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Peat-free compost & cucumbers

Kas.jenny1959Kas.jenny1959 Posts: 2
in Problem solving
I've been using peat-free compost for the first time this year.  I find it very 'claggy' but usually mix it with home-made compost and perlite as a growing medium reasonably successfully.  However, this has been a disaster when I re-potted my cucumbers, which I had grown from seed using John Innes No. 1.  The seedlings were very healthy plants with shoots, large leaves, etc. but died within days of re-potting.  I'm assuming the growing medium was too heavy and moist.  Does anyone have any suiggestions on re-potting cucumber plants using peat-free compost? And is it too late to sow more cucumber seeds to try again this year?

Many thanks!

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Perhaps lighten it with grit or vermiculite?

    Id have another go … cukes are pretty quick to get going, but don’t over-pot them. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    I would try again and maybe buy another brand or two of PF compost.  It seems evident from previous posts on this forum that the manufacturers of peat-free compost are struggling to get it right, and the that the composition of even exactly the same brand varies by batch or depending on your location, so you can't rely on folk saying "I use brand X and it's fine."
    Cucumbers are very susceptible to a couple of common soil-borne fungi which cause root-rot or stem-rot at the base.  For that reason, it would be worth trying again without adding any home-made compost, which could contain these fungi.  Humidity around the base of the plant also creates ideal conditions, so you could try sinking a plastic bottle into the soil near the base of the plant and watering it through that, so the surface of the soil around the stem remains dry.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
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