Topic: How Do You All Grow Cucumber Please

[worldor]

I put a post at the end of "interesting website" post but thought I would start a new one instead. I have tried to grow cucumbers in the lean to up a cane as with tomatoes but saw on that website cucumbers growing along the ground. Which is best please?

http://www.citychickens.co.uk

[Jeannine]

Field cukes grow fine along the ground as do the picklers but I wouldn't do it with the long  ones. Most US cukes are field ones,in the shops here field ones are cheap as chips but the Long Englisgh ones are always expensive and very few of them. Also the US ones are short and fat, the long ones would curl if not grown upright, so in my opinion it rather depends on what type you are growing.

I grow my picklers on the ground but my salad ones I grow up.

XX Jeannine

[worldor]

And Thanks again :)

[Toadspawn]

It depends on the variety you grow. I now only grow indoor all female cucumbers and have found Petita particularly good producing a lot of small cucumbers about 6-8" long and with a pleasant taste.

Outdoor/ridge cucumbers are best allowed to sprawl over the ground without any removal of shoots. The cucumbers are relatively short and fat and the skin often has small pointed projections. The flowers are polinated by insects so the fruit always contain seeds.

Indoor cucumbers may be all female or have both male and female flowers. They are best grown up a cane or along wires as they can grow up to 10' and often more in length. They do have tendrils to help them climb but it is preferable to tie them to the cane/wire for extra support. It is usual to pinch out the tip of side shoots after the second flower has set. All female cucumbers produce seedless fruit easily. The resulting fruit may grow up to 18" long depending on the variety and hang down making them easy to pick. For varieties with both male and female flowers, the male flowers are best removed to prevent cross pollination which may result in a mis-shaped cucumber often bitter in taste because seeds have set.

They need a good supply of water and if the atmosphere is too dry they are very easily infested by red spider mite. Mildew can often be a problem on indoor cucumbers.

[Digeroo]

I find that the slugs get them along the ground, so grow creeping ones up canes.  Also they take up less space.

I grew Lemon Cucumber (like crystal apple) lots of people said they liked the flavour and the fact that it produced a portion sized fruit.  The fruit look a bit weird but taste is excellent. 

I have Boothby's Blond ffrom HSL so hope that is also a creeping variety.

I have Zeina for the windowsill and fruit are also tiny but do not do well outside. 

[Bugloss2009]

I grew outdoor ridge cucmbers last year for the first time. I grew them upwards, and into our plum tree. They were very prolific and vigorous. Trouble was the fruit were mostly intensely bitter. Trying to remove the male flowers was a waste of time as there were so many. The variety was Long Green Ridge btw. Very disappointing

[Robert_Brenchley]

You don't take male flowers off outdoor cucumbers as they're needed for pollination. I'm not sure what causes bitterness.

[Chrispy]

Yep, agree with Robert, leave the flowers on.

Bugloss, just try a different variaty, I have grown Burpless both inside and out, and it tastes great. Also will be trying Marketmore, and given some of these seeds to my dad to try, as the ones he has grown before end up bitter, and Marketmore was recommened as the best/easiest outdoor to grow by the nice people on A4A.

[gridgardener]

the bitterness issue is variety dependent. But is also heat stress related.
the ones that need flowers removed are old English green house varieties
according dr d g Hessayon  "the vegetable & herb expert" page 51. varieties that fall into this category are telegraph, butchers disease resisting and conqueror.

[RobinOfTheHood]

Burpless Tasty Green, Wautoma and Lemon last year for me.

Lemon and BTG in the GH and Wautoma outside. I'd recommend BTG without hesitation and Lemon with the proviso that the skins are quite thick. I won't bother with Wautoma again. Probably. Or not.  ;)

[1066]

I just can't get past the name "Burpless tasty" - just puts me right off  ;D

I grew Mirella and Marketmore in buckets last year, and they sort of grew up their canes, but I'm going to try some up at the plotty this year, to see how well they do  :-\

[worldor]

Thank you for all your replies. I have sown seeds of Marketmore, Jack Frost, Carmen and Lemon. If I can get them to grow into a decent plant I shall be pleased and fruits will be a bonus. I am hopeless with cucumbers.

[tim]

I won't be sowing for the cold 'house until mid-April.

[RobinOfTheHood]

I won't be sowing for the cold 'house until mid-April.

Ne meither.

[manicscousers]

we grow burpless tasty green, too..the oonly ones that don't give Ray heartburn  ;D

[davyw1]

Copied and pated from last tear

I grow mine in the ground as i went away from grow bags when i built a Polly tunnel but that does not change the basics, the problem is i find it absorbing and you can get hooked on it.
The three types of cucumber i grow are Carman, Femdan and Aramon
If you are going to grow them in in grow bags do it with rings on top such as a wide bottomless plant pot  ( Ring Culture ) as the depth is very important.
Really you should not grow Cucumbers and Tomato,s in the same greenhouse unless you can close a section where the Cucumbers are to be grown as Cucumbers need a close humid atmosphere while tomato,s need plenty of air circulating through them at all times.
Make holes in the grow bags to avoid the compost from becoming sour through bad drainage. You should grow only one Cucumber to a bag to allow the roots to develop and also this allows the plant stems to grow without getting entangled as the tenderills will choke anything it gets hold of, I find it best to nip them off if they look like grabbing onto any part of the plant.
Sow the seed singly in 3" pots in a peat based compost, place each seed on its side not flat to avoid rotting. Once the seeds have germinated ensure maximum light to prevent thin, spindly growth and keep an eye on the root development at the bottom of the pot, once you see the root pot them on onto a bigger pot if they are left they will become starved of nutrients and check the growth.
PLANTING OUT. Place the ring on top of the grow bag and cut a hole to size, fill the ring with a peat based compost and sit the Cucumber plant on top of the compost not in a hole as this causes stem rot then build up the compost to cover the roots ( making sure the stem is not buried ) so that any water runs away from the stem.
There are two ways to grow Cucumbers. One is by allowing them to grow on the main stem, the other by growing on laterals ( side shoots )
you should not allow any fruit to develop until the plant is 2 ft high, this encourages a strong root system.
Once the plant starts to develop fruits a nitrogen feed is required.
Cut the Cucumbers regularly as they mature as they should not be allowed to take feed from developing or Cucumbers further up the stem as this some times causes rot to the end of the fruit, it also slows development caused by lack of nutrients
I have not mentioned support for the plant as we all have our different ways of doing this but i favor netting.

I hope this helps all to grow your cucumbers successfully.

[worldor]

DavyW1 - Thanks I have printed that out and will study it carefully. I am a little stuck as far as growing tomatoes and cucumbers in the same space as we only have the lean to. Looks like building another tunnel for the tomatoes and concentrating on cucumbers in the lean to. Thanks again for your help.

[chriscross1966]

Modern all-female cukes seem to produce OK in a GH otherwise full of tomatoes, certainly if you grow a pair of them then you should have a shortish cuke every day for months..... I personally prefer Marketmore grown outdoors on the flat but have also0 grown them indoors.... started the indoor one late and it went into the GH in a 12" pot towards the end of August, started fruiting mid septemtber (roughly when the outdoor ones shut down) and carried on until late november IIRC... we only just finished the cukes just before christmwas..... they seem to sit OK in the fridge for a month or so...

chrisc

[Squashman]

I only grow indoor cues, Futura. I use pig netting which is staked into the base and fixed to the roof bar, this allows the fruits to hang down. Futura is an all female variety.

[tim]

No problem mixing Cues, Peppers, Chillies, Tomatoes, Aubergines in a cold 'house.

Much prefer the mini-cues.