Poor germination on my cucumbers this year.

[DonnaZn2SK]

I only see four cucumber plants emerging, so, about a 20% germination rate. That is not good. I wonder what happened to the seeds? I going to plant more seeds (presprouting them right now). Almost all these seeds have sprouted, so there's nothing wrong with the seed.

We did have an extended period of wet weather shortly after I sowed them, could they have rotted? How come everything else came up fine? These were planted on the May long weekend, should I assume they won't be showing up? Do birds eat cuke seeds?

[B_BQ]

I had only one cucumber seed germinate out of four. I planted them late and directly outdoors.
None of the yellow zucchini seeds germinated at all. I suspect the seeds were a little old!
I bought more, already growing, from the nursery, and put them in my veggie bed about 5 days ago. Keeping fingers crossed they will catch up.
We've had scorching hot dry weather and I've been watering every other day. It started raining last night and didn't stop until about an hour ago! No additional watering needed for a couple of days now!
~BBQ

[Mygrandmeresgarden]

Same thing happened in my garden, I reseeded the cukes two days ago. New seed and only two plants came up. I suspect the wacky weather that was really warm and then it cooled off below seasonal.

[DonnaZn2SK]

Bummer...at least it's not just me.

Brenda,
You should try to presprout that zucchini seeds - put a couple in a ziploc bag along with a moist paper towel. If the seed is good, you should see sprouts within a few days. Then plunk them right into the garden.

[B_BQ]

You should try to presprout that zucchini seeds - put a couple in a ziploc bag along with a moist paper towel. If the seed is good, you should see sprouts within a few days. Then plunk them right into the garden.

That's a good tip Donna. Thanks! Will do.
~BBQ

[Bark Biter]

I had 9 out of 9 planted germinate this year.

When transplanted a few weeks back I seem to have lost 4 plants so I just bought a 6 pack last weekend from Home Depot and now all seem to be doing well.

[OGrubber]

Birdies will go for any seed Donna.
It's especially frustrating for me when I see just germinated seed spat out in the aisles because it just wasn't "quite right".
Rot is also possible if that prolonged wet spell was cool[ish].

[DonnaZn2SK]

Thanks, Inge. I've never had that poor of germination before on cukes. There are a million bird houses around here and I don't own one of them, instead, the birds use my yard as a toilet and salad bar.

My husband built me a netted wooden enclosure for my beets after I had to reseed twice one year due to birds eating the tiny greens as they emerged.

[ajarvis]

Glad it isn't just me! I have had no cucumbers germinate. I replanted today. Ants got half of one of my gardens. But otherwise I have peas, carrots, beets, onions, a few green onions, and tomatoes doing well. Those cucumbers were what we were all looking forward to the most of course lol.

[Dumbo]

Why do you say "ants" got them?

When I dug my first garden at this house, I disturbed a rather large ant nest. Very large. I trucked in soil and laid it on top of the ant nest I disturbed. I planted everything and I have no issue at all. Even my cukes are right on top of them.

I don't even think ants will bother with much. They make a few holes (mounds) here and there, right under a row of onions, but I lost nothing.

I doubt very much that the ants ate or got anything. You might want to look at another culprit.

Matter of fact, when I tossed the turf over on the side of the fence on the side of the house, I actually split that huge colony up (eggs and all). And they started a new colony. In that very same spot I made a flower garden after I got rid of the turf. Same like the garden.... a few mounds here and there and nothing is being eaten.

You might want to look at other factors.