Cucumbers are one of summer’s crispiest, juicy treats, featuring prominently in salads, sliced on sandwiches, or just eaten fresh out of hand. Their high water content makes them especially refreshing, lending a bright crunch to many dishes.

Growing cucumbers is fairly easy provided you have nutrient-dense, well-draining soil, and a full sun location. There are many varieties of cucumbers you can grow in your home vegetable garden, with the option of slicing or pickling types.

However, cucumbers can suffer diseases, pests, and cultivation issues like any crop. If your plant is looking a little sad, perhaps the culprit is one of these common issues.

1. Cucumber Beetles

If your cucumber plant leaves are beginning to resemble Swiss cheese, it might be cucumber beetles. These are common pests of over 200 different types of plants, many in the cucurbit family. Although quite pretty, the beetles will chew the leaves resulting in lacing, holes, and ragged edges. They may also feed on the stems and flower buds.

Cucumber beetles are yellow-green with black markings. There are both striped and spotted varieties and they are both vectors for certain diseases such as fusarium wilt.

Spray neem oil on the plants at the first sign of damage. This natural control prevents insects from feeding, which will eventually kill them.

2. Bacterial Wilt

Limp, drooping leaves that appear to be suffering from lack of water are the first clue of bacterial wilt in cucumbers – assuming the plants are well irrigated.

The disease is transmitted by striped cucumber beetles. It overwinters in their bellies, and in spring, the beetles awaken, start feeding on plants, and spread the disease.

Bacterial wilt blocks the transmission of water into the vascular system of the plant. Sadly, there is no cure – the plants will eventually fail and die. If you suspect this disease in your plant it is best to remove it from the garden plot and destroy the plant.

Happily, there are several wilt-resistant cucumber varieties such as County Fair F1 and Little Leaf H-19.

3. Failure to Fruit

It is the fruit we are growing the cucumber plant for, so the lack of cucumbers is a huge concern. In most cases, where there are flowers but no fruit, the issue is low pollination rates. Lack of pollination can also result in slow-growing cucumbers, and cucumbers falling from the vine.

If you aren’t seeing bees zipping around your yard at regular intervals, try adding plants to attract pollinators.

Hand-pollinating cucumbers is also a good option to boost yields and involves using a small brush to transfer pollen from male to female flowers.

Another reason for a lack of cucumbers could simply be the earliness of the season. The first flowers produced by the plant are male and will not produce fruit. Be patient and wait a few weeks for female flowers.

4. Anthracnose

Water-soaked, yellow leaf spots are some of the first symptoms of cucumber anthracnose, a common fungal disease that affects hundreds of plants. It likes the weather warm and wet when there is high humidity.

The leaves are the first area to show symptoms, with yellow to brown spots. The spots become larger as the disease progresses. On stems and petioles, the damage appears as elongated tan cankers. Maturing fruit may also succumb, developing soft, brown lesions that will sport reddish spores.

One of the main ways the plants get infected is through previous year’s plant debris. Cleaning up old plants and following crop rotation guidelines are key to preventing the disease.

Use registered fungicides at the first sign of the disease and ideally purchase resistant varieties.

5. Powdery Mildew

Powdery mildew is a common fungus that affects many plants, especially those with larger leaves. It begins as irregular grayish-white spots and spreads into larger patches. In bad infections, the entire leaf will be covered and the fungus can move down into the stems.

Most powdery mildew starts to appear in mid to late summer. The spores are windborne and most prevalent in warm, dry conditions. Leaves can die and drop off, reducing photosynthesis and thus overall plant health.

The fruit is rarely affected, but fewer and smaller fruits are produced. Also, due to less shielding foliage, the cucumbers may suffer sunscald making the skin rough and unappealing.

Space plants so they have plenty of air movement, use resistant varieties, and resort to fungicides if the infection is rampant.

6. Yellow Leaves

Yellow cucumbers and leaves are a sign the plant is not happy. The cause could be inadequate water, fertilizer, transplant shock, or too little light.

Cucumbers need plenty of water as might be deduced by the amount of moisture in the fruit. Use a balanced fertilizer twice during the growing season, and incorporate plenty of organic, rich material into the soil before planting.

If the plants aren’t getting eight hours or more of sunlight per day, the yellowing could be because the plant is not photosynthesizing enough.

7. Spider Mites

You might not be able to see them because they are very tiny, but spider mites can do a lot of damage for their size. They are sucking insects that penetrate the stems and leaves of the plant, eating the sap. Not only do the holes they make pose a problem, but a large infestation can diminish plant vitality quickly.

On cucumber plants, the leaves will develop reddish and yellow irregular areas. You might also observe what looks like dirt on the underside of the leaves. If you put a clean, white piece of paper under the leaf and shake it, tiny specks of “ dirt” might coat the paper. These are spider mites.

They like hot, dry conditions, and under-watered plants are a target. There is a parasitic wasp you could try to introduce but in most cases, an insecticide, preferably an organic one such as neem oil, should be used at the first sign of damage.

8. Deformed Fruits

Cucumbers are generally quite uniform with an elegant curve and slender bodies, so deformed cucumbers are a sign something is wrong.

If the fruit is pinched, has a smaller end, or any other form of misshape, it may be suffering from too little water. Inconsietent watering will cause fruit to form in an irregular way.

If the blossom end is fat and the opposite end is skinny, this indicates the plant had enough water when the fruit was beginning to form, but not enough as it matured. Cucumbers need about 1 inch (2.5cm) of water daily.

9. Holes in Fruit

Holes in cucumbers may be caused by cucumber beetles or slugs, but pickleworms are common culprits. They are the larvae of the adult pickleworm moth and do damage from the inside out.

The larva burrow into fruit and eat the succulent, moist flesh inside, expelling frass or waste out through the entry hole. The result is a mushy, rotting fruit.

Pickleworms are most prevalent in the warmer regions of North America. The larvae enjoy the blossoms as well as the cucumber, and can damage these to the extent that there is no fruit.

Erect row covers to prevent adult moths from laying their eggs on the plants or use an insecticide where necessary.

10. Mottled Leaves and Pale Fruits

Cucumber mosaic virus affects many cucurbits. The vectors that spread the virus are aphids, which introduce the virus into the vascular tissue through their sucking activities.

Symptoms develop around six weeks after plants have been in the ground. Random white, yellow, and green spots appear across the surface of the leaf. Plant growth becomes stunted and few if any fruit forms.

Prevention starts with eradicating aphid infestations. Any fruit that does grow will have a pale grayish-white color.

Unfortunately, there is no cure for this virus. Plants should be pulled up and destroyed.

If it looks like a cucumber and mostly tastes like one, is it a cucumber? Armenian cucumber plants are in the same genus as cucumbers but belong to a separate species more closely related to muskmelons. That basically makes them Armenian cucumber melons. If that is confusing, keep reading for information on these unique melons. 

Modern gardeners are getting access to all kinds of interesting crops. Crops from around the world allow us to expand our palettes and give us an opportunity to grow something new. Armenian cucumbers are just one such crop. The melon has many of the characteristics of a cucumber but can also be used in sweet dishes. 

What are Armenian Cucumber Plants?

Armenian cucumber melons look much like a cucumber, only often bent rather than straight. They have thin skin, soft flesh and a line of small seeds which can be easily removed if you wish. The fruits are gently ribbed. They start out a lush green and turn yellow when ripe. The flavor is lightly sweet and refreshing. 

The plants grow as annual vines which need training vertically. The stems are angular and decorated with fine hairs. Both male and female small, yellow blooms are produced. The leaves are almost grape-like and profuse. This muskmelon relative is lovely sliced into salad or pickled. 

Tips on Growing Armenian Cucumbers

Armenian cucumbers prefer a long, hot summer. Temperatures for germination need to be above 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 C). The plants need at least 55 frost free days to produce fruit. Plant the seeds at 1/2 inch depth (1.27 cm.) in rich, well worked soil. Expect germination in 7 to 20 days. Once your seedlings emerge, set up a trellis or stakes for the tendrils on the vines to begin to grasp. As the plant seeks light it will begin to train itself up the structure, although you may have to help a bit. Side dress these plants with well rotted manure or compost. 

Armenian Cucumber Care

In the right conditions, Armenian cucumber care is effortless. Like cucumbers and most melons, the plants need consistent moisture, especially once they start fruiting. Avoid overhead watering which can cause powdery and downy mildew. 

The same pests that occur with cucumbers and melons like cantaloupe may be of concern. Pick Armenian cucumbers in the morning and pick them often. The larger fruits do not have a pleasant taste and the seeds are hard. Pick fruits when they are 12-18 inches (30.48-45.72 cm.) long. Refrigerate them until use. This is a unique summer fruit that will add flavor and interest to your summer concoctions.

Since you’ve worked so hard in the garden this summer we want to show off the fruits (and veggies) of your labor! We invite you to join the Gardening Know How Virtual Harvest Show by submitting photos of your harvest!

Japanese cucumbers look somewhat like the cucumbers we usually grow in the garden, but the taste is quite different. In fact, this member of the Cucurbitaceae family is a fruit. It is related to melons, squashes, and pumpkins, and it tastes more like them than like a traditional cucumber. Don’t mistake it for the regular cucumber, but experience its unique taste without expectations. 

The fruit is eaten regularly in Japan as a side dish, part of a Japanese cucumber salad, and as a pickle. Japanese pickles may be salted down to preserve them in a pickling process called Shiozuke, where they’re allowed to ferment. They are also pickled with vinegar. Japanese cucumbers are a cooling fruit, often served along with hot and spicy dishes.

Kyuri Japanese Cucumber in the U.S.

The Japanese cucumber is found in farmers’ markets and restaurants throughout the U.S. It grows well in hot summer gardens here. It is long (up to 18” or 45 cm.) and skinny, with few small seeds and a thin skin. One source says it is preferred by picky eaters. Give it a try in your garden this year. You might find a new favorite for your family.

Seeds are readily available for sale online. It is native to Japan and to some parts of China. It takes approximately 65 days to harvest. Plants are vigorous and heavy producers, according to info about them. Don’t let these cucumbers overgrow; fruits that get too big may become bitter.

Growing Japanese Cucumbers

Start from seed outside in full sun when soil has warmed to 65 to 75 degrees F (18 to 23.8 C). Soil should be well-draining and nutrient rich, with some additional water-holding capacity. Work in compost well before planting for the best cucumber-growing soil. Plant in hills or in rows, or even into a large container. These robust plants should be grown on a trellis or up a fence for proper support.

Plant seeds 1 inch deep (2.5cm.) in mid spring through warm months. If you’ll have 65 days of hot weather remaining, it’s not too late to plant if you keep them watered. Some sources say to plant them on their side. Double seeding is not needed, according to info.

Water in and keep the soil moist. Cultivate lightly around the plants, keeping the soil weed-free. Attach to a trellis, wall, or other support when it is possible to do so. Pinch out the growing tip when the plant has seven leaves. Pinch out tips from side branches at the same point.

Watch for pests. Treat the plants if needed. Harvest the fruit when it’s still young and sweet. This plant will continue to produce as cucumbers are picked. Have a plan for a bountiful harvest.

Since you’ve worked so hard in the garden this summer we want to show off the fruits (and veggies) of your labor! We invite you to join the Gardening Know How Virtual Harvest Show by submitting photos of your harvest!

As a gardener, it is fun to play around with different seeds and methods of propagation. For instance, cucumbers are a prolific and easy-to-grow crop with many varietals. Once you have a successful crop, many gardeners save seeds for the successive year’s planting. In lieu of saving your own seeds, however, what about grocery store cucumber seeds? Can you plant a grocery store cucumber? Interestingly, there are a couple of theories on seeds from a store-bought cucumber. 

Can You Plant a Grocery Store Cucumber? 

The answer to using seeds from a store-bought cucumber isn’t black or white. In theory, yes, you could plant seeds from a store-bought cucumber but the likelihood of them ever fruiting is doubtful.

If you were successful in getting grocery store cucumber seeds to germinate, chances are you would not get anything resembling the cucumber you culled the seeds from. Why? Grocery store cucumbers are F1 hybrids which means they won’t “breed true.” This means they are comprised of two or more different varieties, so who knows what you might get. 

More on Seeds from a Store-Bought Cucumber

As if this isn’t enough to cast doubt on the veracity of growing cucumbers from grocery store cucumber seeds, the fruit is generally harvested and sold well before it is ripe. To obtain seeds from a cucumber it needs to be fully ripe. That is, the cuke will be yellow to orange and burgeoning; practically bursting.

All that said, the idea of growing cucumbers from a purchased cucumber is possible, maybe. Don’t get your cucumber from the supermarket. Instead, buy heirloom cucumbers from a farmers’ market. These will be more likely to “breed true.”

Cut the cukes in half lengthwise to extract the seeds. Scoop them out and allow them to ferment in water for one to three days to remove the pulp from the seeds. 

Once you have extracted the seeds from the pulp, plant them in full sun with fertile soil an inch (2.5 cm.) under the soil, spaced 18 to 36 inches (46-91 cm.) apart. Keep the soil moist and cross your fingers. 

If the cucumber experiment works, you should see seedlings in five to ten days. If, however, you decide not to experiment and would rather grow a sure thing, purchase nursery or store-bought cucumber seeds, which can often be had for very little cost.

Compared with other commonly grown vegetables, cucumber plants can engulf a large amount of ground space in the garden. Many varieties require a minimum of 4 square feet (0.4 sq. m.) per plant. That makes this crunchy crop impractical for gardeners with a limited size vegetable bed. Luckily, growing cucumbers in bags is an excellent way to preserve your ground space and also grow cucumbers.

How to Grow a Cucumber Plant in a Bag

Follow these simple steps for your own bag grown cucumbers:

• Choose a cucumber grow bag. You can purchase bags specially made for this purpose or reuse heavy-duty plastic bags. White potting soil bags work well and can be turned inside out to hide the printed label. Avoid black garbage bags as these absorb too much heat from the sun.
• Prepare the cucumber grow bag. Commercially available woven or plastic bags are often designed to be self-supported. Hanging type bags do require a method for installation. Homemade bags lack structural support and need to be adapted for drainage. When using the latter, a plastic milk crate is an inexpensive and reusable method for supporting the grow bag. Poking holes or cutting slits about 2 inches (5 cm.) from the bottom of the bag allows excess water to drain while providing a small well to maintain moisture.
• Fill the cucumber grow bag. Place 2 inches (5 cm.) of small rocks or a coir planter liner in the bottom of the bag to facilitate proper drainage. If needed, add a layer of charcoal to discourage algae growth. Fill the bag with quality potting soil. Adding compost or a slow-release fertilizer can provide additional nutrients throughout the growing season. Mixing in perlite or vermiculite will help maintain soil moisture levels.
• Plant the cucumber grow bag. To ensure evenly moist soil, water the bag prior to planting. Plant two to three cucumber seeds per bag or one to two cucumber seedlings, depending upon the size of the bag. Overcrowding can result in too much competition for nutrients.
• Give it some light. Place your cucumber plant in a bag where it will receive at least six hours of direct sunlight per day. Avoid setting the bags on black asphalt or other surfaces which absorb the sun's heat. Cucumbers require more water than other crops, so locate your bag grown cucumbers where they can be easily watered.
• Provide a trellis or fence. Giving cucumber vines a support to climb will reduce the space needed for each cucumber plant in a bag. Planting cucumbers in the top of a hanging type bag and allowing the vines to dangle to the ground is another space saving option.
• Keep the soil evenly moist, but not soggy. Container plants dry more quickly than those in the ground. During hot, dry weather thoroughly water your cucumbers in bags in the evening as the heat of the day begins to dissipate.
• Routinely feed your cucumber plant in a bag. Apply a balanced (10-10-10) fertilizer or use manure tea every two to three weeks. For bushier bag grown cucumbers, try pinching off the growing tip when the vines have formed six leaves.

