When to pot on my cucumber?

[Babru]

I have two Delistar cucumbers each in a three inch pot
They have a true leaf and a few roots showing at the base of the pot.

I'm in fear of them popping their clogs, having read elsewhere on the vine how temperamental cucumbers are. I only have three more seeds .

When should I pot them on? How big a pot?

Obviously I will be keeping them indoors till mid May, then in the greenhouse. If they both survive one will become a houseplant as last year's plant was only about 3 feet tall.

Cucumber experience sought please!

[Scarlet]

They grow quite fast! i havent even looked at the packets yet. If they are in the warm, they shouldnt pop their clogs. they dont like getting chilled. Potting on now will be fine.

[ameno]

Two things I found you need to beware of:
One, young cucumber plants are quite prone to sun scorch, so don't put them right by the glass at a sunny window.
Two, fungus gnats can devastate seedlings and young plants, so if you have them about, cover the soil with something (those cabbage collars work well, or just a bit of card with a slit cut in it should do) to stop them laying their eggs.

[Bonjour]

Young cucumber plants can tend towards the suicidal. In addition to the good advice above, I find that it is best to pot them on when there are roots out the bottom of their first pot. I find they don't like a huge jump in pot size. I go from the initial 3" pot to a 6", grow them on until they are too big for the 6" before finally potting on to the 12" pot they spend the rest of their life in. I'd guess that you could, if preferred, plant out into soil from the 6" pot when time comes. They hate both under and over watering and especially hate wet stems, so care is needed when watering. I always pot mine on so the top of the old potful is a little above the level in the new pot, making a shallow moat for watering.

[quanglewangle]

Oh dear: I went straight from 75mm pot into greenhouse bed. Giving up potting on.

Bed is warmed and hasn't gone below about 14°C. Covered with fleece at night. Doing ok though.

[Bonjour]

Oh dear: I went straight from 75mm pot into greenhouse bed. Giving up potting on.

Bed is warmed and hasn't gone below about 14°C. Covered with fleece at night. Doing ok though. [ATTACH=CONFIG]90816[/ATTACH]

Whatever you're doing, it looks to be working nicely for you

[bramble]

Aside from all the above advice, cucumbers will just keep over if it's too cold.
Keep them away from draughts.

[Jungle Jane]

As they don’t transplant that well,I go from 3” pot to final position,Ive grown them next to the sunniest window in the house the whole summer in 12” pots,they’ve never been scorched but they have wilted in the heat but you can move it to the shade on those heatwave days,put a plate or something under it for watering to keep water away from the stem. You could put it outside in the pot later on but potting on a big plant would be a bit difficult.

[SarrissUK]

I don't pot stuff on too much either. Mostly because I'm too tight to buy as much compost as that would use up. I do mix in a sprinkle of the soil that the plants will go into when I pot them up that once though. No idea if that helps with anything, but they get only one bigger pot, then out in the ground.

[ameno]

I grow mine in big pots in the conservatory, but they go straight from the 9cm pot I sowed them in, into the big pot when they are large enough.

[Scarlet]

Oh dear: I went straight from 75mm pot into greenhouse bed. Giving up potting on.

Bed is warmed and hasn't gone below about 14°C. Covered with fleece at night. Doing ok though. [ATTACH=CONFIG]90816[/ATTACH]

You may want to sink a pop bottle between so that when you water it doesn't make the stems soggy.

[Bonjour]

Interesting that some of you find the opposite to me regarding potting on. I can only go by personal experience of losing plants when potted up too quickly. Maybe other factors were at play? I wonder if different varieties are more sensitive than others? I always grow Telegraph Improved or Telepathy, which I suspect is T. Improved by another name.

[quanglewangle]

I've more or less given up potting on for the avoidance of faff rather than for any thought through horticultural reasons.
It's 75mm pots or module trays then plant out.

[quanglewangle]

You may want to sink a pop bottle between so that when you water it doesn't make the stems soggy.

I plant stuff in greenhouse beds on little hills then water in a ring around them. My theory (read - hope) is that the plants will send roots out towards the water and so get bigger root systems. This also means that the stems seldom get wet. My greenhouse bed compost mix also contains lots of (sterilized) topsoil and sharp sand so it drains quickly.

[Small pumpkin]

I pot on when they’re to big for the pot they’re in. Never bother going any bigger than a 1lt pot. They just get planted into their final position then, either the tunnel bed or a big tub in the tunnel.
I’ve never had an issue with potting on. No sulking and definitely no keeling over and dying.