Cucumber Growing Guide
Cucumbers are in the cucurbit family which includes squash, zucchini, melons, pumpkins, gourds and watermelons. They can be found in the standard vining and bush varieties. The vining varieties produce more fruit over the growing season than the bush varieties.
The vining varieties can be left to grow and spread out over the ground or let them climb on a trellis. Growing them on a trellis will produce a lot of cucumbers from a very small space. The seeds can be planted 1-foot apart. You will also have fewer disease and pest problems due to the increased air circulation and sunlight.
The bush cucumber varieties will grow very nicely in containers. To increase your harvest you can plant a new crop of bush cucumbers every 2-weeks.
The seed packages often do not make it clear if the cucumber is a vining or bush variety. If the package says ‘space-saving’, ‘compact’ or good for containers it is likely a bush cucumber variety.
Starting from Seed
Follow the seed packet instructions. Seeds can be started indoors 3 to 6-weeks before your last expected frost date or you can direct sow in your garden after the last frost date.
For starting indoors sow the seeds in a sterile seed starting mix in small pots or a seed starting tray. Lightly cover with the seed starting mix and keep moist. Germination takes 7 to 14-days.
Bottom watering is the easiest way to keep moist without disturbing the newly sown seeds.
For more detailed information visit the seed starting page.
Soil Preparation
The soil should be nice loose well drained organic garden soil with the soil pH between 6 to 7. As soon as the soil is frost-free and can be worked, till the soil by digging down 8 to 12-inches turning the soil over with a garden fork. Remove any large rocks and stones. The small stones remaining will do no harm and actually benefit the soil by adding some micronutrients to the soil. Work in plenty of garden compost before planting.
Planting Cucumbers
Cucumbers are a warm weather vegetable and should be planted when the soil temperature reaches 70-degrees. In most areas this will be about 2-weeks after the last frost date.
Vining variety seeds can be sown in groups of 2 or 3-seeds a foot apart along the bottom of a trellis. Remove the smaller weaker seedlings by pinching them off.
An inexpensive trellis can be made from a 42-inch by 84-inch reinforcing mesh sheet that costs under $8.00 from a big box store. It will be in the area near the masonry supplies and is used for reinforcing concrete sidewalks and driveways. All you need to do is put a pair of 7-foot long fence posts in the ground and attach one of these reinforcing mesh sheet panels. Even without painting the trellis will last for many years.
These panels can also be used to make tomato cages. All you need to do is place it on a smooth surface and bring the 2-ends together connecting them with plastic wire ties or wire in several places. Rolling it around and pressing down with your hands to make a nice round circle. The end result will be a cage 42-inches high and about 26-inches in diameter. Its 6-inch openings are large enough to reach inside to pull out your tomatoes.
Bush variety seeds can be sown in groups of 2 or 3-seeds spaced 24 to 30-inches apart. Remove the smaller weaker seedlings by pinching them off. Tomato cages or a short stake can be used to keep the bush plant from falling over.
Succession Planting
After about 10 to 12-weeks of exposure to the sun and weather, the protective waxy coating on the leaves wears off. This is about the time that powdery and downy mildew infects the leaves, usually starting with the lower and oldest leaves. Remove the infected leaves and toss in the garbage not the compost pile. Do not remove more than 50% of the leaves.
To extend the length of your growing season, plant half of your crop at your usual time and the second half about 6-weeks later. You might be harvesting right up until the first frost.
Watering and Care
Cucumbers require frequent and deep watering to set the fruit, which have a high water content. When the plants are a few inches tall add a nice loose mulch of shredded leaves or pine straw to shade the plant roots. This will keep the weeds out, the soil cooler and help retain moisture. Keep the mulch a couple of inches away from the stem.
Water the plants deeply once a week to keep the shallow roots from drying out, in particular when the vines are flowering and the fruit is growing. Water the vines directly to the base of the plants to avoid wetting the foliage, which could make it more likely for a fungus such as powdery mildew to occur.
The first flowers to appear are the male flowers, which are then followed by the female flowers.
During dry spells give some water each week.
Fertilizing
When the cucumber flowers appear you can feed with an organic vegetable garden fertilizer such as Espoma Garden-tone.
Harvesting Cucumbers
They should be picked according to how you will use them. Use a knife or cutters leaving a short stem on the cucumber to remove it from the vine. For sweet pickles 1-1/2 to 2 inches is a good size. Dill pickles a good size is 3 to 4 inches.
For slicing to use in salads 8 to 9 inches long and up to 2-inches in diameter will be ideal.
If left on the vine too long they will start to turn yellow and the skin will become tougher and bitter. The over ripe cucumbers can still be used. All you need to do is to peel them and slice them length wise and scoop out the large tough seeds. Then you can slice them for use in a salad.
For the occasional over-looked huge orange cucumber just cut it up and put in the compost pile.
Popular Varieties
Bush: Bush Champion, Parks Bush Whopper, Pickle Bush, Pot Luck, Salad Bush and Spacemaster."
Vine: Burpee Pickler Hybrid, Burpee Hybrid, County Fair 83, Dasher 11, Liberty Hybrid, Marketmore 76, Saladin, Slice Master Hybrid, Slice Nice, Sweet Slice or Sweet Success.
Sources: Seeds Now, Burpee, Park Seed
Diseases
Powdery mildew, downy mildew and cucumber mosaic virus often show up during the late summer months. The best control is to space the plants far enough apart to allow good air circulation such as growing your cucumbers on a trellis.
Plant some disease resistant varieties such as Marketmore 76, Slicemaster, Raider, Dasher II, Spacemaster and Sweet Success.
Pests
There are 2-cucumber beetles that are an occasional pest , which are the stripped and the spotted cucumber beetle. They both have a yellow body and are about 1/4-inch long and are easy to identify. The stripped cucumber beetle has black strips on its wing covers and the spotted cucumber beetle has black spots on its wing covers.
The major damage they do is eating the leaves, flowers and fruit. Hand picking and yellow sticky traps will help to control them.
Next year put up a trellis in another area and grow them vertically.
Tips and Warnings
The vines can be a bit prickly so a pair of garden gloves will be useful.
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