Big, juicy cucumbers are only in season for a short period. Farmer’s markets and grocery stores are filled with them, while gardeners have crazy crops of the vegetable. The summer fresh cukes need to be preserved if you're drowning in them. Canning is an option, but can you dehydrate cucumbers? Here are several dried cucumber ideas including methods and uses.

Can You Dehydrate Cucumbers?

It seems you can dry almost any food, but can you eat dehydrated cucumbers? Cucumbers are easily preserved, much like plums or nectarines. As such, it would be logical that eating dried cucumbers would be just as tasty. You can put whatever flavor spin you want on the fruit too. Go savory or sweet, either works beautifully on cucumber.

Using up a bumper crop of cucumbers can be burdensome. While pickling varieties work great canned, the burpless types do not can well. However, they make great chips. Eating dried cucumbers is a great option for vegans and those trying to avoid grocery store potato chips.

You can dry them in a dehydrator or in a low oven. There are loads of seasoning options available. Try salt and vinegar, Thai, a Latin twist, or even Greek. Whatever seasoning you put on them will be accentuated by the cucumber's natural sweetness and crunch.

How to Dry Cucumbers

Wash the cucumbers and cut them into even slices. Use a kitchen slicer to keep them all even or eyeball it if you have the skill using a knife.

For dehydrator chips, toss them in the seasonings of your choice. Then, lay them in a single layer on the dryer pans and turn on the unit. Check after 12 hours and continue drying until crisp.

In the oven, prepare them the same way but place on cookie sheets or perforated pizza pans. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees F. (77 C.) and place sheets in the oven. Cook on this low temp for about three hours.

What to Do with Dehydrated Cucumbers

Curious what to do with dehydrated cucumbers?

• Treat them like potato chips and eat them alone or make an easy dip with sour cream or plain yogurt.
• Crumble them up and add to a salad for a summery crunch.
• If you made them with Mexican seasonings, add them to your chili toppings for a satisfying snap.
• Layer slices in your favorite sandwich.
• Crush them up and mix with breading to coat chicken or use as a seasoning on any food.

Dried cucumber ideas are limited only to your imagination and personal taste.

Anthracnose in cucumber crops can cause serious economic losses to commercial growers. This disease also afflicts most other cucurbits as well as many non-cucurbit species. The symptoms of cucumbers with anthracnose disease are often confused with other foliar diseases, which makes anthracnose control in cucumbers difficult. The following article discusses how to identify this disease and cucumber anthracnose treatment.

What is Cucumber Anthracnose Disease?

Anthracnose in cucumbers is a fungal disease caused by the fungus Colletotrichum orbiculare (C. lagenarium). It afflicts most cucurbits, other vine crops, and cucurbit weeds. Squash and pumpkins, however, are primarily immune to the disease.

In cucumbers, this disease is fostered by seasons of warm temperatures combined with frequent rain. When anthracnose control in cucumbers is not implemented, losses of 30% or more may be realized.

Symptoms of Cucumbers with Anthracnose

The symptoms of anthracnose vary somewhat from host to host. All aboveground parts of the plant may become infected. The first signs in cucumber crops appear on the leaves. Small water-soaked lesions appear, enlarging rapidly as the disease advances and becoming irregular in shape and darker in color.

The centers of older leaf lesions may fall out, giving the leaf a “shot hole” appearance. Lesions begin to appear on stems as well as fruit if present. On fruit, the pinkish spore masses are clearly visible.

As mentioned, anthracnose in cucumber crops may be confused with other diseases. Correct identification can be made using a hand lens or microscope. Anthracnose disease will appear as pink spore masses marred by hair-like structures.

Cucumber Anthracnose Control

Controlling anthracnose is a multi-tiered approach. First, plant only disease-free certified seed and sow only in well-draining soil free of runoff water.

Be sure to rotate with a crop other than another cucurbit every three years or longer. Control all weeds surrounding the cucumber crop and avoid handling the crop when it is wet, which can further spread the disease.

Fungicides can aid in controlling this fungal disease affecting cucumber crops. They will need to be applied more frequently during rainy periods. Those available are both chemical and organic. Organic options include potassium bicarbonate, coppers, Bacillus subtilis, and some horticultural oils. Follow the instructions provided by the manufacturer.

If a field has been infected with cucumber anthracnose disease, burn or cleanly plow down any infected plant debris.

Cucumbers are fairly easy to grow and depending upon the variety, a staple in salads or a must-have for pickling. The types of cucumbers found in the grocery store have thin palatable skins, but sometimes those grown in the garden have cucumber skin that is tough.

What makes cucumber skins tough? A tough cucumber skin is most likely the result of the variety of cucumber being grown. Of course, if the cucumber skin is too hard, it can always be peeled; but if you would rather grow fruit without a tough cucumber peel, keep reading.

What Makes Cucumber Skins Tough?

Cucumbers grown for eating fresh from the garden are of two kinds. There are cukes suited for growing in the greenhouse and those that are more suitable for growing outdoors. Cucumbers that are meant to be grown outside are called ‘ridge cucumbers.’

Ridge cucumbers tolerate cooler temperatures and are often spiny or bumpy, hence they have a tough cucumber skin. If you dislike that tough cucumber peel, then try growing greenhouse varieties. These are the types of cucumber found at the grocers and have a thin, smooth skin.

Another Reason for Tough Cucumber Skin

If you have cucumber skin that is tough, yet another reason may be that the fruit has been left on the vine too long. Cucumbers that are left to grow larger will have tougher skin. Just because the cucumber skin is too hard doesn’t mean the fruit is lacking in any way, however. If the cucumber skin is too hard for you, simply peel and enjoy the delicious fruit inside.

The exception to this is pickling cucumbers. If they are left to grow large, they become increasingly bitter, not to mention their unpleasantly tough cucumber peel. In the case of pickling cucumbers, bigger isn’t better!

Gardening newbies tend to make one big mistake with their first garden, planting more vegetables than they could possibly use in one season. Even seasoned gardeners can go overboard with seed catalogs and make this common gardening mistake. Fortunately, many vegetables and fruits have long shelf lives. Some vegetables, such as cucumbers, don't have a long shelf life but can be preserved in ways that extend the storage life. Continue reading to learn more about cucumber storage.

How Long Do Cucumbers Last?

Fresh cucumbers can last about two weeks if stored properly. They can be very specific about storage temperature, lasting longest when stored at 55 degrees F. (13 C.). When storage temperatures are below 40 degrees F. (4 C.), pitting will develop on the cucumber skin and water-soaked spots may also form. Keeping cucumbers in perforated bags provide aeration to the fruits, keeping cucumbers fresher longer. Before storing fresh cucumbers, wash them thoroughly and remove any residual dirt or debris. Do not use soaps or abrasive materials. Rinse the cucumbers and let them completely air dry before placing them in ventilated plastic bags and storing in a cool, dry place.

Tips for Preserving Cucumbers

Cucumbers can also be prepared in recipes such as Greek salad and other cucumber salads, salsa, or tzatziki sauce and then canned to get the most out of an excess cucumber harvest. If you have a plethora of cucumbers and your family and friends no longer take your calls at harvest time, try preserving some in homemade cucumber jelly which adds a cool, crisp flavor when paired with chicken or pork. Thinly slice extra cucumbers and place in a food dehydrator for long lasting, healthy cucumber chips. You can even put excess cucumbers in a fruit juicer and freeze the juice into ice cubes for a refreshing, summery flair to ice water, lemonade, or cocktails. Of course, the most common way of preserving cucumbers is by making pickles or relishes with them. Properly preserved pickles and relishes will give cucumbers the longest shelf life. Only pickling varieties of cucumbers should be used to make pickles. With just a Google search, you can quickly end up headed down a never-ending rabbit-hole of pickle and relish recipes, so it helps to know a little about canning vegetables in advance.

If you love pickles, you’ve noticed the varying pickling cucumber varieties. Some may be large and sliced lengthwise or in rounds and some are small and pickled whole. Pretty much any type of cucumber can be used for pickling, but true “pickling” cucumbers are different than heirlooms, slicers, or Japanese cukes. So what is a pickling cucumber and how do you grow picklers?

What is a Pickling Cucumber?

Cucumbers for pickling refer to cucumbers that are used for processing or making pickles. This doesn’t mean they can’t be eaten fresh, but their thinner skins, crunchy texture, and smaller seeds make them ideal for pickling. That and their small size which means there is little prep work involved. Pickling cucumbers are short with graduating hues of dark green at the stem to light green at the blossom end.

Pickling Cucumber Varieties

Cucumbers have tenacious tendrils that grasp onto fences or trellises easily. While some cucumbers can take over the garden, there are newer varieties with shorter vine lengths for smaller gardens. Calypso, Royal, and H-19 Little Leaf are picklers that grow to just around 4 to 6 feet (1-2 m.) in length. If this seems too large, train the vine to grow back in on itself to conserve space. Also, consider growing pickling cucumbers vertically if space is at a premium. Pickalot and National Pickling are revered pickling cukes. Other varieties of pickling cucumbers include:

• Adam Gherkin
• Boston Pickling
• Calypso
• Eureka
• Homemade Pickling
• Jackson
• Northern Pickling
• Sassy
• Wealthy
•  Salt and Pepper (white cultivar)

There are also dwarf varieties, such as Bush Pickle Hybrid, that grow to only about 18 inches (46 cm.) in length, perfect for the container gardener.

How to Grow Picklers

Cucumbers, pickling or otherwise, are prodigious producers. Pickling cucumbers should be ready to harvest between 50 and 65 days from planting and can be picked over the course of a several weeks. Growing pickling cucumber plants is just like growing other types of cucumber. They prefer a soil pH of 5.5, well-drained soil, and lots of nitrogen. You may either plant in rows or in hills. Sow the seeds about 1 ½ inches (4 cm.) deep and cover the seeds lightly with soil. In rows, plant the seeds a few inches (8 cm.) apart, in hills sow four or five seeds per hill. Thin the hill grown plants to the best two seedlings when they have their first true set of leaves. Water the seeds in and keep the bed moist. Since cucumbers are heavy feeders, give them a fertilizer that is high in nitrogen. Once the plants begin to bloom, switch over to a balanced fertilizer. Side dressing and regular fertilization will go a long way towards fostering a burgeoning crop. Keep the plants watered. Stick your finger into the soil each day. If the soil is dry, give the plants a long, deep watering. Cucumbers are made up primarily of water, so consistent irrigation is important for crisp juicy fruit.

Having trouble getting your family to eat vegetables? One interesting and fun way to increase consumption is to try unique and quirky options. Mexican sour gherkin cucumbers fruit in 75 days and are easy to grow in warmer climates or areas with long, hot summers. Strangely enough, these little fruits aren't technically cucumbers at all but carry an honorary designation due to their similarities to that popular fruit. With its lemony flavor, adorable packaging and variety of uses, Mexican gherkins (Melothria scabra) are a great way to increase produce diversity in your home and possibly appeal to some of the picky eaters therein.

What is a Mexican Sour Gherkin?

This plant is an heirloom that hails from Mexico and Central America. It bears several colorful common names based on its appearance such as Cucamelon, Mouse Melon, and Little Watermelon.

Mouse Melon history is complex due to its incorrect classification as a cucumber but it is also not a melon. The plant belongs in the Cucurbitaceae family, which does encompass gourds, melons, and cucumbers. Technically, however, the Mexican sour gherkin is more closely related to fruits from Africa and its classification varies from botanist to botanist. Wherever the plant fits in, it's a delightful edible with a myriad of uses from fresh to pickled and even in stir fries.

Mouse Melons look like you took a full sized watermelon and put it in the machine they used in "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids." Some even refer to it as Barbie Melon because it is the perfect size to use when playing with those popular dolls. The leaves are very similar to cucumber leaves but a bit smaller and bear the same sticky, hairy stems which curl and grasp as they grow.

The flowers are also similar and become tiny, less than 1-inch long fruits with speckled skin of dark and lighter green. The flesh is fresh, juicy, and sweet with a hint of citrus and you can eat the entire thing, skin and all. Many growers use the fruits in salad as you would a regular cucumber but they can also be sliced up and added at the last minute to a quick stir fry.

Growing Mexican Sour Gherkins

Growing Mexican sour gherkins is very similar to cultivating any cucumber or melon. They need full sun, well-draining soil, and even moisture. In cooler regions, start seeds indoors 6 weeks before the date of your last frost. Seeds germinate in about 10 days and should be hardened off and planted out 9 to 12 inches apart. Vines may get as tall as 10 feet so it is a good idea to provide a trellis or cage to which the plant can adhere.

Fruiting can start as early as July and last until September since they are actually more cold tolerant than many cucumber varieties. The standard cucumber pests and diseases apply. Avoid overhead watering to prevent mildew issues and watch for cucumber worms.

If you can't source seed yourself, perhaps you are lucky enough to find someone who has grown them and saved seeds. Seeds are prolific and readily viable for a couple of years.

To harvest seeds, split open very ripe fruit and scoop out the seeds. Place seeds and pulp in water for up to 5 days. This will slightly ferment the pulp and cause foam on the top of the container. Rinse the seeds in a colander several times and then spread them out to dry on a screen in a warm location. Seeds are ready for storage when they are completely dry and should go into glass jars for long term storage in a cool, dark place. In this manner, you can have a ready supply of Mouse Melons even in northern climates.

In warm regions, the composting dropped fruit will readily sprout the next year and self-seed themselves. These marvelous melon-like-cucumber-ish fruits are a hit with kids and adults alike. Find yourself some seed before the next growing season and enjoy these quirky, ornamental little plants.

I was the lucky beneficiary of some spectacular cucumber plants this year. My neighbor has a friend that has a greenhouse and loves to experiment with heirloom crops. She had a surplus of heirloom cucumber plants, so my neighbor brought some over. Wow! The heirloom cucumber plants were suyo long and they were superb in every way. My neighbor didn't have much suyo long information, so I searched for it on the internet. There isn't all that much suyo long history per se, but that isn't to say that this heirloom is a rarity. Indeed, there are many purveyors offering suyo cucumber seeds.

Suyo Long Cucumber Plants

What I did find out is that suyo long cucumbers (Cucumis sativus) are Chinese heirlooms that are sweet flavored, long (up to 16 inches in length!), burpless varieties of cucumber. This turned out to be true. My cucumbers grew to over a foot in length with very few small seeds. Young fruit was spiny but as it matured became smooth. The resulting fruit was sweet, crisp, yet tender. My plants produced for weeks with no disease, specifically powdery mildew, which seems to get me every time. We also had an unseasonably hot summer, but these heirlooms sailed right through it. We ate the fruit fresh, but this varietal also makes excellent bread and butter pickles. The skin wasn't thick, so I left it on and either added the fruit to salads or made a quick Asian pickle out them - Slice the cucumber thinly and, in a bowl, cover with rice vinegar, crushed red peppers, kosher salt and a little sugar. Let that marinate for a few hours and then serve it over grilled fish. Delicious!

