Growing cucumbers indoors is fun — and easy. The magic components to make cucumber plants thrive are:
1. Light. If it’s a dark season, or your window doesn’t get enough light, or you’re growing in the middle of the room — add extra grow light. One lamp combined with some window light is good enough for my indoor plant. It can grow with decent light, but needs good light to actually produce cucumbers.
2. Water. Cucumber plants need a lot of water, especially once they start producing. I’d recommend planting in some kind of self-watering system so you can keep up with what the plant needs.
3. Pot size. The pot needs to be about 10 litres.
4. Nutrients. You’ll need to add liquid nutrients to the water. Choose according to your own preference and follow the instructions for that type.
5. Support. Give your cucumber something to climb — a stick, a string, or some kind of indoor trellis — and add support as it grows.
6. Temperature. Indoor temperature is usually above 20°C, and 21–23°C is a good general growing temperature for cucumbers.
7. Which cucumber to grow indoors. Choose a variety that stays on the smaller side — some types grow really tall and that can cause space issues indoors.
I now have my third indoor cucumber plant coming along. I started it in the middle of the darkest season here — November — and it’s been growing fine under the grow light. Looking forward to indoor cucumbers early in spring, while I wait for the outdoor growing season to start properly.
