How long should it take cucumbers to germinate?

[BigShot]

I was given a few heritage cucumber seeds a few weeks back.
I sowed them at the same time as a load of other things, all of which have started poking their heads up.

Part of me is starting to have visions of rotting seeds, even though I'm sure it's too early to be concerned. I can't seem to find anything to settle my mind though.

From sowing, how long should it take for me to start seeing the first green shoots? (temp about 20 degrees C).

[Jamesy_uk]

My 3 cucumbers went in 13 days ago and are about 4" now, might depend on variety though a fair bit.

[Victoria26]

Yeh remember they need to be in complete darkness so must be sowed under at least an inch of compost...

I found that out the hard way last year! Mine have been in 10 days now and about an inch high transplanted into root trainers

[bramble]

I never keep mine in darkness and haven't had any problems with germination. I always stand them upright rather than flat as they don't like to be too wet. Hope this helps.

[zazen999]

Most of mine are up in 3-5 days

*What sort of Heritage cukes, out of interest?

[Bren In Pots]

My Marketmore went in the propagator on Wednesday and this morning I was surprised to see both of them have germinated after just two days, there's no sign of the Tanja I sown at the same time though.

[scarletrunner]

4/5 days in an airing cupboard works for me

[BigShot]

I just realised there was a slightly silly typo in the thread title. That'll be the auto-correct on my (too) Smart- (for its own good) -phone.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

The seeds are well buried and on their sides.
I usually keep a record of when things go in, but for some odd reason I don't seem to have done it this time. It can't have been much over a week though, so I'll have to chill out a little and see what happens.

On the plus side, I thought I'd been given 3 seeds, but it turns out there's another stuck in the corner of the pack so at least I have another chance to sow one. I doubt I'd be able to save from just one without inbreeding problems though. Still - only a week so I'm going to stop being so worried about it and see what happens.


Zazen - Striped and Sweet. I believe it was a HSL variety a while back. It came in an HSL envelope at least.

Bren - I've got some Marketmore here. I've been putting off sowing them a bit as I didn't want to jump the gun, you're almost as far north as me though so that makes me think I'm about right for sowing now. I'll probably give it another week or so due to lack of space though.


Right... I'm off to stare at the surface of the soil and see if I can spot the first tell-tale signs of a seedling pushing up the compost.

[zazen999]

Nice - drought tolerant and can grow to a metre in length!

[BigShot]

Drought tolerant? Excellent!

My gardening style borders on neglect. I justify it with the argument that less watering means deeper roots and so less mollycoddling needed... but that's just convenient. I'm just not that on the ball with the water!

Being my first year in a greenhouse I know I'm going to have to try harder for things like my toms though.

I'm told my peppers will like my style though. I water when they look like they might start wilting soon.


I'm not sure what I'd do with cuces that long. I'm not much of a one for competitions and I imagine hitting eachother with them would get old quickly.
I'll probably harvest them a bit smaller at first and let a few grow that long for seed saving.

[BigShot]

No more fretting.
This morning I was greeted by the sight of the first seedling starting to break the surface. The cotyledons are still below even now, but the sight of the pale green stem brought a sigh of relief.
I wouldn't have been happy if the first thing I did with my first heritage seeds was rot them!

Thanks for the input, folks.