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I traded some of my pepper plants away and I got a mix of stuff back, including a 7" pot with 7 stems with leaves - cucumbers.

I know cucumbers do not like to be transplanted so I need to know: Is that 7 plants or 1 plant with 7 stems? Do I try to separate them or plant as if it was a single plant?

As you have stated cucumbers do not transplant well. I would not attempt to divide you plant. Plant it as is and hope for the best. Hopefully you have some cucumber seeds that you can plant.

Good luck

Yeah, I agree.

Are they all clumped in one tiny spot?

You could trim them down to 3 plants. Just cut them at the level of the dirt.

If they're spaced a little wide, you could try to split the pot in half. You might lose one or two, but the ones that live will recover, and then you won't need to cull.

I grow mounds of cucumbers and melons. 3-5 per mound. I have to fight the $&@$&@ slugs for my seedlings, though. I cull them back to three, otherwise I have a water issue.

I also acquired 2 peat pots with several cucumber plant sprouts clustered together. Having raised cucumbers from seed up to now, I feel that the planter musts have just dumped several seeds together in the peat pot and they all sprouted in a cluster. Right or wrong, for better or worse, I very carefully separated the little seedlings and planted them separately directly into the garden in some good organic potting soil well watered from my rainwater barrels. Even with some brutal heat and intense sunshine, so far they're all alive and apparently doing fine. I guess I'll know with certainty if my gamble with separating the seedlings has been successful if they're still alive and thriving a week from the date of transplanting. Cucumbers have the reputation of being extremely difficult to transplant so this experiment will tell the tale of the accuracy of that gardening folklore.

I plant cucumbers in 4 inch pots all the time and separate the seedlings. If you separate them carefully, most of them survive.

Well I am splitting them in half. Funny thing is that these were from Bonnie. Still had the Lowe's price tag on them. Kind of surprised they planted 7 in one pot. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised.

Linda I just reread your post. We have native turtles that eat our slugs. I see a turtle at least once a month in the garden.

So, all of them survived the transplanting about 2 weeks ago.... I just hope they
survive the 96 degree temps today.......

Gardener123 wrote:Linda I just reread your post. We have native turtles that eat our slugs. I see a turtle at least once a month in the garden.

Love to see that chase down, a turtle chasing a slug trying to make it dinner. You'd need time lapse to make it remotely interesting.

Ninety six is pretty high but I know cucumber can take 90 for sure if they have a good root system and are well watered. But a little shade at midday might help them when they are young.

I know cucumbers do not like to be transplanted so I need to know: Is that 7 plants or 1 plant with 7 stems? Do I try to separate them or plant as if it was a single plant?

I would plant them out in the garden. Just plant the whole clump, don't try to separate them. They will go out like the spokes of a wheel and put down roots at the leaf nodes. Just keep them watered well. Cucumbers come quickly from seed in warm weather. You may want to plant a few seeds too? There is quite a variety of cucumber types you can try. Its kinda fun to plant a variety and see what you get.