How to Grow Suyo Long Cucumbers

I'm sure I've piqued your interest by now and you want to know how to grow your own suyo long cucumbers. You can direct seed after all chance of frost has passed for your area or you can start the plants inside 3-6 weeks prior to the last frost date. Cucumbers are heavy feeders, so add some well-aged compost to the soil prior to planting. To direct seed, plant 2-3 seeds in groups ½ to 1 inch deep in a hill. When the seeds germinate, thin them out and leave the healthiest seedling in the hill. Plants should be spaced 12-18 inches apart. Although suyo longs seem to be impervious to fungal disease, water them at the base anyway. As I said, we were unseasonably hot, so I had to water pretty much every day. You can grow them in garden rows, or on trellises, as I did. We have a small veggie garden, so everything that can grow up we encourage to do so. Vertical growing also keeps the slugs, snails and other critters from devouring the fruit before we get to harvest it. I saved seeds from my suyo longs this year and plan on growing them again. I have never had such a delicious cucumber and encourage you to try growing them too.

Healthy cucumber plants can get downright out of hand with their rampant vining growth. I’m not complaining; I get lots of fruit, but it made me wonder if I should prune my cucumber vines. Maybe you, too, are wondering if it's okay to prune cucumbers. So, I did a little research on pruning cucumbers. Here’s what I found out about trimming cucumber vines.

Should I Prune my Cucumber Vine?

The short answer is yes, it’s okay to prune cucumbers, but I guess that doesn’t really say much. Both cucumbers’ vegetative and reproductive growth needs to be balanced. Anyone who's ever looked at a cucumber plant can see that it is often the vegetative growth that’s left to run amok. So cucumber vine pruning is a way to check that growth and stimulate reproduction, or fruiting.

About Cucumber Vine Pruning

Cucumber vines generate from a single stem and produce multiple shoots. Pruning cucumbers helps maintain the balance between vine growth and fruit production. Prune outside branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit as needed throughout the growing season. Begin trimming cucumber vines by removing any dead or damaged portions. Remove older leaves to allow light to reach developing fruit and improve air circulation. Trim off all shoots that branch from the main vine stem. Starting at the beginning of the shoot, make a cut as close to the main stem as possible. Lateral shoots, flowers, and fruit that develop on the lower 5-7 leaf nodes should be removed. This is especially important on seedless greenhouse types of cucumbers, as they can support only one fruit per leaf node. If more than one fruit develops, remove it. Cultivars that produce smaller and seeded fruit can be allowed to have more than one fruit per node so additional fruit does not need to be removed. Otherwise, using sharp pruning shears, remove all fruit except one per leaf. Also, remove the first 4-6 lateral runners that appear. Removing these lateral runners near the base of the plant will gain higher yields. Other runners above the base of the plant can be allowed to remain.

Cucumber is a popular vegetable to plant in home gardens, and it often grows without issue. Sometimes though, you see bacterial leaf spot symptoms and have to take action. When you notice small circular spots on the leaves, you are probably dealing with cucumber leaf spot. Read on for information about this disease and how to start treating angular leaf spot in cucumbers.

About Cucumber Leaf Spot

Cucumber leaf spot is also called angular leaf spot of cucumber. It is caused by the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv. lachrymans. You’ll find pseudomonas syringae on cucumbers but also on other vegetable including zucchini squash and honeydew melon.

Bacterial Leaf Spot Symptoms

Pseudomonas syringae on cucumbers causes dark spots on the leaves. Look closely and you’ll find that they are water-soaked lesions. In time they will grow into large, dark blotches. These blotches stop growing when they encounter major veins in the leaves. That gives them an angular appearance, which is why the disease is sometimes called angular leaf spot. If the weather is wet, these spots will be covered over by a white substance. It dries into a white crust, tearing the foliage and leaving holes.

Treating Angular Leaf Spot of Cucumber

Pseudomonas syringae on cucumbers proliferate during wet weather and disappear when it is dry. There lies your best course in treating angular leaf spot of cucumber: prevention. Since cucumber leaf spot disappears with a couple weeks of dry weather, it would be nice to be able to control the weather. While you can’t go that far, you can adopt the best cultural practices for your cucumber plants. That means to irrigate them in a way that doesn’t wet their leaves. In addition, don’t work with your cucumbers in wet weather or harvest the vegetables in wet weather. You could be spreading pseudomonas syringae on cucumbers to other cucumbers or other vegetable plants. It also helps to buy resistant cucumber varieties and keep your garden free of fallen leaves and other debris. Limit nitrogen fertilizer and don’t grow the same veggies in the same place for more than a few years. You can also apply a recommended bactericide when you notice the first bacterial leaf spot symptoms. This will help you in treating angular leaf spot of cucumber.

I’m a pickle lover of all sorts, from dill pickles to bread and butter, even pickled veggies and pickled watermelon. There are so many delicious vegetables you can pickle straight from the garden. That's why I'm thrilled to share my pickle passion with you and help you grow your own homemade pickles and pickling spices.

Preserving vegetables is a great way to enjoy your harvest for even longer. But you may be wondering where to start. What spices and herbs are in pickles? And is it possible to grow your own herbs and spices for pickling? Let's take a look at the answers.

What Spices and Herbs Are in Pickles?

Purchased pickling spices may have a virtual laundry list of ingredients. Some contain the following herbs and spices for pickling:

• Allspice
• Mustard seed
• Coriander seed
• Black peppercorns
• Ginger root
• Cinnamon
• Bay leaf
• Cloves
• Crushed peppers
• Dill
• Mace
• Cardamom
• Nutmeg

Pickle preferences are kind of personal. It all depends on which flavors you prefer, so if you’re up to growing herbs for pickling, pick the ones that suit your palate.

Best Herbs for Pickling

Spices for pickles (such as black peppercorn, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, mace, and nutmeg) generally hail from tropical environments, making it less likely that most of us can grow them.

Herbs, on the other hand, are fairly hardy and can be easily grown in many regions. Let's take a look at the three easiest herbs for pickling you can grow at home.

1. Dill

Dill is an absolute must in many pickle recipes and the wonderful thing about dill is that it is grown for both its tender leaves and its seeds. It's easy to grow dill from seed. Plant dill seed after the last frost in your area and lightly cover the seed with soil. Water the seeds well.

When the plant has flowered, it will develop seed pods. When the pods turn brown, cut the entire flower head off and put it in a paper sack. Shake the bag to separate the seeds from the flower and pods.

2. Mustard

Mustard seeds actually come from the same plant as mustard greens (Brassica juncea), which is usually cultivated for its leaves and eaten as a vegetable. To grow mustard seeds, plant mustard three weeks before your last frost-free date.

Once the plants begin to grow, they require little care. Mustard does bolt quickly with warmer temps, which in the case of mustard seed cultivation may seem like a great thing. Actually, though, mustard that bolts rapidly does not set flowers, hence no seeds.

3. Cilantro

To grow cilantro, sow the seeds in a sunny area in loam or sandy soils. Space the seed 8 to 10 inches (20-25 cm.) apart in rows that are 15 inches (38 cm.) apart.

Seed formation is dependent upon weather conditions. In hot climates, cilantro bolts and quickly forms seed. There are some varieties of cilantro that are slower to bolt and, thus, better suited for growing for the tender leaves.

Healthy cucumber plants will provide the gardener with a bountiful harvest of the delicious, crisp fruit, sometimes too bountiful. Unfortunately, there are plenty of insect pests that might get to the cucumbers before you do or transmit diseases, rendering plants unable to produce. It isn’t just insects that cause cucumber plant damage, however. Sudden cold snaps can kill the plants as well, so protecting cucumber plants is of paramount importance. Read on to find out how to protect cucumber plants and about keeping cucumbers protected from predatory insects.

Protecting Cucumbers from Cold

Cucumbers (Cucumis sativus) are tender annuals that thrive in warm temperatures of between 65 and 75 degrees F. (18-23 C.). Even prolonged exposure to temperatures below 55 degrees F. (13 C.) can cause decay, pitting, and water-soaked areas on fruit. Sudden cold snaps can cause cucumber plant damage on leaves, stems, and fruit or even kill the plants. Frost damage is seen as shriveled, dark brown to black foliage. While global warming has been increasing temperatures around the world, it also makes for unpredictable weather such as sudden cold snaps. So, it’s important to have a plan and take steps to protect cucumber plants and other warm season annuals from the risk of sudden frost, thereby, avoiding damage to cucumbers. First off, grow cucumbers in sheltered areas of the garden. Avoid open, exposed sites or low spots in the garden where cold air will collect. Grow the fruit along fences, boulders, or shrubs to provide them with some protection from the cold. If a sudden cold snap is forecast, cover the cucumbers. The plants can be covered with whatever you have on hand-- old bed sheets, plastic, newspaper, or other light material. Push some sturdy sticks into the ground around the plants to support the covering and weigh down the corners with stones. You can also use wire (extra wire coat hangers will work) to form a curved arch upon which to lay the covering. Tie the ends of the covering to sticks pushed into the ground. Remember to open the row cover daily to allow condensation to evaporate. Close them again by midafternoon to trap heat overnight. Temperatures inside a row cover will be from 6 to 20 degrees warmer than outside and soil temps 4 to 8 degrees warmer down to 3 inches (8 cm.) deep. In lieu of covering the cucumbers with row covers, there are other methods for keeping cucumbers protected from cold. Use a shingle or other broad board stuck into the ground on the windward side of each plant to protect them from cold winds. Place a plastic milk container, bottom cut out, over each plant; large aluminum cans will also work.

How to Protect Cucumber Plants from Pests

There are many insect pests that are more than happy to sample your cucumbers. Some of them even introduce disease into the cucumber patch. Cucumber beetles are guilty of introducing bacterial wilt. They carry the disease in their bodies, and it overwinters with them as they hibernate in vegetation left in the garden. Avoiding damage to cucumbers due to cucumber beetles and the resulting bacterial wilt requires a two-part approach. Be sure to clean up detritus, including weeds, in the garden at the end of the growing season to avoid leaving any hidey-holes for the beetles to hibernate and overwinter in. Then in the spring after planting, cover the cukes with a lightweight floating row cover. Remember to remove the cover after the plants begin to flower so they can be pollinated. Aphids will also get at cucumbers; actually, aphids seem to get at everything. They reproduce rapidly and colonies of them are difficult to control. At the first sign of aphids, treat the plant with insecticidal soap. Other ideas to combat aphids are planting in an aluminum foil-covered bed and filling yellow pans with water, which will entice the aphids and drown them. Encourage beneficial insects that prey on aphids by planting flowers nearby that attract them. Aphids and leafhoppers also introduce mosaic virus into the garden. Leafhoppers suck the juice from the leaves and stems of cucumbers. Here again is a situation where the use of row covers can mitigate infestation. Also, spray with insecticidal soap. Leaf miner larvae tunnel through leaves. Use floating row covers and destroy any infected leaves. Cutworms are another hazard to cucumbers. They chew on stems, roots, and leaves. Cutworms live under the surface of the soil so protect the plants by placing 3 inches (8 cm.) of paper collared around the stem of the plant or use saved canned food containers with the top and bottom cut out. Also, keep the garden free from weeds and sprinkle wood ash around the base of the plants. Spider mites also love cucumbers. Spray them with water or insecticidal soap or rotenone. Encourage beneficial predators, such as ladybugs and lacewings. Whiteflies can also be found congregating on the underside of the cucumber leaves. Again, beneficial insects should be encouraged. Also, remove infested leaves. Other types of insects enjoy munching on cucumbers. Where they can be seen, handpick them and dump them in a bucket of soapy water. Snails and slugs will snack on cucumbers, especially young plants. Handpick them as above or if that’s too disgusting for you, bait some traps. Pour some beer into a low bowl and place a few around the plants. The slugs will be enticed by the beer and crawl in and drown. Diatomaceous earth sprinkled around the plants will thwart these pests as well.

Cucumbers that are shriveling and dropping off the vines are a frustration for gardeners. Why do we see cucumbers falling off the vine more than ever? Read on to find the answers for cucumber fruit drop.

Why are Cucumbers Dropping Off?

Like most plants, a cucumber has one goal: to reproduce. To a cucumber, that means making seeds. A cucumber plant drops fruit that doesn't have many seeds because it has to expend a lot of energy to raise a cucumber to maturity. Allowing the fruit to remain isn't an efficient use of energy when the fruit isn't likely to produce many offspring. When seeds don't form, the fruit becomes deformed and misshapen. Slicing the fruit in half lengthwise will help you understand what's going on. The curves and narrow areas have few, if any, seeds. The plant doesn't get much return on its investment if it allows defective fruits to remain on the vine. Cucumbers have to be pollinated in order to make seeds. When a lot of pollen from a male flower is delivered to a female flower, you get a lot of seeds. The flowers from some types of plants can be pollinated by the wind, but it would take gale force winds to distribute the heavy, sticky grains of pollen in a cucumber flower. And that's why we need bees. Small insects can't manage cucumber pollen, but bumblebees do it with ease. The smaller honeybee can't carry as much pollen in a single trip, but a honeybee colony consists of 20,000 to 30,000 individuals where a bumblebee colony has only about 100 members. It's easy to see how a honeybee colony is more effective than a bumblebee colony despite the reduced strength of a single individual. As the bees work to prevent cucumbers from dropping off the vine, we often work to stop them. We do this by using broad-spectrum insecticides that kill bees or using contact insecticides during the day when bees are flying. We also stop bees from visiting the garden by eliminating diversified gardens where the flowers, fruit, and herbs that bees find attractive are grown near vegetables such as cucumbers. Simply enticing more pollinators to the garden can help, as can hand pollination. Understanding why cucumbers fall off the vine should also encourage gardeners to consider the impact of their actions when using chemicals for weed or pest control.

What is a lemon cucumber? Although this round, yellow veggie is often grown as a novelty, it is appreciated for its mild, sweet flavor and cool, crispy texture. (By the way, lemon cucumbers don’t taste like citrus!) As an added benefit, lemon cucumber plants continue to produce later in the season than most other varieties. Read on to learn how to grow a lemon cucumber in your garden.

How to Grow a Lemon Cucumber

So you want to know more about lemon cucumber planting. Well to start with, growing lemon cucumbers isn’t difficult. However, lemon cucumber plants require full sunlight and rich well-drained soil – much like any other cucumber variety. A scoop of compost or well-rotted manure gets lemon cucumber plantings off to a good start. Plant lemon cucumber seeds in rows or hills after the soil has warmed to 55 F. (12 C.), usually mid- to late-May in most climates. Allow 36 to 60 inches (91-152 cm.) between each plant; lemon cucumbers may be the size of tennis balls, but they still need plenty of room to spread out.

How to Care for Growing Lemon Cucumbers

Water lemon cucumber plants regularly and keep the soil evenly moist but not soggy; about an inch (2.5 cm.) per week is enough in most climates. Water at the base of the plant to keep the foliage dry, as wet leaves are more susceptible to powdery mildew and other diseases. A drip irrigation system or soaker hose is the most effective way to water lemon cucumber plants. Lemon cucumber plants benefit from a thin layer of mulch to keep the soil cool, but don’t mulch until the soil has warmed. Limit mulch to 3 inches (7.5 cm.), especially if slugs are a problem. Fertilize lemon cucumber plants every two weeks using a general-purpose liquid fertilizer. Alternatively, use a dry fertilizer according to label directions. Watch for pests, such as aphids and spider mites, which are usually easily controlled with an insecticidal soap spray. Hand pick any squash beetles that might crop up. Avoid pesticides, which kill beneficial insects that work hard to keep pests in check.

