Many hydroponic growers have only grown fruits, herbs, and veggies. But what if you decided…

Cucumber
Growing cucumbers with Hydroponics or aeroponics can either be a great choice for you, or a bad choice. You will need a lot of space and room to grow these! I’ll explain How to grow Cucumbers with Hydroponics and Aeroponics.
Let’s get to planting!
Cucumber Facts
- Optimal PH: 5.0 -6.0
- 1190-1750 PPM
- Temp: 70-85 Degrees
- Enjoys warm temperature, and hard light
Grows Well With Hydroponically
- Tomatoes
- Eggplant
- Bell Peppers
- Hot Peppers
- Honeydew
- MuskMelon
- Watermelon
Grows Well With in Soil
- Legumes
- Corn
- Beets
- Carrots
- Onions
- Sunflowers
Grows Well With Aeroponically
- Bell Peppers
- Tomatoes
- Marigolds
- Dill
- Oregano
- Radishes
Hydroponic Cucumbers
Growing your own cucumbers can be a battle. I recommend you buy cucumber seeds that pollinate itself. When you start planting your seeds, plant it in a large container. The plant is going to grow and grow. If the container is too small, the plant will start to stress, turn yellow and you won’t have any cucumbers.
When planting your seeds, you’ll need about 2-6 feet apart from each. This is because the roots will start to become bigger and bigger and need lots of space to flutter out. If you need to pollinate your flowers yourself, this is a very time consuming process.
With cucumbers, there is a male flower and a female flower. The male flower is just a flower, while a female will have a super small cucumber under it. You will have to take the pollen from the male flower, using a paintbrush, and rub it onto the female flower. If you miss out on this step, the cucumbers will shrivel up and die. Keep this process up and you’ll have cucumbers in no time!
Growing Hydroponic Cucumbers Indoors is so Easy!!
Aeroponic Cucumbers
Can you grow Cucumbers with Aeroponics? Yes, and I will tell you how. Growing with aeroponics is almost the same as hydroponics. The only difference is that this has a mist that constantly mists the plant’s roots. Follow along with the same steps as the hydroponic system, and you’ll have cucumbers soon!
Indoor Cucumbers
If this is your first time growing cucumbers inside, then this one’s for you. To achieve great, big cucumbers; you are going to need a lot of space. Like, 2-6 feet for each plant. The cucumber plant will grow pretty large. This plant is a huge water drinker, meaning you will have to keep up with the water and solution to keep it happy. If you notice the leaves looking stressed, check the water. When filling the system up with water, do not put too much. This will cause your root to drown. We recommend that you leave about an inch or two of the root dry to keep the plant happy.
Once your plants start to grow, you can use a plant rod to allow the plant to wrap itself around it. Yes, you can train a plant. You can even use yarn to hang from the ceiling, and clip it to the plant so it doesn’t start to dip over the side of the container.
Pruning
Pruning is very important if you are trying to grow cucumbers indoors. If you notice that a few of your leaves are turning yellow or are starting to shrivel up. Then this may be a good time to start cutting a few of those off. When a leaf starts to die, the plant puts all of its energy onto that leaf to save it, which then takes away from the rest of the plant.
Pest Control
Just like any plant, pests are going to appear. For cucumbers, a few that are known to attack your plant are: white flies, spider mites, thrips , aphids, flies. You can control these by simply keeping your area nice and clean. Always clean up any spilled water around the area.
Diseases
Diseases are common in any plant system. Growing cucumbers, you’ll have to keep out for Powdery Mildew, which is the most common. To avoid this, keep your area clean!
Tips & Tricks
- Parthenocarpy means the plant is self pollinating
- Cukes is another word for Cucumber
- If your leaves are starting to look a little soggy, keep in mind that cucumber leaves do not like to get wet. Avoid the leaves while giving them water
- If you notice that your leaves are starting to turn yellow, it could possibly be a fertilizer or pesticide burn. This is just when you place too much fertilizer in with the roots
- Cucumbers are heat sensitive
- If you are having issues with self pollinating, pluck the make flower off the plant, peel away all the petals to expose the center where the pollen is, and run it inside the female’s flowers for several seconds. This has helped many people with pollination.
- Cucumbers need a lot of water and light

