If you are like me, you’re growing cucumbers this summer and you need to answer the question: how much water do cucumbers need a day?
This blog post will tell you everything you need to know about how much water cucumbers need a day.
How Much Water Cucumber Plants Need Per Day
The fast answer is that cucumber plants need 1-2 inches of water per week, and that water needs to be somewhat consistent.
It’s best if it’s spread out over time rather than the cucumber plants getting all the water at one time. When you water deeply a couple of times a week, ensuring you thoroughly water the root zone, you help your cucumbers grow successfully.
Cucumber Plants Grown In Sandy Soil
If you have sandy soil, you may need to water more than one inch per week because the water will leach out of your soil faster than other soils.
Sandy soils drain quickly, and may even choose to irrigate cucumber plants to be sure they are getting consistent water.
Cucumber Plants Grown in Clay Soil
Clay soil will hold moisture for a longer period than sandy soils.
Therefore, the water you give your cucumber plants will stay in place better than it will in sandy soil.
How to Be Sure Your Cucumber Plants Get Enough Water
There are a couple of ways you can make sure your cucumber plants get enough water.
You first need to make sure the cucumber plants receive lots of water, and then you need to be sure they KEEP the water you give them.
Make Sure Cucumbers Get Enough Water
To make sure your cucumbers get enough water, you can water using various methods.
Each method of watering cucumber plants has pros and cons, so choose the one that is right for your situation.
Drip Irrigation for Watering Cucumber Plants
Drip irrigation allows you to water right at the base of the plant.
You can also use a soaker hose to keep the soil moist and high moisture level in your soil.
This ensures that you aren’t wasting water and that you don’t get water or plant debris from the ground splashing back onto the plants.
Leaf diseases can spread when water splashes from the soil onto the plant’s leaves, and drip irrigation reduces that.
Overhead Watering for Water Cucumber Plants
Overhead watering can cause splash back from the soil, BUT it is the easiest way to water when you are first starting out.
You can always do your best to keep the water from splashing, and you can reduce the amount of water on the leaves. That can help tremendously.
If you have a real issue with splashing back from overhead watering but can’t water any other way, you can succession plant new cucumber seedlings. You’ll then rip out the old plants as they succumb to disease without losing your crops.
Succession Planting When Overhead Watering
As mentioned, one thing you can do if you must overhead water is to succession plant more cucumber seedlings a couple of months after your first planting.
This way, you will have fresh new plants coming up that you can harvest from after you rip out the old, diseased plants.
Make Sure That Water Doesn't Evaporate
To help a cucumber plant retain moisture, you can make sure the water you worked hard to apply doesn’t evaporate.
Apply Mulch
The best way to do this is to apply organic mulch to the base of the plant.
Mulch keeps the soil surface moist so that your cucumbers don’t lose precious moisture.
My preferred mulch is composted leaves. They keep our clay soil moist around the plant so that the clay soil doesn’t form an impenetrable crust.
How Do You Know if Your Cucumbers Need Water?
Put your finger in the soil and feel down to your first knuckle. If the soil is dry down to that point, it’s time to water.
Sometimes, during the heat of the day, plants with large leaves will droop during a hot day due to transpiration.
The leaves lose water through their leaves at a rate higher than what the roots can deliver to the leaves, so they droop.
If the plants revive after the sun goes down, you know they don’t need water yet. If they don’t revive after sunset, water them.
How Do You Know if Your Cucumbers Have Had Too Much Water?
Root rot can happen if there is too much water.
You know that your cucumber plants have had too much water if their leaves are yellowing and there is no other explanation.
Excess water will cause the roots to rot and stop sending nutrients to the leaves. This is what causes the leaves to yellow. To fix this issue, trim the dead leaves and move to well-draining soil.
Conclusion
Cucumbers can grow up to 2-12 inches per DAY given the right conditions, so water is very important.
Understanding how much water to give your cucumber plants is vitally important to growing great cucumbers.
Now that you know how much water cucumbers need and how to know if they need it, you’ll have perfect cucumbers!
