The cucumber is one of our important vegetable crops for both the commercial grower and the home gardener.
History tells us it has been in cultivation for thousands of years. Early American colonists grew cucumbers, and so did the American Indians before them.
Ideal Soil For Cucumbers
Cucumbers are a warm-season crop. Like pumpkins, melons, and squashes, they need warm soil and warm air for best growth and yields.
Don’t get in a hurry to plant them. A very light frost can kill the plants.
If the soil temperature is too low, the seeds will be slow in germinating or may rot. A soil temperature of 65° to 70° degrees Fahrenheit is ideal.
Cucumbers can be grown in nearly any garden.
Just because your garden is small is no reason to forego this versatile vegetable.
Here are some tips to consider when planting cucumbers:
- Plant them near a fence or trellis and let them climb.
- Not much space is needed when they’re trained up this way.
- Considerably more room is required if they’re allowed to run along the ground.
Recommended Fertilizers For High-Quality Cucumbers
Fertilizers are a valuable aid in producing high-quality cucumbers. Mixed fertilizers are easy to get and easy to apply.
Some examples of the fertilizer analysis types recommended for use are:
- 10-10-10
- 8-8-8
- 10-20-10
The fertilizer can be broadcast over the area where the plants will be growing and then cultivated 3” or 4” inches into the soil.
Two pounds to every 100 square feet should be enough at the beginning of the season.
A more economical way to apply the fertilizer is to place it in shallow trenches beside the row at planting time.
Here are the steps to follow:
- There will be no danger of “burning” if you make the trenches 4” inches apart and 2” or 3” inches deep.
- Sow the seeds between these fertilized rows.
- One quart (two pounds) of fertilizer can be used for each 50’ feet of row, using one pint on each side.
A 50’ foot row of cucumbers will produce much more than the average family can use.
A row 10’ feet long, if the plants are allowed to climb support, will furnish enough for most families with some leftover for pickling.
Seeds can also be sown in hills.
Here are the following steps:
- Space hills 2’ or 3’ feet apart.
- If you plant rows, the seeds may be 3” or 4” inches apart and thinned later, so the plants will stand 8” to 12” inches apart.
Proper Way Of Planting Cucumbers
Have you ever started cucumber plants indoors and later transplanted them to the garden?
If the answer is no, you’re not getting cucumbers as soon as possible.
We all transplant cabbage, tomatoes, and peppers to get earlier production.
We can also seed cucumbers indoors and transplant them directly to the garden after 4 or 5 weeks.
This means that we can start harvesting 7 to 10 days earlier, which is particularly important in northern areas with short growing seasons.
When you start cucumbers (or melons, squash, or pumpkins) indoors, you will need to use a slightly different method than most vegetables. These vine plants are badly shocked by transplanting.
Cucumber seeds should be planted directly into 2 ½” or 3” inch pots or plant bands and remain in them until ready to set into the garden.
Peat pots are excellent for such vegetables since you never have to remove the plants from them. You just plant pot and all.
There are none of the transplanting shocks that you might notice when transplanting from clay pots.
Excellent Cucumber Varieties
Seed companies and experiment stations have developed many excellent cucumber varieties.
In recent years, they have even given us many new hybrid cucumbers. Some of these were bred for a particular reason, such as:
- Resistance to mosaic (a virus disease)
- Downy mildew (a fungus disease).
If you intend to use cucumbers only for slicing and salads, then the slicing varieties are the ones to plant.
The “slicers” grow 8” or 9” inches in length, are fairly smooth, and dark green.
If you want to make pickles, you will want varieties developed for this purpose. ‘National Pickling’ is an old standby that is still widely planted.
Some of the new hybrids, are very productive and are resistant to mosaic.
The pickling varieties are shorter than the slicers, are blunt at both ends, and have more “warts.”
Cucumbers respond remarkably to fertilizer applied during the growing season. After the runners are ½’ to 2’ feet long, it’s time to feed the plants.
Here are the tips to follow in feeding cucumbers:
- Use a complete fertilizer, like the one you used at planting time.
