Do I prune my zuke/cuke seedlings?

[Todd]

Hi All,

I have a black thumb. So if anything actually grows, I am tickled. It hurts my heart to prune anything. But ...

This years in my garden, I planted both zucchini and Japanese cucumbers: three seeds to a hole. To my "astonishment" ALL three seeds now have seedlings. Big ones too!

Question for those wiser and with a green thumb: do I prune the seedlings back to the largest one? Do I leave them alone? Any words of wisdom?

If I prune, how do I do that? Just pull them up? Cut them with scissors close to the ground so as to not disturb the remaining one's roots?

Many thanks,

-T

[Billy]

Probably best to just keep your biggest plant. Cut or pinch. Do not disturb roots.

OR (if you have the room)

Dig the whole damn thing up, hose the dirt off the roots, gently separate the roots, and replant.

"There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments." - Janet Kilburn Phillips

[Todd]

Hi Billy,

Thank you! I will just snip them. I have no more room to transplant.

I feel like the oldest hatchling pushing his younger brother out of the nest!

Just out of curiosity, when you transplant one, why do you hose off the dirt?

-T

[Billy]

I only hose the dirt off the roots when i'm trying to separate multiple plants. Hold the roots in the palm of your hand, and hold the stalks with your thumb. Once most of the dirt is off, try to teases the plants roots apart. Pull gently one one, and then another, until they separate.

"The best fertilizer is the gardener's shadow." - Anon

[Todd]

Thank you!

-T

Not my shadow!

[David Hare-Scott]

Keep in mind that cucurbits often don't take to transplanting well so even with all the care in the world they may not prosper. If you are setting out to start them early use tubes and put in one seed per tube. If you are concerned that you won't get 100% germination do a few extra tubes and choose the best looking seedlings if you end up with too many. When you plant out do not disturb the roots at all by sliding the root ball and soil out of the tube and planting it in one piece.

D

[Todd]

Thank you!

[Billy]

That is good advice, but I have separated them, and had good success.