I've been conducting an exhaustive online search (including many posts on this very website) to try to discern what the heck is going on with my poor little cucumbers. I decided that rather than guess and conjecture, I should offer it to the experts for their advice! The vital stats:
- Growing in the Bay Area (Oakland), with moderate (though a bit warm for us lately) temps
- Directly seeded into container in April
- Got first cuke (which was a total beauty!) in early May
- Water daily, though not a huge dousing
- I have another cucumber plant, of a different variety, that is doing just fine. Planted at the same time.

Photos of the plant are attached - as you can see, bottom leaves are turning yellow, then eventually brown and dried out. I pull the dry leaves, and there's water in the stems (not the goop that I hear might come out if they're suffering from verticillium rot).

Here is what my research has turned up:
- Could be a lack of nitrogen. I fed a balanced NPK fertilizer (EB Stone Vegetable Food) one week ago. No improvement yet, and yellowing has progressed.
- Could be too sunny of a spot. I moved a week ago. No improvement, and yellowing has progressed.
- Could be verticillium rot. Though I didn't see any sludge when I pulled off a dying leaf, so maybe not.
- Could be too much water. I've tried to cut back, but the brown spots make me nervous. Also, note that they're planted in a container, and when I water them water immediately runs out from the bottom of the container - it seems to just be running through.
- This is my own conjecture, but could it be that I planted them too early, and they're just dying back already? I've gotten 3 good cucumbers off of the plant, so it doesn't seem likely, but I'm running out of ideas.
- Finally, could it be that they were inappropriate to plant in a container? I just didn't have space in my in-ground garden when I thought it was time to plant - maybe that's my fault.

Any thoughts or ideas you might be able to share would be incredibly appreciated. Thank you experts!

Kelly

Overall, your plant looks great. I think you need to cut back on the water. Daily, even in a container like that and draining fast is too much. I'd cut back to every 3rd day, only more often if you get temps up in the mid 90's. It's supposed to be a little cooler these next few days, so it's a good time to try cutting back.

You did not plant too early. Mine are about that size and I just pulled the first two cukes off yesterday. And you definitely don't have too much sun. Not sure there is such a thing for summer vegetables.

You'll get signs of nitrogen deficiency from too much water, BTW.

I'm going to hold off on the water, just like you suggest. There was a weekend about 6 weeks ago when I left my baby cucumber plants in the care of a neighbor, who forgot to water, and that ended up being one of our hottest weekends so far. I think ever since I've been overcompensating. No more!

The plant is still producing (just pulled another off this morning - up to 4 total), so I'm going to try not to stress so much about it. This was my first time direct seeding cucumbers and it is so darn easy.

I'm curious - are you going to try for a second crop this summer? When would you plant? Our season runs so long, I'm tempted to plant another few just for fun (and just in case this guy takes a turn for the worse!)

Thanks again for your response, loribee2!

I've never planted a succession planting of cucumbers, but I've done it with green beans and zucchini and it's worked pretty well. I'd normally be putting those second plantings in right around now, so if you're thinking about it, go for it!

There's a great book called "Golden Gate Gardening" by Pam Pierce. It's got several planting calendars depending on your microclimate here in the Bay Area, and I find them really helpful. It's the best gardening book I have. The first few years I had my garden in this house, I experimented with planting a bunch of different things at different times of the year. For example, I learned my spring broccoli and cabbage did really well, the fall ones were fails--too many bugs. I logged what I did and how well it worked (rather obsessively, I confess). I also tried planting lots of different vegetables. It took me 3 years of playing year-round before I came up with a pretty solid calendar and list of veggies that worked for me. Granted, you never stop experimenting when it comes to gardening. But those first years were really a free-for-all. Especially if you grow from seed, you have control over what you plant and when. And if you buy quality seeds (Johnny's is my favorite), a packet will last you several years.

So that long-winded response was all to say go for it! That's the fun of gardening IMO, playing around with things. There is no failure, because you learn as much from the dead plants as you do the ones that thrive.

Your cucumbers look good to me, so you're definitely doing something right!

Second rounds of dukes are going in the ground today. We'll see how they do!

For good California gardening references, I would add the Sunset New Western Garden Book. They are up to their 9th edition now (I still have the 4th from when I lived in California in the 80's). It is a very comprehensive garden book, it was of enormous help to me when I gardened in San Diego and Pala Alto.