Sikkim cucumber is one of the more interesting heirloom cucumber varieties. This odd-looking, chubby cucumber displays a webbed skin much like a cantaloupe; and instead of the typical deep green, Sikkim is rusty, orange-red in color. A single cucumber can weigh several pounds. The flavor is basically like a cucumber, but a little sweeter. If this tidbit has piqued your curiosity, read on for more Sikkim cucumber info.

History of Sikkim Cucumbers

Sikkim cucumbers were discovered by Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, a close friend of Charles Darwin and one of the greatest explorers and botanists of his time. Dr. Hooker discovered the weird-looking cucumbers in the Himalayas in 1848 during a three-year expedition to that area. He was the first European to collect plants in the rugged mountain region, and was apparently very committed to his work, having traveled a route that took him from England to the Nile and to Calcutta, Darjeeling, Tibet and Sikkim via ship, elephant and pony.

Dr. Hooker commented that the cucumbers were abundant by the thousands, and that every man, woman and child "seemed engaged throughout the day in devouring them." The cucumbers are still popular in that area.

Growing Sikkim Cucumbers

Plant Sikkim cucumbers - either seedlings or seeds - in the garden after all danger of frost has passed in spring. Sikkim cucumbers thrive in full sunlight and well-drained soil that has been amended with well-rotted manure, compost, or other organic material. Provide plenty of water and fertilizer throughout the growing season, but avoid heavy nitrogen, which may create lush vines at the expense of cucumbers. A layer of mulch will help keep the soil evenly moist, and a sturdy trellis will support the growing vines.

To promote full, bushy growth, pinch the tips of the seedlings when the plants have six or seven leaves. Harvest Sikkim cucumbers as soon they ripen; they may become tough and woody if you leave them on the vine too long.

If you’re looking to boost your cucumber production and deter pests and diseases naturally, cucumber companion plants could be the solution. Just as humans are social creatures and we’re drawn to certain other people, many garden crops benefit from being around certain other plants.

Choosing the right cucumber companion plants can help cukes thrive much like good friends can help us humans thrive. However, while there are some plants that make growing cucumbers easier, there are others that can impede development. They may crowd the plant or hog water, sun, and nutrients. Knowing the most and least suitable companions for cucumbers is important to growing strong, healthy plants.

So what are the best companion plants for cucumbers? Read on to learn what to plant with cucumbers and which plants to keep away from cukes for bigger harvests and healthier plants.

Benefits of Cucumber Companion Plants

Companion planting vegetables like cucumbers has several benefits. It can repel pests, encourage pollinators, improve soil, keep roots cool, retain soil moisture, prevent disease, as well as increase yields and maximize your growing space.

One of the ways companion plants for cucumbers, as well as companion plants for other vegetables, work is by creating diversity in the garden. Generally, we tend to plant tidy rows of just a few plant species. But this isn’t how nature functions and so planting this way can cause problems.

Groupings of similar plants are called monocultures. Monocultures are more susceptible to pests and disease than diverse plantings. A cucumber beetle attack or a bout of powdery mildew can easily damage an entire crop of cucumbers grown closely together in one row or area of the garden.

By increasing the diversity of your garden, you are mimicking nature and minimizing disease and pest attacks. Utilizing cucumber companion plants can not only lessen potential pest attacks, but can also shelter beneficial insects that prevent pests and help plants.

Some plants that grow well with cucumbers, such as legumes, can also help enrich the soil. Common types of legumes like peas, beans, and clover have root systems that colonize Rhizobium bacteria and fix atmospheric nitrogen, which is then turned into nitrates.

Some of this goes towards nurturing the legume and some is released into the surrounding soil as the plant decomposes. The nitrogen is then available to any plants growing nearby and will nourish them and help them grow.

Best Cucumber Companion Plants

Cucumbers do well with corn and beans since all three plants enjoy the same growing conditions. Corn also acts as a natural trellis for cukes while they enjoy the additional nitrogen in the soil provided by the beans.

Other crops that make good cucumber companion plants include beets, cabbage, carrots, garlic, lentils, peas, peppers, and radishes—which deter cucumber beetles. Tomatoes are also a good choice as a cucumber companion plant. Broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, and onions also grow well alongside cukes.

Nasturtiums are said to improve the flavor and growth of cucumbers, while dill and oregano can help attract beneficial insects. Chives, with its pungent aroma, also repels aphids and Japanese beetles that can plague cucumbers. Oregano is another popular pest control herb and does well as a cucumber companion plant.

As a tea, chamomile soothes and calms, but as a companion plant for cucumbers it beckons beneficial predators like hoverflies and wasps that feed on pests, making it another one of the best herbs for companion planting.

Brightly colored marigolds repel beetles seeking to feed on cukes. Other flowers, like sunflowers, make for pollinator-friendly companion plants as well. Zinnias can help attract more pollinators to your cucumbers to ensure they’re properly pollinated and produce tons of fruit. Tansy flowers can also discourage ants, beetles, flying insects, and other pests.

Bad Companion Plants for Cucumbers

Cucumbers and potatoes are not symbiotic and should not be planted near each other. Though many herbs are good companion plants for cucumbers, keep rue and sage away from them. Lovage and Jerusalem artichokes are also bad cucumber companion plants and should be grown elsewhere in the garden.

Plants like pumpkin, summer squash, and melon—which are in the same family as cucumbers—are not good planted in close proximity to cukes. Their similar growing requirements result in too much competition for nutrients and water. Also, since they are members of the same family (Cucurbita), they are susceptible to the same diseases and pests.

Frequently Asked Questions

Heirloom seeds can provide a great window into the huge diversity of plants and the people that cultivate them. It can transport you far beyond the traditional grocery store produce section. For instance, carrots don’t just come in orange. They come in every color of the rainbow. Beans don’t have to stop at a few inches (8 cm.). Some varieties can reach one or two feet (31-61 cm.) in length. Cucumbers don’t just come in the slender green variety either. Sikkim heirloom cucumbers are quite different. Keep reading to learn more Sikkim cucumber information.

What is a Sikkim Cucumber?

Sikkim heirloom cucumbers are native to the Himalayas and named for Sikkim, a state in northwest India. The vines are long and vigorous, the leaves and flowers much bigger than those of the cucumbers you might be used to growing. The fruits are especially interesting. They can get huge, often weighing in at 2 or even 3 pounds (1 kg.). On the outside they look like a cross between a giraffe and a cantaloupe, with a tough skin of dark rust red striated with cream colored cracks. Inside, however, the taste is unmistakably that of a cucumber, though stronger than most green varieties.

Growing Sikkim Cucumbers in the Garden

Growing Sikkim cucumbers is not too difficult. The plants prefer rich, moist soil and should be mulched to preserve moisture. The vines are vigorous and should be trellised or given lots of room to roam across the ground. The fruits should be harvested when they’re 4 to 8 inches (10-20 cm.) long, if you let them go any longer, they’ll get very tough and woody. You can eat the flesh of the fruit raw, pickled, or cooked. In Asia, these cucumbers are very popular stir fried. Is your interest piqued? If so, get out there and explore the wonderful world of heirloom vegetables by growing Sikkim cucumber plants and other heirloom varieties in your garden.

There are basically two types of cucumber plants, those that are eaten fresh (slicing cucumbers) and those that are cultivated for pickling. Under the umbrella of these two common cucumber types, however, you will find a wealth of different varieties suitable for your growing needs. Some may be smooth or spiny, some may have lots of seeds or very few, and some may be more vining in habitat or bushy. Learning a little bit about different cucumber varieties will help you to decide which is right for your needs.

Growing Requirements for Common Cucumber Types

Whether growing slicing or pickling cucumber varieties, both types of cucumber plants have the same requirements. Cucumbers thrive in fertile, well-draining soil in full sun exposure. These warm-season veggies should be planted after all danger of frost has passed in your area and the soil temps are at least 60-70 degrees F. (15-21 C.). Seeds are usually planted in hills with 4-5 planted at a depth of one inch (2.5 cm.). Hills of cucumbers should be spaced 3-5 feet (91cm.-1.5m.) apart in rows 4-5 feet ( 1-1.5m.) apart for vining types or space bush varieties of cucumber 3 feet (91 cm.) apart between hills and rows. When the plants have a couple of leaves, thin the hill to just a couple plants. If you want to get a jump start on your cucumber crop, start seeds indoors 2-3 weeks prior to the actual planting date. Transplant the seedlings when they have at least two leaves but be sure to harden them off first.

Types of Cucumber

Pickling cucumbers are usually shorter than slicing cukes, 3-4 inches (7.5-10 cm.) long with thin skins and spines. They often have striated skin coloration with gradations of dark green to light green at the blossom end. They are generally ready for harvest sooner than their slicing cousins but their harvest is shorter, about 7-10 days. Slicing cucumbers bear longer fruit, around 7-8 inches (17.5-20 cm.), and have thicker skins than pickling varieties. More often than not their skin is a uniform dark green, although some cultivars have a stippled coloring. They fruit later than pickling cucumbers but bear fruit longer, for about 4-6 weeks. The cucumbers you see at the grocers are usually this type of cucumber. Sometimes referred to as American slicing cucumber, their thicker skin makes them easier to ship and their lack of spines is more appealing to many consumers. Some people add a third cucumber classification, cocktail cucumbers. As you may have guessed, these are small, thin skinned fruits that are sometimes called “snack cucumbers,” as they are easily eaten in a few, crunchy bites.

Varieties of Cucumber

Among both the slicing and pickling varieties, you will find spineless, thin skinned and even burpless cultivars. Burpless cucumbers have been chosen because of their inability to cause gas build up, which for some people can be extremely uncomfortable. Cukes that foster gassiness in some people are high in cucurbitacins, the bitter compounds found in all cucurbits – cucumbers being no exception. It seems that seedless, thin skinned varieties have a lower cucurbitacin amount than their counterparts and are, thus, often termed “burpless.” There are many varieties of cucumber often with their name a reference to the area of world they are most commonly cultivated.

• One of the most common cucumber types is the English or European cucumber. These cukes are almost seedless, thin skinned without spines and long (1-2 feet in length) (30-61 cm.). They are marketed as a “burpless” cucumbers and have a mild flavor compared to many other types. Because they are grown in hot houses, they also tend to be more expensive.
• Armenian cucumbers, also called snakemelon or snake cucumber, have very long, twisted fruit with dark green, thin skin and pale green stripes the length of the fruit – which turns yellow and aromatic as it ripens and has a mild flavor.
• Kyuri, or Japanese cucumbers, are slim, dark green with small bumps and thin skins. They are crisp and sweet with tiny seeds. I grew them last year and highly recommend them. They were the most delicious cucumber I have ever had and bore fruit for weeks. This variety does best when trellised or otherwise vertically grown. Japanese cucumbers are also “burpless” varieties.
• Kirby cucumbers are more often than not those you buy as commercially sold pickles. These cucumbers are usually unwaxed and are crisp, thin skinned with tiny insignificant seeds.
• Lemon cucumbers are as the name suggests, the size of a lemon with pale lemon hued skin. As this variety ripens, the skin becomes a golden-yellow with fruit that is sweet and crisp.
• Persian (Sfran) cucumbers are akin to American slicing cucumbers but a bit shorter and more compact. These cukes are juicy and crunchy. Persian cucumbers are sturdy enough to withstand heat and are wonderful tossed into a stir-fry.

There are so many types of cucumbers that there’s bound to be one for you whether you like them freshly sliced and eaten raw or smaller in size and destined to be pickled. Because there are so many varieties, sizes, and shapes, how do you know when to harvest your cucumbers? Can cucumbers ripen off the vine? Keep reading to find out all about the ripening of cucumbers.

When to Harvest Cucumbers

To get the maximum flavor from your cukes, you will want to harvest them when they are at the peak of ripeness, but when is that? Because there are so many types of cucumber, it is best to read the information on the seed packet or plant tag of the variety planted. This will give you a fairly good idea of the date they will be ready. That said, there are a couple rules of thumb when gauging the ripening of cucumbers. Size, color, and firmness are the three criteria that can help you determine if it is time to harvest the cucumbers. First of all, cucumbers at harvest should be green. If cucumbers are yellow, or beginning to yellow, they are over ripe. If you gently squeeze a cucumber, it should be firm. Soft cucumbers are over ripe. Size, of course, will vary greatly according to the cultivar but also depending upon how you like your cucumbers. Cucumbers will continually fruit and ripen for some time. The fruit may be ready at 2 inches (5 cm.) in length or 10-16 inches (30.5 to 40.5 cm.) long. Most cucumbers are perfectly ripe between 5-8 inches (13 to 20.5 cm.) in length. Keep an eye on the fruit, though. The green cucumbers tend to blend in with the stem and foliage of the plant and can, like zucchini, attain great lengths and become dry, woody, and bitter. What about cucumber ripening off the vine? Can cucumbers ripen off the vine? If so, the question is how to ripen cucumbers off the vine.

How to Ripen Cucumbers Off the Vine

Due to one reason or another, you may spy a cucumber that has fallen from the vine. Or you may have a burst of fruiting or multiple plants setting so much fruit, you wonder if cucumber ripening off the vine might be a better plan. No. Unlike tomatoes, stone fruit, and avocados, cucumbers will not ripen off the vine. Cantaloupes, watermelons, and cucumbers are examples of fruit that will not ripen further when removed from the vine. You know this if you have ever purchased a cantaloupe that doesn’t seem ripe, but was a great price so you decided to see if it would ripen further on the kitchen counter. Sorry, no. It is best to adhere to the harvesting guide on the seed packet or plant tag combined with the three keys to a ripe cucumber above. Pick the largest fruit first by cutting them from the vine and continually harvest fruit to encourage ongoing production.

My neighbor gave me some cucumber starts this year. She got them from a friend of a friend until no one had any idea what variety they were. Even though I have had a veggie garden for years, I had never actually grown cucumbers. Really! So I plunked them in the garden and surprise! They were rapaciously producing spiny cucumbers. Well, I’d never seen spines on cucumbers since I usually get those smooth, consumer-ready grocery store cukes. So why did my cucumbers get prickly and are spiny cucumbers normal? Let’s investigate.

Why Do My Cucumbers Get Prickly?

Cucumbers are members of the Cucurbit family along with squash, pumpkins, and melons. They are divided into two groups: pickling and slicing varieties. Both varieties may have varying degrees of cucumber prickles – so prickly cucumbers is actually quite normal. Some might have tiny little hairs and others all out spines. The slicing varieties are usually less prickly while the pickling types are spinier. Native to India, cucumbers may have become spiny for the same reason that some animals are camouflaged or have horns…to protect themselves from predators. This is no doubt the case with cucumbers. Grow cukes in full sun in well-draining soil that has been amended with plenty of compost, like this Fafard Premium Natural and Organic Compost Fertilizer from Walmart. Sow seeds inside or wait and sow directly outside when soil temps have warmed to at least 60 degrees F. (15 C.) and all danger of frost has passed. Cucumbers thrive in temps of 70 degrees F. (21 C.) during the day and above 60 degrees F. (15 C.) at night. If you sow your seeds indoors, start them two to four weeks prior to the last frost date for your area in a soilless potting medium. Be sure to harden the seedlings off before transplanting them. Space the plants 12 to 24 inches (31-61 cm.) apart in rows 5 to 6 feet (1.5-2 m.) apart for slicing cukes. For pickling cucumbers, space 8 to 12 inches (20-31 cm.) apart in rows 3 to 6 feet (1-2 m.) apart. If direct sowing, place two to three seeds per hill and then thin out the weakest. Water deeply and regularly and fertilize. If you are growing a vining type of cuke, be sure to provide some type of support.

