Help, my cucumber plants are wilting.

[papillon]

I bought four cucumber plants from my local market about two weeks ago. One I planted straight away in a small patch near the house and covered it with a plastic bottle to protect it at night. There is not sufficient room there for all of them, so I have kept the others in their pots until it's warm enough to put them in the vegetable patch proper. However, I am very worried about them as they are wilting - I have been giving them plenty of water as it's getting quite hot in the day - could it be over-watering? The one in the ground seems to be fine.

 

[dconklin]

Are the ones that are in pots inside? It is possible they might not be getting enough sunlight - tho mine did ok with not as much sun last year. They had some but I am limited where the sun shines and tomatoes needed it more.

It may be possible too that the roots don't have enough room in the pots. How cold is it getting at night that you are worried about planting them in the garden yet?

 

[papillon]

Thank you for your advice - the ones in pots are on a covered balcony, so it could be that they are not getting enough light. We were getting some pretty hard frosts up to a week ago, but now the weather's warmed up I shall plant them out in the vegetable patch. I'll put plastic bottles over them at night as it's rather exposed out there and hopefully that will keep the snails off them as well. Fingers crossed!

 

[dconklin]

You are welcome papillon! The sunlight could have been a problem, but they don't seem to require as much as tomatoes. If I remember correctly the roots get pretty big for the cucumbers so if they were restricted in the pots, that will cost problems too.