On 06/06/2014 08:21 PM, David Hare-Scott wrote:
Todd wrote:
Hi All,

My zuke seeds I planted eight days ago are
starting to poke the through. Yes, I am a proud
father!

I planted them three seeds to a hole. To my
surprise, all three are coming through. (When
I planted them two to a hole only one or none

Questions:

1) I presume I am suppose to only leave one
per hole. Am I correct?

2) If I am to prune them out

a) I presume I leave the tallest one. Am I correct?

b) how big do I let them grow before pruning?
Two inches?

c) how do prune? Use scissors and snip them of at
the dirt line?

Many thanks,
-T

The amount of growth will be limited by competition for water,
nutrients and sun not the number of plants. If you left them all it
would make little difference to the total just each would be smaller.
If you want to thin them wait until the true leaves (not the cotyledons)
appear and open, then choose the healthiest one and cut off the others.
The main thing here is not to damage the chosen one.

It is said that you should only sow cucurbits directly as they resent
transplanting. What they resent is root disturbance. You can avoid this
problem and wasting seed by planting in tubes, the tapered
square-section plastic kind about 12 cm (5 in) tall, that sit in a
rack. They are often used to raise tree and shrub seedlings. Plant one
seed per tube and plant out when the true leaves open. With care the
soil plug with roots and all will slide out in one chunk and can be
planted with no root disturbance.

D

Thank you!