Can You Eat Prickly Cucumbers?

Spines on cucumbers aren’t deadly, but they would be terribly uncomfortable to eat. The good news is that you can always peel a cucumber if the cucumber prickles are on the large side. Most prickly cucumber fruit is just that, covered with minor hairy prickles. For these, a good washing will probably remove the prickles. If they won’t come off right away, use a veggie brush to remove them. Oh, and this is interesting. I just read that the pristine, smooth cukes we are used to purchasing at the supermarket have spines. They are removed prior to selling to the consumer! Who knew? It should also be noted that some varieties today are bred to be spineless.

I love pickles, sweet or sour, and make no distinction between the two. They are equally welcome in my gaping jaw. Although pickling may sound intimidating, it is really quite easy, especially making simple refrigerator sweet pickles. The only hard part is waiting for 24 hours before eating them! While you can use many different varieties of cucumber to make these sweet treats, Boothby's Blonde cucumbers are especially suited for sweet pickling.

Cucumber Plant Info

Cucumber cultivation has a rich history of over 3,000 years. They are believed to be native to India, and cultivation spread from there into Greece and Italy, then later into China. The ancient Romans introduced cukes to the rest of Europe, with the fruit eventually making its way via the Spaniards into Haiti in 1494 before filtering into the Americas through the travels of traders and explorers. On a side note, since we were talking about my love for pickles, the Romans were apparently slightly besotted with cucumbers. In fact, it is said that Emperor Tiberius had them grown in greenhouses so he could indulge in his love of them year round. Wouldn't that be nice? Julius Caesar was apparently a big pickle fan, too, and the legendary Cleopatra is said to credit pickles for some of her infamous beauty! Ok, yet another reason to love these tasty morsels. More of my people, the pickle lovers, include George Washington, Napoleon, Queen Elizabeth I, and Amerigo Vespucci. I am in good company indeed. Cucumbers come in three basic varieties: slicing, pickling and burpless (and no, this has nothing to do with burping). All are members of the Cucurbitaceae or gourd family. Most of us are familiar with the long slicing cucumbers found in the grocers, but not every cucumber is long and green. No, my friends. In fact, the fruit from Boothby's Blonde cucumber plants are unique in that they are white to light yellow, oval in shape, and warty with small black spines. Ok, so they don't sound very appetizing yet, but bear with me. These interesting cucumbers do not need to be peeled and are an excellent choice for the aforementioned sweet pickles. This open-pollinated heirloom was grown for five generations by the Boothby family of Livermore, Maine and appears to be a strain of a white cuke called Salad. Intrigued now?

Growing Boothby's Blonde Heirloom

So how do we go about growing Boothby's Blonde heirloom cucumber? Like all cucumber varieties, Boothby's Blonde enjoys full sun. Seeds can be directly sown in the garden once soil temps warm in hills about a foot across, with 6-8 seeds per hill, and 6 feet apart. Or start seeds indoors 2-4 weeks before the last frost. Provide the plants with a trellis or fence so the fruit doesn't get damaged. Once you set about growing your Boothby's Blonde heirlooms (Cucumis sativus), expect your reward in about 55-60 days. Keep a close eye out for powdery mildew though. All cucurbits are highly susceptible to this disease which can bring an end to a much anticipated harvest. These guys are great harvested when small, about 3 inches long, or can be harvested when even smaller for delicious white cornichons. Hmm, yummy. Ok, so now that we have our sweet, crisp Boothby's Blondes, you can eat them sliced fresh, or"¦you guessed it. Make pickles! Here is a recipe for refrigerator sweet pickles that make 4 cups of the best, easy-to-make pickles - at least I think so. Ingredients:

• 5 ½ cups sliced Boothby's Blondes
• 1.5 T Kosher salt
• 1 cup thin sliced onion, your choice
• 1 cup granulated white sugar
• ¼ cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup white vinegar
• ½ cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 ½ tsp. mustard seeds
• ½ tsp. celery seed or 1/8 tsp celery salt
• 1/8 tsp. ground turmeric

Combine the cukes and salt, chill and let sit for 1 ½ hours. Rinse the cukes in a colander and drain well. Return the cukes to the bowl and add the sliced onion. Combine the sugars, vinegars, seeds and turmeric in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stirring, until the sugars dissolve. Pour over the cuke and onion mix. Let sit for one hour at room temp. Then cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours (this is the tough part - patience is a virtue"¦) or up to 2 weeks. Devour and enjoy!

Knowing how to save cucumber seeds is a good way to preserve a favorite variety. In fact, the fabulous heirloom seed collection that’s available nowadays is the direct result of our gardening predecessors’ forethought (and thriftiness) in saving seeds from each season.

Saving seeds from your garden to grow next year is rewarding and cost saving project for the home gardener. But some seeds take a bit more time and TLC to save than others. Collecting seeds after growing cucumbers, though relatively easy to do, requires a little bit of knowledge.

Cucumbers have fairly large seeds, which makes them simpler to harvest than tiny seeds. Once you harvest, clean, dry, and store your cucumber seeds you can use them for several years. Here’s how to perpetuate your own cucumber seed collection for years of tasty veggies for free.

Benefits of Saving Cucumber Seeds

When you save cucumber seeds you are preserving genetic diversity. You are also giving your wallet a break. It removes the middleman and allows you to have food security without relying on traditional commerce. Knowing how to harvest cucumber seeds and preserve them properly allows you to be more self-reliant and sustainable.

Saving cucumber seeds is a wonderful way to share your favorite crops with friends and family, too. The practice is also a fun way for kids to learn about nature and how to grow their own food – important knowledge for their future.

Is Saving Cucumber Seeds Easy?

Well, yes and no. Saving seeds from cucumbers is definitely doable, but there are a few quirks to cukes to be aware of before trying it.

First of all, don't attempt to collect seeds from any cucumbers that are labeled “hybrid.” Hybrids are created by crossbreeding specific parent plants selected for an outstanding characteristic. But seeds saved from these plants will not reproduce a true copy of the parent plant and, in fact, are often sterile anyways.

Secondly, since cucumbers are open pollinated – meaning they require either insect pollinators, wind, or people to transfer their pollen from plant to plant – they may cross-pollinate with other members within the Cucurbita genus. Thus, you may end up with an odd mix of cucumber crosses when collecting cucumber seeds.

If you’re interested in saving seeds from your cucumbers, it is necessary to isolate the plant you wish to propagate. Plant it well away from its cousins to prevent unwanted crossbreeding. This requirement isn't always practical for the average home gardener's modest plot, so it’s an important factor to consider before saving seeds.

Lastly, seeds can transmit some common cucumber diseases. So be sure that when saving seeds from cucumbers, no disease has infected the crop that you plan to harvest.

Choosing Cucumber Seeds to Save

The cucumber seeds you save should only come from healthy, well-formed fruits. Saving the best means you will grow the best the next season. It may seem sensible to take a fruit that is damaged and save the seed from it rather than waste the cucumber. But the healthier the fruit, the better the seed. Preserving only the best seeds will also ensure better germination and lower rates of disease.

Since cucumbers can cross-pollinate with other plants in the Cucurbit family, you have to take a few extra steps to propagate seeds that are true to type. You can choose cucumber varieties that are less likely to cross-pollinate. These include Armenian cucumbers, West Indian gherkins, and serpent gourds, which belong to different families and do not cross with other Cucurbits.

Or during the growing season, hand pollinate cucumbers by rubbing male flowers over the female flowers’ stigmas. Then bag the female flowers so insects cannot cross-pollinate them. These organza produce bags from Amazon are ideal for this task. Remove the bags once fruit forms, but mark their locations for easy seed collection later.

When to Harvest Cucumber Seeds

Towards the end of the growing season is a good time for harvesting cucumbers for seed. Let the fruit fully mature, which is past the prime time for harvesting to eat. Fruits will grow fat and turn slightly yellow to brownish. Pick yellowing cucumbers before the skin becomes soft.

How to Harvest Cucumber Seeds

To harvest seeds from fleshy fruits like cucumbers, use the wet method of vegetable seed saving. This fermentation process kills viruses and separates the good seeds from the bad seeds, as well as the pulp from the fruit.

To collect cucumber seeds, cut your fruit lengthwise and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. Place the seeds in a container with a bit of water in a low light location for a couple of days. A foamy, fungal film will develop on the top, but that is fine. Stir daily. The good seeds will drop to the bottom of the container, while the pulp and bad seeds will sit atop.

Scoop away the bad stuff and then rinse the good seed several times, ensuring the rest of the pulp has soaked away. Then strain the seed and spread it out on a screen to dry. As the seed is drying, keep it out of direct sunlight. It can take a week or more for fully dried seed.

How to Store Cucumber Seeds

The most important step to saving any seeds is storage. With proper seed storage should let them last several years. Small glass jars, like these ones from Amazon, make excellent seed storage containers. But you can also use paper seed envelopes, which you can also grab on Amazon, mesh or cloth bags, foil envelopes, or even plastic containers with lids.

Place the container with your seeds in the freezer for two days to kill any residual pests. Then store seeds in a cool, dark, and dry location. The best temperatures are around 59°F (15°C). It is okay to store seeds in the refrigerator, but remove them a few days prior to planting to allow the seeds to warm up to prime them for germination.

Seed viability decreases over time, so be sure to use the seed within the next three years.

Frequently Asked Questions

They may sound like the residents of your favorite fictitious childhood world, but pickleworms are serious business. In this article, we'll walk you through identifying pickleworm damage and tell what you can do about these nasty little caterpillars. Moths appear in a huge variety of shapes and colors, often visiting nighttime barbeques or flitting through the garden after dark. Unlike so many other insects, moths are helpful pollinators that never cause garden damage, right? Unfortunately, some moths are the parents of unruly offspring like the pickleworm. These obnoxious pests are serious trouble when it comes to cucurbit plants.

What are Pickleworms?

Pickleworms are the larval stage of the pickleworm moth (Diaphania nitidalis) and much like the caterpillars of beautiful butterflies, this stage of development can be extremely damaging to gardens. Pickleworms are aggressive eaters, preferring the buds and fruits of cucurbits, especially winter and summer squash, cucumbers, gerkin, and cantaloupe. Early infestations can be difficult to detect, but if you look closely, you may notice perfectly round holes chewed into vine ends, blossoms, or fruit with soft frass coming out through tiny holes. Pickleworm damage can be serious, especially if the worms have already spread through your garden. Those tiny holes they've chewed in your blossoms are likely to prevent fertilization, so fruits will be few and far between. Any fruits that do make it, but are bored into later, are likely to be riddled with bacterial and fungal colonies that invaded after the pickleworm started working its way through.

Pickleworm Control

Treating pickleworms is no easy feat either. Once you've got an active infestation, it's easier to salvage what you can in the garden and prevent future outbreaks. Start by asking yourself, “What do pickleworms eat?" and carefully check each and every cucurbit plant in your garden. Any fruits with holes or frass should be immediately destroyed to prevent the spread of secondary infections. If you catch them early enough in the season, tearing your plants out and starting again may be the easiest course of action. Next season, protect your plants by covering them with floating row covers at night (uncover them during the day so bees can pollinate their flowers). Since pickleworm moths are active after dark, nighttime protection is the best prevention. People who live in areas where pickleworms cause problems year-round may want to spray their cucurbits with Bacillus thuringiensis proactively as the plants grow. Once the caterpillars are inside the plant tissues, it's too late for treatment, so spray early and spray often.

Nothing's more disappointing than cucumbers with holes. Picking a cucumber with holes in it is a fairly common problem. What causes holes in cucumber fruit and how can they be prevented? Read on to find out.

What Causes Holes in Cucumbers?

Some cucumbers are almost hollow inside, which is usually due to improper irrigation or a lack of water. However, a cucumber with holes riddling it is most probably due to an insect of some kind.

Slugs

In my neck of the woods, the Pacific Northwest, the most likely culprit for cucumber holes may be slugs. These guys will eat almost anything and will drill holes through both green and ripe fruit. Sprinkling some slug bait around the plants, however, will likely keep them away from your cucumber plants.

Cucumber Beetles

As the name suggests, cucumber beetles can be very damaging to not only cucumber but other cucurbits such as melons, pumpkins, and squash. Cucumber beetles have no preference and will ravage all parts of the plant from foliage to flowers to fruit. They are found throughout the growing season (June-September) but are more likely to cause scarring rather than outright cucumber holes. Additionally, cucumber beetles transmit bacterial wilt in cucumbers. Bacterial wilt overwinters in the intestines of the pests and is then transmitted from plant to plant as the beetle feeds. Some new varieties of cucurbits have resistance to this disease. There are several types of cucumber beetle. The spotted cucumber beetle is yellowish-green with 11 black dots on its back and a black head with black antennae. The yellow striped cucumber beetle is 1/5-inch (5 mm.) long with three black stripes on the top wings. Lastly, the banded cucumber beetle has yellowish-green stripes that run across the wings. Handpicking any of these pests is time-consuming but effective. Otherwise, the use of fabric row covers is an effective barrier between the pests and plants. Keep the garden free of weeds so the beetles have fewer places to hide. There are also some predatory insects that may be able to aid in the eradication of the beetles. An application of Neem oil or Pyrethrin can eradicate the pests, as well as a number of chemical pesticides.

Pickleworms

Lastly, pickleworms may be the cause of cucumbers with holes. Pickleworms attack most cucurbits -- cucumbers, cantaloupes, summer squash, and pumpkins may all be severely damaged by the pickleworms' voracious appetite. Pickleworms aren't picky and will tunnel through not only fruit but also flowers, buds, and stems. Damaged fruit is not edible. In warmer regions, pickleworms overwinter while in colder areas, the pests freeze during the winter. They go through a complete cycle of egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Eggs are irregular in shape and look something like grains of sand. They are laid on leaves in small batches and hatch in three to four days. The resulting larvae feed on buds, blossoms, and tender foliage before they begin on fruit. These brown-headed caterpillars molt four times. At the last molt, the caterpillar loses its reddish-brown spots and becomes entirely green or copper in color. It then stops feeding and spins a cocoon to pupate. Pupae are usually found in a curled or rolled leaf and emerge as adults in seven to 10 days as brownish-yellow moths with a hint of purple. Choose early maturing varieties and plant as soon as possible before the pickleworm population explodes. To control the populations, also destroy any damaged fruit and squash any rolled sections of leaves that contain pupae. Some less toxic or natural controls include Bacillus thuringiensis, Pyrethrin, Neem oil extract, and Spinosad as well as other chemical pesticides.

My friend's mother makes the most incredible, crisp, spicy pickles I've ever tasted. She can pretty much make them in her sleep, as she has 40 years of experience, but even so, she has had her share of problems when pickling. One such issue has been hollow heart in cucumbers. Read on for cucumber hollow heart info.

What Causes Hollow Heart in Cucumber Fruit?

