Another Mini Munch Cucumber (4/19/22)

[lynnee]

There are two good YouTube videos available for growing cucumbers indoors with hydroponics. They use different methods for handling the vines. I decided to try growing my new Mini Munch (Territorial Seeds) in a Bounty, with the trellis system. I'll update this thread occasionally, if there is anything interesting going on.

Aerogarden Experiments (Bounty)

Khang Starr (Grow Tent)

8ml AG nutes for first two feedings

[lynnee]

At day 15, the cukes already have a gold border around the leaves, as if there were something wrong (nutes or disease). There isn't. These cukes always look ratty.  

[areyoukittenme]

Aww they're not ratty, they're rugged! It's the cucumber version of wearing torn blue jeans.

(They're growing fast! You must be taking great care of them.)

[lynnee]

Thanks, areyoukittenme! For now, the only care that they're getting is 8ml of AG nutrients. These will be increased to 12ml at the next feeding, per the AG nutrients label. Probably they'll get some CalMag+ at 28 days, too. They'll get an R&R at 28 days and every 2 weeks thereafter.

[Shawn]

Ohh, they look perfect

[Sher]

May 4, 2022 16:34:47 GMT -5 areyoukittenme said:

Aww they're not ratty, they're rugged! It's the cucumber version of wearing torn blue jeans.

(They're growing fast! You must be taking great care of them.)

Ditto!

[lynnee]

Day 24. The Mini Munch cukes are almost too big to transplant. I finally got the Earth Box assembled, so the weaker cuke on the right went outdoors. I didn't prune it at all, and kept the ball of healthy snow-white roots.



Once I moved the transplant out of the direct sun (as in the photo), and really soaked the growing medium around it, it picked up its leaves a little. I'm hopeful that it will survive. If it does, it will produce the most expensive cukes ever, because the Earth Box system was purchased specially for it!



The remaining cuke was pruned to remove all the branches from the main stem. Another level of trellis was added. I'm hoping these measures will make the vine both more productive and easier to manage in the AG.  



This is how the outdoor cuke looked a couple of hours after being moved into the shade, and watered generously a couple of times.

[Sher]

lynnee, they both look GREAT!!!

You are going to have very successful cucumber harvests, it appears.

I am so happy for you! 

[Shawn]

I agree with Sher you do have the best luck with cucumbers

[lynnee]

Day 31. The AG Mini Munch has reached the full Bounty Elite height, and the third trellis. I'm trying to keep this to a single stem--to keep the vine manageable and to avoid overburdening the plant with blooms. You can see the stem best in the view on the right.



My previous Mini Munch produced a lot of branching vines and blooms, and cucumber development stalled until I did a lot of pruning. Today I removed most of the branches, even though they had developing female blooms on them. We'll see whether this strategy hurts or helps. The main stem has some flowers already.

[areyoukittenme]

Goodness that's a happy cucumber plant! Here's hoping your pruning efforts pay off with lots of fruit!

[Sher]

Wonderful job, lynnee! 

[lynnee]

First, the bad news--the outdoor Mini Munch didn't make it. Weather was terrible, with alternating cold (60 degrees) and hot (85 degrees) daytime temps. Also, the seedling couldn't take the several hours of full sun.

Second, the good news--taking off the branches from the main vine seems to be promoting cucumber growth. In the first photo, you can see how some of the cukes are enlarging. Harvest is supposed to be 45 days from transplanting, as I recall. That would mean harvest at 75 days from seed.

The second photo shows that you can train the single growing tip to wind around the trellis. I started pushing it down at the second level, and wish that I'd started sooner.

[areyoukittenme]

Outside temps have been swinging wildly like that here, too. I'm sorry your little seedling didn't make it.

Happy to see the indoor one doing well, and thank you for the info about training them around the trellis!

[Sher]

Someday I'll retry cucumbers, and when I do, this thread will be invaluable, lynnee!

[Shawn]

Sorry the outties did not make it but your innies are doing great!

[Sher]

May 30, 2022 4:08:26 GMT -5 Shawn said:

Sorry the outties did not make it but your innies are doing great!

 

[lynnee]

This is Day 42, and there are two 3" cukes that we'll have with dinner tonight! There are more cukes coming, too. When I grew the Mini Munch before, without pruning off the branches, none of the early flowers produced cukes. The flowers stayed on the vine, and dried up weeks later.

In the second photo, the arrow parallels the main stem, which continues behind the light post to the growing tip at the top. The stem has made one trip around the second trellis, and is starting around again with some encouragement from me.

[areyoukittenme]

Yesss it's cucumber time!

[Sher]

Wonderful results and excellent instructions, lynnee!

Now I need an empty Bounty!