Sunlight Requirements for Cucumbers

Sunlight and Soil

• Cucumbers require warm temperatures and full sunlight to produce well. Plant them well after the last frost in fertile soil. Utah State University vegetable specialists Dan Drost and Rick Hefelbower recommend mulching with black plastic, which helps retain moisture and warms the soil. Keeping the soil warm is crucial, as the cucumber can't absorb water if soil temperatures drop below 55 degrees. Planting in full sun helps to maintain the higher soil temperatures and facilitate the plant's growth.

Water

• While cucumbers need well-drained soil to grow, they also need consistently moist soil. Dry soil or soil that's not uniformly moist can produce misshapen fruits or fruits with unpalatable bitter spots. Purdue University horticulturalists caution that wet foliage can lead to disease. Therefore, they recommend watering early in the morning using a drip irrigation system or soaker hose rather than overhead sprinklers.

Trellis Training

• When cucumber vines are six to eight inches long, they should be trained to a trellis, fence or wire cage. Trellising the plants has a number of benefits. It saves garden space by keeping the long vines from spreading across garden rows. Trellising ensures adequate air circulation and exposure to sunlight, and also allows for more attractive fruit, as hanging fruits tend to grow straighter and are less likely to be eaten by slugs or rotted by contact with moist soil. It may also help protect plants from disease.

Spacing

• If cucumbers are seeded directly into garden soil, the seedling should be thinned to one foot apart once the plants have three or four leaves. If cucumber seedlings are transplanted into the garden, they should be planted one to two feet apart in rows five to six feet apart, according to the Illinois University Extension. Proper spacing ensures that plants don't compete for water and sunlight. It also makes checking the plants for mature fruits much easier for the gardener.