Hollow fruit, like a cucumber hollow in middle, is a common issue. While edible in theory, if cucumbers are hollow inside, they may be slightly bitter and certainly won't win any blue ribbons. Hollow cucumbers, or any hollow fruit, result from a combination of lacking nutrient absorption or surplus, irregular watering, and/or inadequate pollination. Environmental conditions are the most likely cause for a cucumber that is hollow inside. Cucumbers prefer consistently moist conditions in the garden for optimal growth. If you're experiencing a period of drought or you just haven't been keeping up on the watering, this could very well be the reason for a cucumber hollow in the middle. A surplus of nitrogen in the soil or low boron levels may result in hollow cucumbers. Too much nitrogen may make the fruit grow too rapidly, not allowing the interior of the cuke to keep up with the growth of the exterior. Reduce the amount of fertilizer being used to combat the issue of a cucumber with a hollow heart. Inadequate pollination can lead to a cucumber that is hollow in the middle. A hollow cucumber is a vacant seed cavity that is the result of a lack of seed formation traced back to inadequate pollination. This may be aggravated by rapid fluctuations in environmental conditions that affect fruit development, such as hot, dry weather, which may lead to irregular irrigation. Hot, dry weather reduces pollen viability and may scorch flower parts during pollination and is one of the factors, along with potential inadequate pollen transfer by pollinators and inadequate pollen sources, that can create hollow cucumbers.

Final Words on Cucumber Hollow Heart

Genetics also plays a part in cucumbers that are hollow in the middle. There are some varieties that are less prone to this issue than others, so be sure to read the descriptions on seed packets or in seed catalogs. Then follow the directions regarding plant spacing and maintain an adequate irrigation schedule. Lastly, if you are making pickles and you end up with hollow cucumbers, lingering between the picking of cukes and pickling them may be the cause. Use your cucumbers within 24 hours of picking, if possible, or refrigerate them until pickling time. To check for hollow cucumbers, look for those that float when washing.

Nothing gets a gardener's heart racing like the appearance of the first flowers of the season in their vegetable garden. Some denizens of the garden, like tomatoes or squash, may give little trouble, but cucumbers can be picky about growing conditions when they're fruiting. Often, this results in curly cucumber fruit, or otherwise deformed cucumbers, and one huge disappointment for gardeners who waited all winter for perfect, straight fruits.

Why are My Cucumbers Curling?

Cucumber fruit curl, properly known as crooking, is a common condition of cucumbers. There are many causes, requiring you to do a little detective work to correct the situation. Pollination Problems: Even when there are plenty of pollinators in your garden, conditions might not be right to ensure complete pollination. Pollen requires semi-humid, warm conditions to be as its best, and when it's too dry or prolonged rains occur during flowering, cucumber ovaries may not be fully pollinated. You can hand pollinate cucumbers to achieve better pollination results, but if the weather is against you, fruits may still curl. Incorrect Growing Conditions: Cucumbers need very specific cultural conditions when their fruits are developing or those fruits may become deformed. Evenly moist soil at temperatures above 60 F. (16 C.) are ideal for straight fruits. Try adding up to 4 inches (10 cm.) of organic mulch if your earliest fruits are crooked and water your plants any time the top inch (2.5 cm.) of soil below the mulch feels dry. Poor Nutrition: Cucumbers are heavy feeders and require a significant amount of nutrition to fruit properly. Prior to planting, each cucumber plant should be provided with about 6 ounces (177.5 mL.) of 13-13-13 fertilizer, then side dressed with 6 additional ounces (177.5 mL.) every two three weeks once the vines start to run. Physical Interference: If you discover newly-forming cucumbers not straight when they're sprawling on the ground, try training them up a trellis or fence. As the ovaries of cucumber flowers are elongating, young fruits can easily deform when they catch on flower petals, vines, or leaves. Growing them on a trellis gives fruits more space to spread, away from physical barriers. Insect Pests: Sap-sucking pests sometimes interfere with developing cucumber fruits, though the cucumber fruit curl that results from this sort of damage will have a much more irregular pattern than other causes. Whiteflies, mites, and thrips are among the most troublesome of the sap-feeders, though aphids, mealybugs, or scale can be occasional pests. Treat these pests with insecticidal soap or neem oil weekly until you no longer see signs of activity.

Every gardener dreams of a beautiful vegetable plot filled with gorgeous, green plants heavy with fruits like cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers. It's understandable then, why gardeners who find their cucumbers cracking open may be confused, wondering what has gone wrong. Let's learn more about what causes fruit cracking in cucumbers.

Why are My Cukes Cracked?

Cracking in cucumbers is an uncommon symptom that can occur in fruits that have been overwatered. Other common causes of cucumber fruit split are common plant pathogens -- angular leaf spot and belly rot can both cause fruit cracking in cucumbers when conditions are right.

Abiotic Problem: Irregular Irrigation

Cucumbers that receive irregular watering or that have been exposed to erratic weather patterns where lots of rain fell all at once may develop long, deep cracks. When cucumber plants are kept very dry during fruit initiation, the fruit skin loses some elasticity. As fruits expand, especially when water is suddenly applied in great amounts, the expanding fruits develop tears in surface tissues that expand into cracks similar to tomato cracking. The best control for abiotic fruit cracking is to provide regular, even watering. This can be difficult when rains are sporatic during the cucumber's fruiting, but if you wait to water just until the top 1 to 2 inches (2.5 to 5 cm.) of soil are dry, overwatering is less likely to occur. Applying a 4-inch (10 cm.) layer of organic mulch to plants can also help to keep soil moisture more even.

Bacterial Disease: Angular Leaf Spot

Angular leaf spot is considered primarily a disease of leaves, causing yellow-bordered spots that begin as small, water-soaked areas, but soon expand to fill the area between veins. Affected tissue browns before drying completely and falling out, leaving ragged holes in leaves. Bacteria may ooze from infected leaves onto fruit, where water-soaked spots up to 1/8-inch wide form. These superficial spots may turn white or tan before the skin of the cucumber fruit cracks. Pseudomonas syringae, the bacteria responsible for this disease, thrives in warm, humid conditions and may survive in the soil for two to three years. Crop rotation on a three-year cycle is generally sufficient to prevent re-occurrence, but if you save seed, they may require hot water sterilization before planting. Resistant cucumber varieties are available, including the picklers 'Calypso,' 'Lucky Strike', and 'Eureka' as well as slicers 'Daytona,' 'Fanfare', and 'Speedway.'

Fungal Disease: Belly Rot

Cucumbers that come in direct contact with the soil sometimes suffer from belly rot, an infestation of the fruit by the soil-borne fungus Rhizoctonia solani. Depending on the conditions and aggressiveness of the fungus, fruits may have yellow-brown discoloration on their undersides; brown, water-soaked areas of decay; or scabby cracked areas resulting from water-soaked decay that was stopped short by a sudden drying of the fruit's surface. Humid weather encourages belly rot infections, but symptoms may not develop until after harvest. Discourage colonization of cucumbers by growing your plants with a plastic barrier between the fruits and the ground -- plastic mulch serves this purpose beautifully. Chlorothalonil can be applied to cucumbers at risk when the first true pair of leaves emerge and again 14 days later.

Summer cucumbers, with their lively flavor and crisp texture, are fun additions to the garden. However, the often viney plants can take up a lot of room and reduce the space available for other types of plants. Planting cucumbers in a container conserves garden space, while still providing you with a good growing environment for the fruit.

Cucumbers for Pots

Some varieties grow better than others in containers. Excellent options in selecting cucumbers for pots are the bush varieties such as Hybrid, Salad and Picklebush. These will still require some staking but have a more robust plant that adapts well to containers. Cucumbers need a male and female flower to pollinate unless they are parthenocarpic, which means they set fruit without pollination. A small parthenocarpic variety perfect for container grown cucumbers is Arkansas Little Leaf. Bush Baby is a very small 2 to 3 foot (.6- to 9 m.) vine, but it requires numerous plants to ensure pollination. Fruit yield can be just as high with container grown cucumbers. Just research the type of fruit you want (burpless, pickling) and make sure its maturity day matches your zone.

Planting Cucumbers in a Container

Growing cucumbers in pots hydroponically has been a common commercial method of cultivation. The home gardener can mimic the process or simply grow them in a container with soil. The best results will come from healthy plant starts rather than seed, however. Make a soil mixture specific to cucumber needs with one part each of compost, potting soil, perlite and peat moss. Container grown cucumbers need plenty of water, but you must ensure they have good drainage as well. You'll need a large container with several drainage holes. You may either use a plastic or ceramic pot for planting cucumbers in a container, but it should be at least 12 inches (30 cm.) across and 8 inches (20 cm.) deep.

Growing Cucumbers in Pots

Container cucumbers are every bit as crisp and fresh as those grown in the ground. Growing cucumbers in pots allows you to start the plants earlier than those planted in soil. You can move young plants to a greenhouse or sheltered area if necessary. Container cucumbers should be set out in pots in early May in most areas. Put a stake or trellis in the pot when the cucumber is young. You can tie the vines to the support as the plant grows. Keep the pot in a brightly lit area with temperatures 70 to 75 F. (21 to 24 C.). Watch for bugs and fertilize with a low nitrogen food.

Many cucumber seeds on the market today are bred to produce white fruit. They often have the word "white" or "pearl" in their name, and the cucumbers are very similar to green varieties in flavor and texture. If you have planted green varieties and get white cucumbers instead, however, then it's time to look for problems.

Reasons for White Cucumbers

One reason that cucumber fruit turns white is a fungal disease called powdery mildew. This problem begins on the upper surface of the fruit and the cucumbers may look as though they have been dusted with flour. As it spreads, the entire fruit may become covered with the mold. Powdery mildew usually occurs when the humidity is high and air circulation is poor. Treat powdery mildew by making the environment around the cucumber plant less hospitable to the disease. Thin plants so that they are spaced at a proper distance, allowing air to circulate around them. Use a soaker hose to apply water directly to the soil and avoid getting water on the plant. Two common cucumber plant problems that cause white fruit are blanching and excessive moisture. Blanching occurs when the fruit is completely covered by leaves. Cucumbers need sunlight to develop and maintain their green color. You may be able to position the fruit so that it receives enough light. If not, snip out a large leaf or two to let the sunlight in. Excessive moisture results in white cucumbers because water leaches nutrients from the soil. Without the nutrients needed for proper development, cucumbers turn pale or white. Correct the problem by feeding the plants with a fertilizer high in phosphorus and watering only when necessary. Your cucumber plants can trick you into watering them too often. Water evaporates rapidly from the large, flat leaves on hot, sunny days, causing them to wilt. There may be plenty of moisture in the soil, but the roots can't absorb it as fast as it is evaporating. To determine if the plants need watering, wait until the end of the day when the sunlight and temperatures are less intense. If the leaves revive on their own, the plant doesn't need watering. Otherwise, it's time to water.

Is it Safe to Eat White Cucumber?

It's best not to eat diseased white cucumbers. Those that are white because of blanching or too much rain are safe to eat, although nutrient deficiencies may result in a significant loss of flavor.

It's hard to wait for those first tastes of your summer harvest, and cucumbers are no exception. You should know when to pick a cucumber in order to experience the crisp, juicy flesh perfect for salads, pickling, and many other uses. But when and how do you harvest them? There are two main types of cucumber. Slicing varieties are meant to be eaten fresh, while pickling types are bumpy, rough, and require blanching and pickling for the best flavor. Whichever variety you choose to grow, you need to know how to tell when cucumbers are ready to pick.

When to Pick a Cucumber

Cucumbers need a long growing season and are ready for harvest in 50 to 70 days. Harvesting ripe cucumbers at the right time ensure sweet fruits that have no bitterness. Cucumbers left on the vine too long have a bitter taste that ruins the fresh flavor. The fruits ripen at different times on the vine, so it is essential to pick them as they are ready. Harvest when the fruit is the right size, which is usually eight to ten days after the first female flowers open. Cucumbers must be picked before they show the first signs of yellowing, which indicates the fruits are past their prime.

How to Tell When Cucumbers are Ready to Pick

The question, "Do cucumbers ripen after you pick them", must be met with a resounding, “no.” Unlike some fruits, cucumbers do not continue to develop after harvest. Ripe cucumbers have a firm, green flesh. The exact size depends on the use and variety. Pickling fruits may be two to six inches (5-15 cm.) long. Slicing cucumbers are best at 6 inches (15 cm.) and the “burpless” varieties are best harvested at 1 to 1 ½ inches (2.5-4 cm.) in diameter. During the peak of the season, you'll be harvesting ripe cucumbers every day or two. The optimum time for picking is early in the morning when the vines are cool. Now that you know when to pick a cucumber, it's time to learn how to harvest cucumbers.

How to Harvest Cucumbers

Remove fruits that are stunted and not growing, have rotten ends, or are past their prime. This prevents the plant from focusing energy on fruits that are a waste anyway. Use garden shears or pruners when harvesting ripe cucumbers. Removing the fruit with a sharp implement will prevent injury to the vine by twisting or pulling. Cut the stem ¼ inch (6 mm.) above the fruit. The long burpless cucumbers are sensitive to bruising. Lay them gently in a basket or box as you gather ripe fruit.

Storing Cucumber Fruit

Cucumbers are best fresh but they may be stored in the crisper for up to three days. You can just place the fruits in loose plastic or perforated bags. Avoid stacking them and keep them from smashing against the side of the crisper drawer. Commercial growers use wax coatings when storing cucumber fruit to prevent moisture loss. Pickling cucumbers will keep a bit longer and do not necessarily need to be refrigerated. Store them in a cool, dark place for up to five days before preserving them.

Cucumber plant pollination by hand is desirable and necessary in some situations. Bumblebees and honeybees, the most effective pollinators of cucumbers, usually transfer pollen from male flowers to the female to create fruits and vegetables. Multiple visits from the bees are required for good fruit set and properly shaped cucumbers.

Why You May Need to Use Hand Pollination of Cucumbers

Cucumber pollination may be lacking in the garden where many varieties of vegetables are planted, as cucumbers aren't a favorite vegetable of pollinators. Without their pollination, you may get deformed cucumbers, slow growing cucumbers, or even no cucumber fruit at all. If bees and other pollinating insects move on to more attractive vegetables, hand pollinating cucumbers can be your best chance at a successful crop. Excluding natural pollinators and using hand pollination of cucumbers can often produce more and larger cucumbers in the garden. This method of cucumber plant pollination involves waiting to pollinate until later flowers develop, as early flowers on young vines may produce inferior cucumbers. Early blooms may be exclusively male. The practice of hand pollinating cucumbers allows vines to grow and have more productive female flowers, usually eleven days or more after blooms begin.

How to Pollinate Cucumber

Cucumber plant pollination, when done by hand, can be time-consuming, but if a crop of large, mature cucumbers is desired, hand pollinating cucumbers is often the best way to get them. Learning to recognize the difference between male and female flowers is the most important aspect of hand pollination of cucumbers. Both grow on the same plant. Male flowers differ in appearance from female flowers by having shorter stems and growing in clusters of three to five, while the female flower blooms singly; alone, one per stalk. Female flowers contain a small ovary in the center; male flowers lack this. The female flower will have a small fruit at the base of her stem. When hand pollinating cucumbers, use only fresh male flowers. Flowers open in the morning and pollen is only viable during that day. Locate the yellow pollen inside of male flowers. Remove the pollen with a small, clean artist's brush or break the flower off and carefully remove the petals. Roll the yellow pollen on the male anther onto the stigma in the center of the female flower. Pollen is sticky, so expect cucumber plant pollination to be a tedious and painstaking process. One male anther can pollinate several females. When completed, you have accomplished cucumber plant pollination. This process should be repeated for effective hand pollination of cucumber. Once you have mastered the art of how to pollinate cucumber, look forward to an abundant crop. Techniques used in hand pollinating cucumbers also allow you to hand pollinate squash and melons in the same way.

