Can you grow cucumbers indoors year round?

[sheeshshe]

under the lights? Or would it not work? or, what could I grow year round under lights? I couldn't find a section for indoor gardening, hopefully this is an ok place

[hendi_alex]

To grow full sun plants under light IMO would be a challenge, and also would be cost prohibitive. Starting seedlings under lights is practical, but that is for a limited duration, and is a far different thing from growing them to production. Typical light setups have to be within a few inches of the top of a seedling, I.e. light intensity drops off way too much for artificial light to be effective much over 6-8 inches, when considering full sun plants. To get adequate light would take a fairly massive bank of lights which would need to surround most growing surfaces of the plant within a few inches of foliage. Even with florescent lights, heat build up could become a problem.

My suggestion would be to stick with short growing herbs and salad greens. It is just too expensive and too difficult to get full sun plants to make mature fruit.

One other potential problem is with disease and pests. While spider mites are rarely a problem outside in the sun and breeze, they will easily attack soft leaved plants grown indoors. IMO your setup should include some kind of fan to give adequate air movement. That will likely help avoid some problems.

[Ohio Tiller]

Cucumbers have a life span also they only produce for so long then they die off. If you had the right lights wou would have to keep new plantings coming on as the old ones died off.

[sheeshshe]

hmm. lots to think about. I thought perhaps maybe doing a box arrangement where it could be lined in foil, it would have to be a large set up... the light would bounce off the foil.. hmm. diseases, I didn't think of that at all. maybe it is too much trouble,

[hendi_alex]

Lot of trouble to grow summer veggies under lights. But only moderate effort to grow salad greens, herbs, or other plants that will do well in low light conditions. Growing cucumber from a bush type variety might possibly be accomplished in a south facing window greenhouse. Still that is a lot of expense for a very uncertain project.

[Northernfox]

I have a couple of dwarf citrus trees. They are outside right now but in the winter they sit in my south west facing window. They do get a little extra light from a bulb. Take a look here. There are lots that do very well in any climate.

https://www.fourwindsgrowers.com/index.php

For more information on varieties

https://www.fourwindsgrowers.com/our-citrus-trees/citrus-variety-info-chart.html

And finally care instructions

https://www.fourwindsgrowers.com/tips-and-advice/growing-dwarf-citrus.html