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I start the cucumbers for growing in the grow room in the winter in 5" pots since it takes less halogen lighting to get
them started. Once they look as they do in the pictures, I repot them into larger 9" pots where they'll remain to grow and
produce fruit in the grow room. The first picture just shows the difference in the pot sizes and about how deep I set the
plants into the pot. The soil used is a mix of my compost that I make from leaves, grass, and gound up trimmings from vegetables
and fruit which is blended into a slurry and added into the pile ever few days, combined with some vermiculite to
keep it loose. I like this type of pot since the saucer belows seems to hold a perfect amount of water and the hole placement
at the bottom of the pots seems to be optimal.
The second picture shows how I soak the soil after transfering the plant from the smaller to the larger pot. I fill a bucket
with "warm" water and then set the pot into it, allowing the soil to soak up the water. That prevents the top of the soil from
packing and the vermiculite from separating from the compost as it would if the water was just poured in the top. Hereafter
I'll water only by adding water into the saucer.
About the sprouting: I start the seeds about 1" down into the mix by filling the pots part-way,
putting the seeds pointy-side down, add just a little water over the seed and then fill about another 1" above them, so as to
keep the top soil dry. I then soak the pot in a bucket of water so the bottom soil gets wet while the top remains dry. I then
put the pots under halogen lights until the seeds sprout and get their first leaves. After which time I put them in the grow
room under lights.
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