Controlling cucumber beetles is important for your garden if you grow cucumbers, melons, or squash. Damage from cucumber beetles can devastate these plants, but with a little cucumber beetle control, you can keep this harmful pests from destroying your cucumber and cucurbit crops.

Cucumber Beetle Identification

Cucumber beetles actually come in two varieties. While the two varieties look different, their damage is the same. The striped cucumber beetle is either yellowish-green or orangeish-green with three black stripes down its back. The spotted cucumber beetle is also either yellowish-green or orangeish-green with 12 black spots on its back. Both pests are about 1/4 inch (0.5 cm.) long.

Cucumber Beetle Damage

Image by carol2chat

Cucumber beetles will eat the leaves, flowers, and fruit of bean, cucumber, melon, asparagus, corn, eggplant, and squash plants and their larva will chew on the roots of these plants. While there is some damage from this to the plants, the real reason that cucumber beetle control is important to a garden is because cucumber beetles are carriers of cucumber bacterial wilt and cucumber mosaic, which affects squash, melons, and cucumbers. They affect cucumbers the most. Cucumber bacterial wilt and cucumber mosaic can survive in the digestive system of a cucumber beetle and as a cucumber beetle moves from plant to plant to feed, it spreads these diseases to all the plants it eats. Once a plant is infected with either bacterial wilt or cucumber mosaic, it cannot be cured and will either die or become unproductive after they are infected.

How to Deter Cucumber Beetles

Controlling cucumber beetles starts with keeping them away from your plants in the first place. The best way how to deter cucumber beetles is with row covers or some other covering on the plant. Cucumber beetles will emerge in mid spring, so row covers should be in place as soon as the plants are put in the ground to protect them from the cucumber beetles. The row covers can be removed when the plants bloom in order to allow pollinators access to the plants.

How to Kill Cucumber Beetles

Since cucumber beetles overwinter in wood and are difficult to eliminate through simple garden cleanliness, simply deterring cucumber beetles may not be an option if your garden is already infested with these pests. One method of cucumber beetle control is to use insect predators. Natural predators to cucumber beetles include:

• Soldier beetles
• Tachinid flies
• Ground beetles
• Entomopathogenic nematodes
• Braconid wasps

Insecticides can also be used for controlling cucumber beetles as well, but keep in mind when you use insecticide, you may kill the natural predators and beneficial bugs that are already in your garden. Using insecticide to kill cucumber beetles is a multi-step process to ensure that both the adult and larvae of cucumber beetles are killed. In all steps, the best time to treat your plants with insecticide is in the early evening as this is when the cucumber beetles will be most active. Cucumber beetle control with insecticide starts in mid spring when the cucumber beetles emerge from their overwintering locations. Spray the plants weekly for two to three weeks. Treat the plants again in early summer so that you can kill some of the cucumber beetle larvae that will be emerging from the eggs at this time. Treat your plants again with insecticide in the late summer to kill any adults that have recently developed from the larvae.

Cucumber mosaic disease was first reported in North America around 1900 and has since spread worldwide. Cucumber mosaic disease isn't limited to cucumbers. While these and other cucurbits can be stricken, Cucumber Mosaic Virus (CMV) regularly attacks a wide variety of garden vegetables and ornamentals as well as common weeds. It's so similar to the Tobacco and Tomato Mosaic Viruses that only an expert horticulturalist or laboratory testing can distinguish one from the other.

What Causes Cucumber Mosaic Disease?

What causes Cucumber Mosaic disease is the transfer of the virus from one infected plant to another through the bite of an aphid. The infection is acquired by the aphid in just one minute after ingestion and is gone within hours. Great for the aphid, but really unfortunate for the hundreds of plants it can bite during those few hours. If there's any good news here, it's that, unlike some other mosaics, Cucumber Mosaic Virus can't be passed along through seeds and won't persist in plant debris or soil.

Cucumber Mosaic Virus Symptoms

Cucumber Mosaic Virus symptoms are rarely seen in cucumber seedlings. Signs become visible at about six weeks during vigorous growth. The leaves become mottled and wrinkled and the edges curl downward. Growth becomes stunted with few runners and little in the way of flowers or fruit. Cucumbers produced after infection with cucumber mosaic disease often turn gray-white and are called "white pickle." The fruit is often bitter and makes mushy pickles. Cucumber Mosaic Virus in tomatoes is evidenced by stunted, yet bushy, growth. Leaves may appear as a mottled mixture of dark green, light green, and yellow with a distorted shape. Sometimes only part of the plant is affected with normal fruit maturing on the uninfected branches. Early infection is usually more severe and will produce plants with low yield and small fruit. Peppers are also susceptible to Cucumber Mosaic Virus. Symptoms include mottled leaves and stunted growth of other mosaics with the fruit showing yellow or brown spots.

Cucumber Mosaic Virus Treatment

Even though botanists can tell us what causes cucumber mosaic disease, they have yet to discover a cure. Prevention is difficult because of the short time between when the aphid contracts the virus and it's passing it along. Early season aphid control may help, but there is no known Cucumber Mosaic Virus treatment at the present time. It's recommended that if your cucumber plants are affected by Cucumber Mosaic Virus, they should be removed immediately from the garden.

If you're wondering why your cucumber plants are wilting, you might want to look around for bugs. The bacterium that causes wilt in cucumber plants usually overwinters in the belly of a specific beetle: the striped cucumber beetle. In the spring, when the plants are fresh, the beetles awaken and start feeding on baby cucumber plants. This spreads the bacteria either by mouth or through their feces, which they leave on the plants.

Once the beetle starts chewing on the plant, the bacteria enter the plant and multiply very quickly in the plant's vascular system. This starts producing blockages in the vascular system that causes cucumber wilt. Once the plant is infected, the beetles are even more attracted to the cucumber plants suffering from cucumber wilt.

Stopping Bacterial Cucumber Wilt

When you find your cucumber plants are wilting, investigate to see if you can find any of these beetles. The feeding isn't always obvious on the leaves you can see. Sometimes, the wilt will show up on the cucumber by flagging on individual leaves. Sometimes it's just one leaf, but it will quickly spread to the whole plant until you find several leaves on cucumber turning brown.

Once a plant has cucumber wilt, you'll find the cucumber leaves wilt and the cucumber plants dying early. This is no good because you won't yield any cucumbers on the infected plants. In order to prevent cucumber wilt, you need to know how to get rid of the beetles. Cucumbers that you harvest on cucumber plants dying early are usually not marketable.

One way to find out if you actually have bacterial cucumber wilt is to cut the stem and squeeze both ends. A sticky sap will ooze out of the cut. If you stick these ends back together and then pull them apart again, making a rope like connection between the two in the ooze, this means they have the bacteria. Unfortunately, once cucumbers have wilt there is no saving them. They will die.

When you find leaves on cucumber turning brown and your cucumber plants are wilting, control the bacterial wilt before it ruins your whole crop or next year's crop. As soon as seedlings come out of the ground in the spring, you'll want to start controlling the beetle. You can use products like Admire, Platinum or Sevin, which will provide you with control all growing season if applied frequently. Alternatively, you can use row cover cloth to keep the beetles off the plants so that they never have the chance to infect the plants.

Note: Any recommendations pertaining to the use of chemicals are for informational purposes only. Specific brand names or commercial products or services do not imply endorsement. Chemical control should only be used as a last resort, as organic approaches are safer and more environmentally friendly.

Cucumbers are a fantastic addition to a summer vegetable garden. They are delicious, quick growing, and nutritious. They are one of my favorite vegetables to grow. That being said, they can have some issues.

Have you ever been growing cucumbers and you went to harvest your cukes only to find deformed cucumbers? If you find pointy or otherwise misshapen cucumbers you are likely wondering what happened.

Weird shaped cucumbers might be caused by a few issues. Read on to learn what caused your oddly shaped cukes and what you can do about it.

Why Is My Cucumber Deformed?

Deformities in cucumbers may be caused by issues with the pollination process or fertility of the plant, the temperature at which the fruit is growing, the amount of water the plant receives, or mechanical injury.

For example you may get misshapen fruit if it gets caught between the cucumber fence or trellis. As the fruit grows, it may end up bent oddly.

Cucumbers require a lot of water, after all, the fruit is made up of mostly water (95 %). So it stands to reason that if the plants are not kept properly watered the fruit may suffer. This is most often observed during the hot, dry months of summer when the temperatures are high and the fruit is rapidly developing, they are more susceptible to uneven water supplies. Setting up an irrigation system, like the Rain Bird Garden Watering Kit from Amazon, could help to prevent this.

On the subject of temperature, cucumbers grow best when temps are between 75-85 F (24-29 C). When temperatures exceed this range, flower bud production can be skewed resulting in oddly shaped fruit.

Deformed fruit may also be the result of a lack of fertility. Cucumbers are heavy feeders and should be fed every 2-3 weeks with a balanced fertilizer or side-dress the plants with a complete fertilizer.

Lastly, misshapen cucumbers may be the result of poor pollination. Insufficient pollination can cause deformities. That said, even when pollination occurs, fruit can become deformed.

How To Prevent Deformed Cucumbers

To prevent crooked or otherwise deformed fruit, make sure to keep the cucumber plants consistently moist, not sodden, especially during periods of high heat.

If temperatures ramp up and the fruit and blossoms are beginning to form, tent or shade the plants with a plant shade like this from Amazon during the hottest part of the day. Be sure to uncover them in the early morning and the evening as temperatures cool so they can be pollinated.

On the pollination note, you can also hand pollinate your cucumber blooms using a cotton swab or light paint brush. Move the pollen from the pollen-laden stamen of the male flower and gently transfer it to the female flower’s stigma. This will greatly increase the chances of fruit formation caused by low pollination.

Keep the cucumber plants well fed. Feed them every 2-3 weeks with a balanced fertilizer or use an organic fertilizer that has a slower, more balanced release of nutrients.

Are Deformed Cucumbers OK To Eat?

Yes, deformed cucumbers are okay to eat. There isn’t anything wrong with them beyond a different look. They will taste just fine.

Frequently Asked Questions

A cucumber fence is fun and space saving way to grow cucumbers. If you haven't tried growing cucumbers on a fence, you'll be in for a pleasant surprise. Read on to learn the benefits and how to grow cucumbers on a fence.

Benefits of Growing Cucumbers on a Fence

Cucumbers naturally want to climb, but, often in the home garden, we don't provide any support and they sprawl on the ground. One of the greatest advantages of cucumber fences is the fact that they save a significant amount of space in the garden by allowing the cucumbers to follow their climbing nature. When you grow cucumbers on a fence, you not only save space, but create a healthier environment for the cucumbers to grow. By planting cucumbers on a fence, there's better airflow around the plant, which helps prevent powdery mildew and other diseases. Growing cucumbers on a fence also helps to hold them out of the reach of garden pests that may damage the fruit. Having a cucumber fence also allows for more even sun on the cucumbers themselves, which means that the cucumbers will be more evenly green (no yellow spots) and less apt to rot due to damp conditions.

How to Make a Cucumber Fence

Typically, when creating cucumber fences, gardeners use an existing fence in their garden. The fence should be a wire type fence, like chain link or chicken wire. This will allow the tendrils on the cucumber vine to have something to hold onto. If you don't have an existing fence to make a cucumber fence, you can build one easily. Simply drive two posts or stakes into the ground at each end of row where you will be growing cucumbers. Stretch a section of chicken wire between the two posts and staple the chicken wire to the posts. Once you have chosen or built the fence you will be using as a cucumber fence, you can start planting the cucumbers. When planting cucumbers on a fence, you'll plant the cucumber at the base of the fence 12 inches (31 cm.) apart. As the cucumbers start to grow, encourage them to grow up the cucumber fences by gently positioning the emerging vine on the fence. Once the cucumber vine starts to wrap its tendrils around the wire, you can stop helping it as it will continue to climb on its own. Once fruit appears, you don't need to do anything else. The vines are more than capable of supporting the weight of the fruit, but when you harvest the cucumbers, make sure to cut the fruit off rather than pull or twist it off as this may damage the vine. Growing cucumbers on a fence is an excellent way to conserve space and grow better cucumbers.

Cucumber yellowing is a common problem in the vegetable garden, but it's still disappointing when it happens. Especially because growing cucumbers is typically easy and these garden staples are prolific producers. So if you're wondering, “Why is my cucumber yellow?” Don't worry. We have your answers and solutions right here.

Why Is My Cucumber Yellow?

If the cucumber fruit itself is turning yellow, chances are there is a specific environmental reason behind it. The most common are:

1. Overripeness

One of the more common reasons for cucumber fruit to be yellow is picking it too late. If you allow the cucumber fruit to linger on the plant, it turns yellow and becomes unpalatable. Checking the seed packet can help you know when to harvest cucumbers.

• Pickling cucumbers should be short, firm, and dark green. They are usually about 4 inches (10 cm) long at the time of harvest. If they grow longer, they are overripe and will often begin to yellow.
• Slicing cucumbers are longer than pickling types and grow to 6-12 inches (15-30 cm) in length depending upon the variety. They should be fairly firm and fully green. If the fruit begins to yellow, it is overripe and likely has turned bitter tasting.

2. Not Enough Nitrogen

Studies have shown that having sufficient nitrogen is what fosters the green color of cucumbers. Initially, it was thought that supplementing nitrogen would just result in an explosion of foliage that would shade the fruit resulting in pale cukes, but that wasn’t the case. Of course results varied depending upon the cultivar.

Cucumbers are heavy feeders and should be fed at planting time and again when they begin to flower. At planting time, incorporate compost, well-rotted manure, or a slow release fertilizer into the soil.

When the plants begin to bloom, they need lots of potassium. For optimal fruiting, just as they are beginning to flower, feed plants a liquid fertilizer rich in potassium according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Continue to feed the plants every four weeks until fruit production ceases.

3. Variety

Some cucumber varieties are meant to be yellow, and cucumber yellowing is actually a sign that it's time to harvest. These yellow varieties include:

• Yellow Submarine
• Lemon Yellow
• Salt and Pepper
• Dosakai or Indian
• Kirby
• Mexican
• Diva
• Boothby's Blonde
• Straight 8
• Wautoma
• Jelly Melon

Some of these varieties are delicious eaten fresh, while others like Dosakai make excellent South Indian pickles. Some are similar in shape to standard slicing cukes and others are radically different, like the tiny Mexican cucumber which can be popped right into the mouth and are only about as big as a grape.

Can You Eat a Yellow Cucumber?

Any yellow cucumber varieties listed above are specifically meant to be eaten when yellow and are perfectly edible. However, pickling or slicing cucumbers that are meant to be green are unpalatable if they’ve turned yellow. They tend to be pithy with large seeds and quite bitter. Green cucumbers that have yellowed are also quite fragile and prone to rot rather quickly.

Why Are My Cucumber Leaves Turning Yellow?

Maybe it's not the cucumbers themselves, but the cucumber leaves turning yellow on your plant. If this is the case, the culprit is more likely to be related to pests or disease.

