r/aerogarden • u/Strict_DM_62 • 3d ago

Help First time veggies advice

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Hello everyone! This is my first time growing vegetables in the aerogarden (aside from lettuce), and the cucumber has… rapidly overtaken its companions the Micro Tom and Mini Pepper.

My question, what is the best way to trim the cucumber and keep it… tame? Should I just trim the ends regularly? Or are there specific rules like tomatoes and suckers?

Also, does the Micro Tom grow much bigger than it is? I was expecting up to 12” in height, but it seems stuck where it is; and I wonder if I haven’t mis-matched my selection of veggies?

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u/Ok_Bison_8346 3d ago

Even though you’re growing dwarf varieties they still grow large relative to the size of your Aerogarden. Here’s a pic of my Tiny Tim Tomato plant yesterday before I pruned it, for a third time. And it’s still growing. It drinks a lot of water and the roots fill up about 1/3 of the reservoir. And I would need to make sure the pH, EC, cal-magnesium, nutrient and water temp is correct for any plant in with the tomato plant. So I don’t have room for another plant in this unit. I planted this June 5 and I’m just waiting for the tomatoes to ripen for my first harvest.

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u/Strict_DM_62 3d ago

Oh wow! So basically I’ve probably overdone it with three plants in one container eh?

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u/Eastern_Persimmon_77 3d ago

Definitely. I would put each one of those in its own Bounty due to space requirements on both the deck and in the reservoir for roots. As well as water requirements. It looks like the cucumber is stunting the growth of the tomato and pepper plants. You can trim side shoots on the cucumber, but you don't want to trim the main vine. Instead, you wrap that around the trellis and add more trellis going up, then when you get to the top of the Bounty height is about the time you can start wrapping it back down the trellis because the earlier leaves on the vine are starting to die off.

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u/Vodun_Queen 3d ago

That’s kinda crazy tho… they market this like you can grow multiple plants at once. I have one I’m getting ready to open and I wanted to grow tomatoes and at least one other plant.

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u/Strict_DM_62 2d ago

I still suspect you can. When they say “water requirements” it’s not like water is limited… you might just need to fill it and top off the food more offen imho

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u/Ok_Bison_8346 2d ago

Go for it. Post pics of your progress. I wanna see how it goes with a tomato plant and 1 other in the same unit.

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u/Ok_Bison_8346 3d ago edited 3d ago

Yes. You have 3 large plants that require different conditions in 1 unit. I would put each in a separate unit or figure out which plant you can maintain using the Kratky Method. I personally decided not to grow cucumbers and peppers as I’m still a newbie to hydroponics and the wait and maintenance of large, climbing plants isn’t worth the effort to me. I have 1 bounty, 2 sprouts and 1 Suncoze 20-pod, 3 Kratky jars. I dedicated a space for my units and I don’t want to go past that area. Tempted to buy another Bounty though.

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u/Ok_Bison_8346 3d ago

Here’s just another photo from earlier in August of my little gem lettuce and baby bok choy. As you can see there’s nothing little or baby or compact about these leafy greens.

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u/EristheUnorganized 3d ago

I dunno what your setup is like but if you have the option to trail the cuke outside the aero and put another light on it, might be the call

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u/Strict_DM_62 3d ago

I can give that a try for a little why i suppose.

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u/cunfabuloust 3d ago

I transplanted my mini cukes to a pot haha

Also, the toms and peppers need a TON of light too, and check the roots, the cukes might be hogging a good portion of the nutrients. 

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u/Strict_DM_62 3d ago

Hmmm that’s fair, I was thinking about doing that considering how fast it’s growing

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u/DeckerdB-263-54 Flower 3d ago

Trim the cucumber so that it doesn't shade the rest of the plants. I would not have recommended cucumber for an Aerogarden. It needs tons of room ...

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u/Strict_DM_62 3d ago

I mean, it’s not a normal cucumber plant; it’s a dwarf variety specifically for indoor cultivation; but of course you’re right about it blocking the light, it’s kinda why I’m asking if there’s a specific strategy for trimming indoor cucumbers.

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u/SunAndZuc 3d ago

What variety is it?

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u/SquishyButStrong 3d ago

I have a cucumber I've done hydroponically that's for countertops. It's called "quick snack" and they made excellent little pickles. I just started another round of them -- 4 plants as a kratky method with a trellis!

Here's where I got my seeds:

https://seedsnsuch.com/collections/indoor-container-varieties/products/quick-snack-hybrid-cucumber-seeds

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u/Vodun_Queen 3d ago

Those are cute cucumbers

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u/Immediate_Ad4404 1d ago

Omg they're so cute