- Apply it to the top of the soil, covering an area 2’ to 3’ feet in diameter.
- Don’t let the fertilizer touch the stems or leaves, for it may burn them.
- A 10-10-10 analysis fertilizer, for example, can be used at the rate of one cupful for each 10’ feet of row.
- A half cupful around each hill should be enough if the plants are growing in hills.
Don’t make the mistake of cultivating the fertilizer into the soil farther than 1” inch deep.
Deep Cultivation Needs
Cucumber plants form many feeder roots near the surface, and deep cultivation will reduce yields. But, you will need to control weeds.
The answer is a summer mulch. Mulches practically eliminate the need for cultivation and will conserve moisture, too.
Straw, grass clippings, sawdust, or wood shavings—in fact, many things can be used as a summer mulch.
Black plastic is good, too—especially in northern areas where its ability to make the soil wanner results in faster growth.
Wood Shavings to the Rescue
Wood shavings and chips save you a lot of work, water, and plants—and they don’t make the soil sour, as we have been told for years.
They keep down weeds, retain soil moisture, and because of their size absorb very little rain or artificial watering.
They prevent the spattering of mud on flowers, fruits, or leaves, keeping them cleaner and more disease-free.
Lastly, neither shavings nor chips, unless mixed with the soil, tie up as large an amount of the soil’s nitrogen as does much finer sawdust.
If wood chips are mixed into soil, add 1/2 lbs nitrate of soda per bushel.
Controlling Weeds With Chemicals
If you have a large cucumber patch, you can control weeds very simply with chemicals.
This material can be applied immediately after the seeds have been sown. It is called a pre-emergence application.
Here are the following application tips:
- The soil should be well cultivated, and all large clods are broken up.
- The spray may be applied over the entire area where the cucumbers are to be grown or over the rows in bands 1’ to 3’ feet wide.
- The soil should not be cultivated after the application is made since this will encourage the germination of weed seeds.
You will find dilution rates, amounts to apply, and other helpful information on the container.
Several precautions should be observed when using this material.
To be most effective, do the following steps:
- The soil should be slightly moist at the time of application.
- Clean the sprayer thoroughly after using the chemical.
- A cupful of household ammonia in enough water to fill a 3-gallon sprayer can be used for flushing the tank.
- Follow up with 2 or 3 rinsings with a detergent.
A Variety Of Cucumber Flowers
Have you wondered why so many cucumber blossoms fall off without setting fruit?
The explanation is simple. Cucumbers produce 2 entirely different kinds of flowers.
- One is the male (staminate) or pollen-producing flower.
- The other is the female (pistillate) flower.
Only the pistillate flower sets fruit.
Bees, and other insects, carry the pollen from the male flower to the female flower.
The male flower falls off, but the female flower sets the fruit.
Best Time To Pick Cucumbers
Don’t worry about those flowers you see on the ground. They’ve served their purpose.
After cucumber fruits once appear, they grow fast.
This means frequent picking for good yields and high quality.
The smaller the fruits are when they’re picked, the greater the number the plant will produce.
A well-grown plant with enough fertilizer and moisture can produce 8 or 10 ripe cucumbers.
If they’re harvested when immature, a plant of equal vigor will produce 40 to 50 fruits.
So, if you want good yields and fine quality, pick every day or so.
Disturb the vines as little as possible when you’re harvesting.
Roll them over to remove the fruits and then return them to their original position.
It’s a good idea to cut rather than pull, leaving a short stern, about ¼” inch long, attached to the fruit.
Regular Care Is Essential For Cucumbers
Regular spraying or dusting is a necessary chore with cucumbers.
Start early, too, because insects and diseases often cause damage as soon as the plants come through the soil.
Many good multi-purpose mixtures are available.
They contain materials that help control both insects and diseases.
Start spraying or dusting as soon as plants emerge, and continue at 5-day intervals throughout the season.
After the fruits start to set on, change the spray or dust to rotenone.
Rotenone is non-poisonous to man and is safe to use on vegetables that are ready for harvest.