Cucumbers

I have just germinated 4 cucumber seeds (Suttons Byblos) in individual pots on a heated seed propagator.  As soon as the seedlings appeared I took the plants off the heat and put them on the window cill. in a bedroom.

The stems are now between 4 and 5 inches long (i.e. before the seedling leaves) and will soon need support I feel. Why does this happen as, when one sees small cucumber plants in garden centres over the next few weeks, their stems below the leaves are minimal?

I presume when I plant them into grow bags I can bury the plants up to the first seedling leaves.

Any thoughts?

Could be that you used heat and then moved them to a cool window, i never grow mine with heat just pot them and cover with cling film and put on a window cill to germinate. Heat and cool conditons can stunt growth and can casue plants to grow to quick and become spinderly.

When you are next potting on, plant the cucumber right up to its neck. This will encourage roots to grow from what is currently the stem, so giving your plant better stability and more roots to seek the feed & moisture.  I do this for courgettes and tomatoes too. It also seems to work on flowering plants too, currently Cosmos, Ipomoea, Chilean Glory Vine are all doing well.

I hate to disagree but that method works for tomatoes but not for cucumbers-roots do not grow from the stem in fact that is more likely to increase the chances of rotting,

Going back to the original question not enough light and too much heat is the usual cause of leggy plants-if they are being grown in a grrenhouse I would put them there for the cooler conditions and better light-if you are growing them for outdoors-honestly I would start again.

Thanks, folks. As I have just reported in another post on cucumbers, the frost killed 3 of my 4 plants that were in the greenhouse. (Two were in growbags and 2 in large pots) Have now bought a plant from the local garden centre - which I am tempted to keep indoors for 2-3 weeks! 

My cucumbers seem to be taking forever! I planted them in the greenhouse around the 12th of April, a couple have 2 tiny leaves uncurling but most have nothing showing....is this normal???