct-sown once the soil is at least 60°F (15°C). To get a head start, sow in individual pots 3 to 4 weeks before planting out; the roots dislike disturbance.
Care and transplanting
Water steadily and give a trellis. Plant out when the weather is warm and settled.
Problems
Seedlings that collapse at soil level are damping off. Spotted or mottled leaves are usually mildew, mites or cucumber beetles; protect young plants with row cover until flowers open so bees can get in.
Saving seed
Let a fruit ripen until it is yellow and swollen, scoop out the seed, ferment briefly, rinse and dry. Cucumbers cross with others of the same species.