Inside Scoop
Males flowers appear before the female flowers, be patient
Cucumbers hate growing next to tomatoes
If you pollinate a non pollinated cucumber, it could mess the growth and plant up
Growers love the Cal Mag for their Cuke Plants
A growers using the AeroGarden Farm mentioned that the hole is very small and cant test water with their meter. They had suggested to use a turkey baster, grab some water and place it in a cup, and test it that way
The leaves of cucumbers tend to be fragile and sensitive
The roots of the cucumbers are very large, keep this in mind when deciding to grow them.
Seeds:
It is recommended that you grow cucumbers in a larger AeroGarden, being that cucumbers are a very tall plant. If you decide to take the risk and grow in a smaller system, you will need to prune the leaves down to ensure the entire plant is getting the right amount of light.
Before diving into each system and seeds, there are two different varieties of Cucumbers; Bush and Vine. The Bush type is for smaller systems that do not need to be supported by anything. Vine Cucumbers are a larger plant, requiring more support and space.
Best for AeroGarden Sprout 10″
The AeroGarden Sprout has a 10″ grow height available, deciding to plant Cukes in this could be risky, but is possible. To achieve this, you will need to prune as the plants grow, giving the right amount of light to each leaf, and growing cucumber. When cutting the leaves, always cut the oldest leaves to give the new ones a fair chance, and do yourself a favor and plant the Bush variety!
- Spacemaster Cucumber Seeds – You will need to ‘Be the Bee’, pick these while they are small!
- Burpee Pick-A-Bushel – These are great for beginner’s as they only get to 4″ tall!
Best for AeroGarden Harvest 12″
- David’s Garden Seeds – Self pollinated “best- tasting cuke on the planet”.
- Manny Cucumber F1 – Self Pollination; Produce so many Cukes, and has a excellent flavor
For the larger systems with a large grow light, you will need to create some type of trellis for the vines to climb up on to. A trellis is a support system for the plant to climb up.
Try out the Trellis Netting! It’s super easy to set up and will make your plants super happy and stronger. This is a netting that is strong enough to hold your plants strong stems and vines. Cut it to size to fit your plants needs.
Best for AeroGarden Bounty 24″
- Boston Pickling Cucumber Seeds – These have great reviews for germination, and growth rate + they are self pollinated!
- Burpee Straight Eight Slicing – Classic Cucumber with great flavor; known as a Cucumber Superstar.
Best for AeroGarden Farm 24XL 36″
- Sow Right Seeds Collection – This variety has 4 types, which is perfect for the Farm XL!
- Burpee Sweet Success Slicing Cucumber Seeds – This Self pollinated cucumber is sweet, and has a great yield rate.
Best for iHarvest
For the IHarvest, you may want a Vine type of Cucumber, this way it can grow up the Trellis. I listed the best ones below for you!
- Straight Eight Cucumber Seeds – With a 90% germination rate, these are great when growing in an IHarvest with a Trellis. You will need to be-the-bee for this variety.
- Sow Right Seeds, Beit Alpha – This self pollinating cuke is a heavy producing plant!
Gardens
For gardens, you can really plant any type of cucumber seed you would like! You will need a trellis as mentioned before, dig it into the ground so it can withstand high winds.
- Tomatoes Cages – This is perfect for growing outdoor cucumbers
- Long Green Cucumber – These grow very long, and are great for the soil!
Vertical Gardens

A vertical garden is a technique to grow plants along a wall, using hydroponics. Many people like to cover the back side with a bamboo trellis so the plants can climb along it. Here are some great seeds to begin growing:
- Spacemaster Cucumber Seeds – These grow large, and everyone loves growing them!
- David’s Garden Slicing Dasher ll – Within 60 days, you will have dark green straight fruit.