How to begin Cucumber Plants in Cardboard Tubes
Cucumbers need warm soil and sunlight to create nicely. Starting the seeds inside approximately four to six weeks before you’d plant them outside gives you a jump start on the growing season so plants can begin producing earlier. Cucumber roots can undergo damage during transplanting. Cardboard tubes, such as paper towel rolls, provide a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to create your very own biodegradable pots which you plant whole in the garden, which lessens root disturbance.
Cut the cardboard tube to 3-inch long segments. Bend the underside 1/2 inch of this tube inward, working around the opening, to form a bottom.
Set the tubes, open side up, in a tray to catch water as it drains. Fill each tube into the rim with moist potting soil.
Sow 1 cucumber seed in each tube, planting the seed approximately 1 inch deep. Cover the tray with a plastic bag to keep the moisture from the dirt so you don’t have to water until after germination.
Set the tray in spot at 60 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer. Check the pots daily and remove the bag as soon as they begin sprouting, which may take up to seven days.
Move the tray into a sunny window where the seedlings receive at least six hours of direct sun. Water the seedlings when the ground’s surface feels dry.
Transplant the seedlings outside after frost danger has passed and the soil temperature is above 60 F. Dig a hole 1/2 inch heavier than the tube and twice as broad. Peel the underside off the tube and set it at the hole so its rim is right beneath the ground’s surface. Fill the hole around the tube, covering the rim.