cucumbers wilt at water change. help?

[scarfguy]

So I started some cucumbers in my harvest XL.  I've changed the water twice now and each time the cucumber wilted immediately.  It comes back over the next 24 hours.  Any ideas why?

My wife thought it was fertilizer burn but it happens immediately and the plant recovers just as fast.

The only thing I can think of is that the bowl water temp is about 85 and I'm dumping in tap water at about 58.  I'm thinking perhaps that it is a temperature shock.

Anybody else have this problem with cucumbers? they are such "watery" plants, it's reasonable that they would react to turgidity changes.

[Shawn]

Hello and welcome!. I have not grown cukes in a while so will refrain from giving possibly inaccurate info, but we have a few Cuke growers that I am sure will be able to chime in.

[airscapes]

Fill up empty clean gallon jugs with water a day or so before you do maintenance to allow it to come to room temperature.  Use the room temp water and I think you will find that solves the problem.

 

[Sher]

Welcome, scarfguy.  I also have not grown cucumbers successfully yet, so no help here.

I like airscapes' advice, though. That would eliminate the possibility of temperature shock.

[lynnee]

Hi scarfguy! I've grown cucumbers in a Farm and in a Bounty. I haven't seen them wilt after a water change, but they don't like for the room temperature to go over 80.

The lower leaves on my cukes always look ratty (partially dried up) after a little while, even when the plants are healthy. Also, the healthiest leaves develop a narrow yellow band around their edges that looks like nutrient burn but isn't.

I think that you and airscapes have figured out what's wrong--the cukes don't like water that's a different temperature from what they're used to.

[scarfguy]

Thanks for your reply.  You did answer a different issue that I've been having. That is the thin yellow line around healthy cucumber leaves. I was going nuts trying to figure out if it was nutrient burn. Glad to hear that it is appearently normal.

With regard to the wilting issue,  I'm going to normalize the water next time and see if it is indeed a water temperature shock.

[darais211]

When you water your stuff you should always make sure your water is between 65-75, other wise you will shock your roots and you have seen what happens.