[Failed/DWC] Spacemaster Cucumber (Aug 4, 2020)

[ERR0R1755]

Started a Spacemaster Cucumber with 3 liters of water, 4ml of CALiMAGic, and 1.5tsp of MaxiGrow.
I'll probably have to add more water later.

[Shawn]

Where will you plant this as it grows?  Or will it stay here.

[ERR0R1755]

Aug 5, 2020 4:43:25 GMT -5 Shawn said:

Where will you plant this as it grows?  Or will it stay here.

My hope is for it to stay here in this container. I'm not sure how much water it will need or how big it will get.

[ERR0R1755]

We're off to a good start!

[ERR0R1755]

These leaves are certainly bigger than the ones on the (fruiting!) Spacemaster Cucumber I have outside:

[ERR0R1755]

Moved this into a 5 gallon bucket today. I filled it with roughly 5 gallons of RO water, 8 tsp of General Hydroponics MaxiGro, a sprinkling of the Masterblend Tomato & Vegetable Formula, and 1/4 tsp of the Miracle-Gro Bloom Booster.
I also hooked up an air pump and air stone, converting it from Kratky to DWC.

Your cukes are doing very well. I have mini munch going in the AG and a pot and they are just getting true leaves.

Tell me, Error, after a while I ALWAYS get yellow rings around the leaves. I have added some Cal Mag to supplement, and have a nitrogen booster for later on, but have you encountered this in Kratky before and how do you fix it?  Any ideas?

[ERR0R1755]

Aug 24, 2020 7:46:08 GMT -5 @cornne said:

Your cukes are doing very well. I have mini munch going in the AG and a pot and they are just getting true leaves.

Tell me, Error, after a while I ALWAYS get yellow rings around the leaves. I have added some Cal Mag to supplement, and have a nitrogen booster for later on, but have you encountered this in Kratky before and how do you fix it?  Any ideas?

I've had that happen before, but I stopped having that issue once I started using a CalMag supplement. I think I also ran into it another time when the plant had outgrown its container?

[Sher]

@cornne , I know your question wasn't addressed to me  but I always had those problems growing cucumbers outdoors.

I read that hydroponic cucumbers like a low nitrogen, high phosphorus fertilizer, like a bloom booster.  They do not like a lot of nitrogen.

When I plant mine later, I plan to use reduced strength Dyna Grow Bloom Booster. The numbers are 3-12-6. That should allow for the small nitrogen boost in a calmag supplement if I think the plant needs it.

(Update: I just read two articles that refuted the low nitrogen requirement.)

YMMV.

Cucumbers are also very suspectible to various fungal and bacterial diseases which cause leaf yellowing and browning.

The Rusted Garden suggests spraying affected leaves with 1/3 peroxide and 2/3 water, then 3 days later with 1 tablespoon of baking soda in 1 quart water. Alternate every three days for severe infections, then every 5-7 days once the infection is under control.

I didn't have great luck with that outdoors, but at least it is something to try if the problem is not with nutrient balance.

thank you error and sher for the info. i will try the bloom booster later on. Your big bucket project is really healthy looking, Error. I just realized it is in 5 gal.

I did not know that about nitro, sher

[ERR0R1755]

I haven't tried growing anything in this large of a container before, so I'm hoping it goes well.

Also - when I moved it from the kratky container to this bucket, the roots were a perfect white and had a very strong cucumber smell. Assuming the roots stay healthy, I might try using them to make some type of scented thing (an air freshener?) after I end this project.

[ERR0R1755]

I might end this project and try again with something that isn't vining.

It may have strangled my Mung Bean plant to death - I cut off the tendril, moved it by an AeroGarden, and I'm hoping it recovers.

I also forgot that I'd have to pollinate these. I don't feel up to that.

[Sher]

Aug 31, 2020 22:58:10 GMT -5 ERR0R1755 said:

I might end this project and try again with something that isn't vining.

It may have strangled my Mung Bean plant to death - I cut off the tendril, moved it by an AeroGarden, and I'm hoping it recovers.

I also forgot that I'd have to pollinate these. I don't feel up to that.

I don't blame you. Having to individually pollinate each flower is more trouble than I'm willing to commit to, also.

[ERR0R1755]

Ended this today. Here was what it looked like - it had a few small (unpollinated) female flowers.

[Sher]

But a great experiment, Error.

[ERR0R1755]

Sept 1, 2020 11:21:41 GMT -5 Sher said:

But a great experiment, Error.

Yes - if I didn't have anything else that I wanted to grow in the tent, AND the tent was elevated so that it was at waist-height, I probably would have kept it growing.

But I'm not going to crawl on the ground with a paintbrush, just for a plant that wants to strangle the rest of mine.

[waterphoenix]

Yes whenever I think of growing a flowering plant indoors, the thought of hand pollinating deters me.. Perhaps you can do the cukes in an Earthbox outside. Thanks for sharing your experiment.