Cucumber seedlings dying unexpectedly! Help!
Amore
Posts: 2
So Ive never grown cucumbers before and I started them from seed this year.I live in Namibia (above South Africa so it is a similar climate). it is currently spring so temperatures are warm and great for growing.
my problem is: I sprouted some cucumber seeds in paper towels and all of them germinated within 24h and after 2 days I took the sprouts out and planted them in seedling trays. in the trays the seed leaves popped up and they all grey to about 1 inch tall. After growing to about 1 inch they within 24h began wilting and falling over. there are still 2 which show chances of life but the others are DEAD. upon inspecting the dead seedlings i noticed that at the base of their stems it was very very thin.
my question is, what caused my seedlings to die so suddenly and why are their bases so thin?
regards, Amore
Posts
pansyface
oh no! thank you! it really does look like that! Is there anything that I can do to stop it? I read about the prevention, but can I save my 2 living seedlings?
You would be better starting again with three seeds to a pot of compost.
Don't know where this idea of growing seeds on paper came from but some plants just do not like being disturbed, with the paper method you have to pick them of fairly quickly so that's root disturbance, leave them in the pots until they are at least two inches tall, then they will be much stronger for pricking out.
Tip the whole pot out rather than each seedling then keep them with some of the compost on them when you transfer to a bigger pot.
I think sprouting on damp paper would be fine for these if you planted them as soon as you see the root start to emerge, so there's no root disturbance. No need to use multiple seeds / pot (just a waste of seeds when you know viability if good). You could plant the germinated seeds straight into maybe a 3.5" or 4" pot (7.5 - 10 cm).
Ideally I'd use a potting mix of garden soil & homemade compost (if you have it), which I think gives plants a better start than bought compost. Warmth is important in avoiding damping off - temperature about 20-25 C would be ideal.
Hi Amore
Have only ever grown the plants from seed in pots have never seen instructions that say grow them on paper
They need nutrients in the potting compost to thrive then can be moved to the area for planting without disturbing the roots
Try again the coventional way and all should be fine
Happy growing
Jolly g