Cucumber plant problems

[jlcnuke]

Hi, I'm hoping someone can help me with the problem. My garden is over at the house I have with my parents and they currently live there. I have my dad take care of the plants during the week, but that mostly just involves watering the few that aren't set up with drip irrigation when nothing needs to be harvested. When I went over for my weekly visit (and to start building the new raised bed) I found the cucumber plants look like the following pictures. Any idea what the problem is and if it can be corrected? The color was slightly more "yellow" than the pictures seem to show.

[rainbowgardener]

Were those seedlings that just came out? They look sunburned (the light colored areas) as well as wilted. If those light colored areas are a bit thinned and drier, almost crispy, that would confirm the sunscald diagnosis. Wilt can happen with under watering and over watering, but in the presence of sunscald, it suggests not enough water for how hot and stressed they were. When tender seedlings first come out, they have to be hardened off - that is gradually exposed to more and more sun each day over a week or ten days.

If you put them in a place with some shade from hot afternoon sun, they should recover. The burned parts of the leaves will not recover, but the new leaves that come out should be fine.

[jlcnuke]

They were purchased from Pike's Nursery at 4-6" tall. I'll check on wetness and keep them out of the afternoon sun for a couple weeks.

[rainbowgardener]

They probably weren't in full sun at the nursery, so have to get adapted to it.

[jlcnuke]

Thanks . I'll have to keep that in mind next time too (if I don't start from seeds myself).

[bri80]

This can be caused by watering in the sun, too. You think you're helping your plant get through a hot spell, but the water acts as a magnifier, burning the leaves underneath. Never water when the sun is on the plant.

[jal_ut]

Hmmmm, I don't know. I have never grown cukes in pots nor planters, but plant seed out in the garden plot in full sunshine. I usually plant them third week of May or June 1 to 15. They get the same watering as the rest of the garden, a 12 hour sprinkling once a week.

Ya, if they came from the nursery you need to introduce them to full sunshine a little at a time for a week or so so they don't get too much sun. They have not been used to that much sun.