Container cucumbers

[jackb]

My wife asked me to grow cucumbers indoors this year, and of course I could not refuse.

I am growing Spacemaster, a compact variety, but it does need hand pollination. Two female flowers have been pollinated, and the fruit is beginning to grow. I would say that, overall, it has not been a bad project.

 

[lesa]

Looking good!! This is under grow lights in the house? When will you start your green house goodies?

 

[vfem]

Holy cow bat man.... its a mutant cuke!

Just kidding, that is soooooooooooooooooooooooo awesome. I may have to try my hand at this next year.

For now I have to order my cuke seeds for this year, and we still haven't finished building the raised beds for the plot.

 

[jackb]

Looking good!! This is under grow lights in the house? When will you start your green house goodies?

Yes, the cucumbers are growing under a LED light and doing fantastic. It may be a while before I can even get to the greenhouse, as we have another snow storm next week. The temperature is fifty degrees in there, but I can't get to the darn thing.

Shortly after Valentine's day I will start the tomatoes and peppers and some annuals. I plan on using the light I am using to grow the cucumbers, so I will end that project.

 

[lesa]

50 degrees- with no added heat???? Your yard looks worse than mine! We don't have much more than a foot! So, you start the tomatoes in the house, under grow lights? At what point do you move them to the greenhouse?

 

[jackb]

50 degrees- with no added heat???? Your yard looks worse than mine! We don't have much more than a foot! So, you start the tomatoes in the house, under grow lights? At what point do you move them to the greenhouse?

Only a foot of snow! That is almost beach weather.

Actually, I monitor the temperature in the greenhouse, and if it gets sunny and toasty I will move the plants from indoors under the lights to the greenhouse for the day. When I move them permanently depends on the night temperatures. I have a heater in the greenhouse set for 45 degrees, and I don't mind running it at night if need be. When the night temperatures are close to 40 I consider moving them. It all depends on Mother Nature, and in upstate New York she is not predictable.

 

[lesa]

I was thinking of moving them in and out, weather permitting. That always seems like a better idea from the "arm chair" than when you are actually moving tons of plants in and out! I thought February would be too soon to start tomatoes.. Remind me what you are using for a heater in that greenhouse, Jack.

 

[jackb]

I was thinking of moving them in and out, weather permitting. That always seems like a better idea from the "arm chair" than when you are actually moving tons of plants in and out! I thought February would be too soon to start tomatoes.. Remind me what you are using for a heater in that greenhouse, Jack.

Remember, my plants are not in soil, so they are not heavy. I do not put them in the autopots until they are permanently in the greenhouse.. I have a small electric greenhouse heater, but an electric oil filled heater is also perfect for it. It does retain some heat from the day, stored in the block flooring and pea gravel, so that helps.

 

[barefootgardener]

jack that is a nice GH! What are the dimensions, and is it made w/polycarbonate panels or GH grade plastic?..Beautiful pics! I love looking at them..Thanks for sharing..

We also have a lot of snow..I try to keep a path shoveled to my GH, it is only about 35 feet from the house. It was -10 dgrees outside yesterday morn. but the sun shone all day and inside GH the temp was 57 degrees..It was so nice..

Your cucumbers are looking good..When I first looked at pics I thought it was a houseplant, but the LED lights shining down fooled me..Cool!

 

[jackb]

jack that is a nice GH! What are the dimensions, and is it made w/polycarbonate panels or GH grade plastic?..Beautiful pics! I love looking at them..Thanks for sharing..

We also have a lot of snow..I try to keep a path shoveled to my GH, it is only about 35 feet from the house. It was -10 dgrees outside yesterday morn. but the sun shone all day and inside GH the temp was 57 degrees..It was so nice..

Your cucumbers are looking good..When I first looked at pics I thought it was a houseplant, but the LED lights shining down fooled me..Cool!

The GH is 8 x 6 and it has polycarbonate UV treated panels. It is 12 below right now and not going to get much warmer with another storm on the way.

The cucumber is producing a lot of female flowers right now and some are starting to get bigger. I treat it like a house plant as it does not require any attention at all. The autopot takes care of watering it and the light is on a timer.

We just picked ten lemons from a small lemon tree we are also growing hydroponically. I love fooling Mother Nature and defying winter.