1. Squash Bugs

Squash bugs (Anasa tristis) have mouthparts that pierce the tender foliage to suck out the plant’s sap. Their eggs are oval and gold in color, often laid in a cluster under the leaves. Damage from squash bugs results in small, yellow/green to white areas of stippling on leaves, which may also turn yellow and tattered. Infestation can reduce your cucumber’s production and growth.

The eggs can be removed by hand and disposed of. To thwart adult feeding and egg laying, cover the plants with row covers until bloom time. Remove the covering when your plants begin to flower.

2. Spider Mites

Spider mite damage also results in yellow to white stippling on foliage. These spots may begin to form yellow patches on the upper sides of the leaves while the underside just looks dirty.

Spider mites are tiny and can only be viewed well by using a magnifying glass. When the infestation is large, small webs can be seen on the plant. They suck the chlorophyll out of the leaves which may result in the death of the plant.

Hosing the plant off can dislodge some spider mites. An application of insecticidal soap or neem oil can also reduce their population. Keep the area free of weeds, encourage predatory insects, and keep the plant healthy and stress free. Row covers can be used at the beginning of the season to repel mites.

3. Anthracnose

Anthracnose results in round to irregular spots on leaves that may be yellow, tan or gray. A handful of fungal and bacterial pathogens can cause these symptoms however, so a definitive diagnosis is only possible through lab testing. To combat anthracnose:

• Plant disease resistant cultivars
• Avoid crowding plants
• Water at the base of the plant
• Clean and dispose of any plant detritus
• Plant seeds or transplants a few times during the growing season

4. Downy Mildew

Downy mildew, another fungal disease, has similar symptoms to anthracnose, the difference being the underside of the leaves will have fuzzy gray spots. Fostered by high humidity, cool temperatures and moisture, downy mildew is usually visible on leaves in early to late summer, and can spread as temperatures soar. Treatment is similar to that for anthracnose above.

5. Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV)

This disease presents with yellow or green mosaic patterns. With cucumber mosaic virus, the plants’ leaves may be twisted, stunted or deformed and/or curl up or down. This viral disease is transmitted by insects and survives in perennial weeds. What to do?

• Dispose of infected plants
• Remove weeds
• Control aphids and cucumber beetles that act as vectors
• Plant disease resistant cultivars

Cucumbers fresh from the garden are a treat, but occasionally, a gardener bites into a homegrown cucumber and thinks, "My cucumber is bitter, why?". Understanding what causes bitter cucumbers can help to prevent having bitter cucumbers.

Why a Cucumber is Bitter

Cucumbers are part of the Cucurbit family, along with squash and melons. These plants naturally produce chemicals called cucurbitacins, which are very bitter, and in large quantities can make a person ill. Most of the time, these chemicals are confined to the leaves and stem of the plant, but can work their way into the fruit of the plant in certain conditions causing bitter cucumbers.

What Causes Bitter Cucumber?

Too hot - One of the most common reasons why a cucumber is bitter is due to heat stress. If a plant is stressed due to heat, it may start producing bitter cucumbers. Uneven watering - Another possibility for what causes bitter cucumbers is if a cucumber goes through alternating periods of drought and overwatering; the stress can cause the plant to produce bitter fruit. Temperature fluctuations - If the temperature fluctuates dramatically from one extreme to another over an extended period of time, the plant may start producing bitter cucumbers. Heredity - Perhaps the most frustrating reason why a cucumber is bitter is simple genetics; there is a recessive trait that can cause a plant to produce bitter fruit from the start. You may plant seeds from the same packet and treat them all the same, only to discover one of the plants produces bitter cucumbers.

My Cucumber is Bitter, How Can I Prevent This?

In order to prevent bitter fruit, address what causes bitter cucumber fruit in the first place. Always use best practices when it comes to raising your cucumber. Keep cucumbers at an even temperature, which means that you should be planting the cucumber so that it gets the right kind of sun for your climate (sunnier areas in cool climates, morning and afternoon sun only in hotter climates). Water evenly and regularly, especially in times of drought. Unfortunately, once a cucumber plant starts to produce bitter fruit, it will most likely continue to produce bitter cucumbers. You should remove the plant and start over.

While they may look like tentacles, the thin, curly threads that come off the cucumber are actually natural and normal growths on your cucumber plant. These tendrils (not tentacles) should not be removed.

Why Do Cucumbers Have Tendrils?

Cucumber plants are vines and in the wild, they are meant to climb up objects in order to take the best advantage of sun exposure. The higher up a cucumber plant can climb, the less likely it is that they will compete with other plants for sunshine. In order to do this, cucumber plants have evolved with a system where specially developed leaves are sensitive to touch. These leaves curl around whatever it is that they touch. This allows the plant to literally pull itself up over obstacles for light. In the modern garden, cucumber plants are frequently grown on the ground without any surrounding supports. It is because of this; many people don't realize that a cucumber plant's natural instinct is to climb. Modern gardeners may not realize that the tendrils on a cucumber are natural.

Should You Remove Cucumber Tendrils?

There's no reason to remove the tendrils from your cucumber plant, even if you don't plan on letting them grow horizontally. Removing the tendrils will cause more harm than good and create a wound that allows bacterial organisms that would harm or kill the cucumber plant. The best thing to do is to let these tendrils grow naturally. You may even want to consider providing supports for your cucumber plants to grow up. Not only does this provide a more natural environment for your cucumber plants but it will save you some space in your garden.

Cucumbers (Cucumis sativus) are a warm-season crop known for its crisp texture and refreshing flavor. Native to South Asia and particularly near the Himalayas, cucumbers have been cultivated for thousands of years. They are now a popular vegetable grown around the world. Like many members of the gourd family, cucumbers grow as fast-moving vines or compact bush plants, producing lots of fruit (at times, too much!) in a short time.

Every gardener should try growing cucumbers as this crop offers so much in return for so little effort. The plants are highly productive, the crop is easy to harvest, and the fruits are versatile in the kitchen and popularly used fresh in salads or preserved as pickles. They’ll thrive in full sun gardens and in warm temperatures between 75–85°F (24–29°C). As warm-weather lovers, they are sensitive to cold and frost and so are typically grown during the warmer months.

Overall, cucumbers are considered an easy-to-grow crop, especially for beginners, as long as they receive heat, sunlight, and regular watering. They can be grown in most USDA zones as a summer annual, from cooler northern regions to warmer southern climates, making them a reliable and rewarding crop for anyone starting a vegetable garden.

Quick Cucumber Facts

What is a Cucumber?

A cucumber plant is a creeping vine that produces long, cylindrical and edible fruits. A member of the gourd family, the fruits are green skinned with very pale green, crunchy, watery flesh. In fact, cucumbers are more than 90% water! They can range in size and color, sometimes having bumpy or smooth skin.

Cucumbers are a good source of nutrients, including Vitamin K, Vitamin C, potassium and manganese. Many cultures worldwide use them for salads, sandwiches and sauces. Pickling is also a popular option for preserving them.

Types of Cucumbers

There are both slicing and pickling types of cucumber, each with similar cultivation needs. Within these two categories of cucumbers there are a number of different types. These include:

• English or “hothouse:” Almost seedless, thin skinned and quite long.
• Armenian: Long, twisted fruit with dark green, thin skin and pale green stripes.
• Japanese: Slim with thin, dark green and bumpy skin and tiny seeds.
• Kirby: Shorter and often used for commercial pickling.
• Lemon: The size of a lemon with pale yellow skin turning golden yellow.
• Persian: Similar to a “typical” slicing cucumber but shorter, more compact and able to hold up to heat, making them useful in stir fries.

Planting Cucumbers

Growing cucumbers isn’t difficult provided there is enough light, warmth and space. Be sure you have a plan for the rambling vines, whether that is room in the garden or a trellis on which they can grow vertically. Some bush-type cucumber varieties can even be grown in a large container with the help of supports.

When to Plant Cucumbers

Cucumbers can grow in USDA zones 2-11 and are typically grown as a warm-season annual. When you plant cucumbers depends on whether you plan to start seeds indoors or sow them directly in the garden. Because cucumbers grow quickly and their roots to be disturbed, many choose to plant them right where they will grow once conditions are warm enough. If direct sowing or planting purchased seedlings, wait until all danger of frost has passed and the soil has warmed to at least 65–70°F (18–21°C). Cold, damp conditions can slow growth or damage plants. Being patient early in the season leads to stronger, more productive vines.

If you want to start seeds indoors, sow them about 3–4 weeks before your last expected frost date. Use biodegradable pots such as the Jiffy Peat Strips Seed Starter Kit that I found at Home Depot. This will allow you to plant the pots and plants directly into the garden without disturbing the roots. Seedlings are ready to move outdoors when they have a few true leaves and outdoor conditions are reliably warm with nighttime air temperatures staying above 55°F (13°C). Gradually acclimate the seedlings to outdoor conditions over several days before planting.

Best Soil for Cucumbers

Cucumbers need well-draining soil that is nutrient dense and high in organic amendments. If the soil is poor, work in a generous amount of aged compost or rotted manure to a depth of 6 inches (15.24 cm.). The soil should have a pH range of 6.0-6.8. If you are unsure of your soil’s pH a soil test kit such as the Jonathan Green Soil pH Test Kit from Lowe’s will give you the answers you’re looking for. You can plant cucumbers directly into a garden or you can plant cucumbers in a container.

Light Requirements

Select a bright, sunny location for your cucumber crop. They need around 8 hours or more of sunshine to produce their loads of lovely starry yellow flowers that develop into the fruits.

If starting seeds indoors, give the developing seedlings plenty of light indoors until it is time to transplant them.

How to Plant Cucumbers Step by Step

Planting cucumbers is straightforward, but timing and warmth make all the difference. Follow these steps to give your plants a strong start and set them up for a long and productive season.

1. Choose the right location. Select a spot that receives full sun (at least 6–8 hours daily). Cucumbers thrive in warmth and light, so avoid shaded areas.
2. Prepare the soil. Work in plenty of compost or organic matter to create rich, well-drained soil. Cucumbers are hungry plants and benefit from nutrient-rich conditions.
3. Wait for warm conditions. Plant after all danger of frost has passed and soil temperatures reach at least 65–70°F (18–21°C). Cold soil can inhibit growth and even stunt or kill young plants.
4. Sow seeds or transplant carefully. Plant seeds about 1 in. (2.5 cm) deep. If transplanting seedlings, handle roots gently, as cucumbers dislike disturbance. As mentioned above, plantable pots are preferred.
5. Space plants properly. Space plants 12–24 in. (30–60 cm) apart preferably in hills or mounds, depending on the variety. Mounds help prevent soil from becoming waterlogged, which can cause root rot. It also allows for better germination in cooler spring soil.
6. Water thoroughly. Water immediately after planting and keep the soil consistently moist, but not wet.
7. Mulch and monitor. Apply mulch to retain moisture and suppress weeds. Keep an eye on moisture levels as plants establish.

With warmth, sunlight, and consistent care, cucumber plants establish quickly and begin vigorous growth.

Cucumber Care

A gangbuster cucumber crop is now just weeks away. Here are some pointers to ensure the best crop possible.

Trellising Cucumbers

If your variety is the vining type, stakes, cages, or trellises will keep the fruit out of the soil. This will help develop straighter fruits, and avoids fungal issues from contact with moist soil. Amazon carries several kinds of trellises, perfect for any need.

Trellising will also allow more light to penetrate to promote flowering and fruiting. Use plant ties as the plant matures to train it to a vertical structure, being careful not to girdle the stems.

How & When To Pick Cucumbers

The bulk of a cucumber is water, so cucumber seedlings and adult plants need plenty of moisture. Deep watering is preferred to frequent light watering. On average a cucumber plant needs 1 inch (2.54 cm.) of water weekly. In sandy soils, where moisture percolates away quickly, the plants will need more frequent watering than in loamy soils. Water at the base of the plant rather than overhead to reduce risk of disease risk. A soaker hose such as the Ace Soaker Pro from Ace Hardware can be set to deliver water without wetting leaves, helping to prevent the spread of disease.

Fertilizing

As mentioned previously, cucumbers are heavy feeders and benefit from regular feeding to support their fast growth and heavy fruit production. Compost worked into the soil before planting helps give the soil a boost. Once vines begin to grow, apply a balanced fertilizer or one slightly higher in phosphorus every 2–3 weeks. Avoid excessive nitrogen, which encourages leafy growth over fruit. Side-dress plants with compost or fertilizer, water it in well, and continue feeding lightly throughout the growing season for best results. Alternately, use fish emulsion diluted to the package instructions.

Mulching

Mulch is one of the simplest ways to improve plant health and yields. A layer of organic mulch like straw, shredded leaves, or compost helps keep soil moisture consistent, which is especially important for cucumbers since uneven watering can lead to bitter fruit. Mulch also regulates soil temperature, keeping roots cooler during hot weather and reducing stress on the plants.

Beyond moisture control, a 2- to-3-inch layer of mulch keeps weeds down that would otherwise compete for nutrients and water. It also keeps developing fruits cleaner by preventing direct contact with soil. This can also reduce the risk of soil-borne diseases.

Pruning

Pruning cucumber plants is a good idea, particularly for trellised plants. Removing leaves helps to improve air circulation, prevent diseases like powdery mildew, and increase yields by directing energy to fruit production. Remove the lower, older leaves touching the ground and remove the side shoots that grow from the leaf axils, especially what grows from the first 5-7 nodes.

Trellising

If your variety is the vining type, stakes, cages, or trellises will keep the fruit off of the soil. This will help develop straighter fruits, and avoids fungal issues from contact with moist soil. The FlexGrow A-Frame Trellis Classic available from Vego Gardens is just the thing to support lots of climbing vines and hanging fruit.

Trellising will also allow more light to penetrate to promote flowering and fruiting. When flowers are exposed, pollinators have a better opportunity to visit and start the fruiting process. Use plant ties as the plant matures to train it to a vertical structure, being careful not to girdle the stems.

Protection

Cucumbers are sensitive to both environmental and biological stressors, so protecting your plants important for a successful harvest. When it comes to environmental stressors, even brief exposure to cold can damage or kill plants. That’s why you should plant them in sheltered areas and be ready to cover plants with row covers, sheets or other materials if and when temperatures drop.

Pests are another major concern. Take preventative steps to lessen damage to plants and help stop the spread of disease. These steps include cleaning up garden debris, using row covers early in the season, encouraging beneficial insects, and treating infestations with insecticidal soap when needed. Something as simple as a physical barrier and traps can help control pests and protect plant health.

Harvesting Cucumbers

Harvest cucumbers when they are firm, evenly green, and at the proper size for their variety—typically about 50–70 days after planting. Most fruits are ready 8–10 days after flowering and should be picked before any yellowing begins, which signals overripeness and bitterness.

Using clean pruners or scissors such as the Fiskars 6-inch Pruning Scissors available from Amazon, cut the stem just above the fruit rather than pulling, which can damage the vine. Harvest frequently—often every day or two—to encourage continued production and ensure the best flavor and texture.

Storing

Fresh cucumbers can last about two weeks if stored properly, which is at 55 degrees F. (13 C.). When storage temperatures are below 40 degrees F. (4 C.), pitting will develop on the cucumber skin and water-soaked spots may form. Before storing fresh cucumbers, rinse them and let air dry before placing them in ventilated plastic bags for air circulation and storing in a cool, dry place.

If you end up with more cucumbers than you know what to do with, there are plenty of ways to preserve them. Pickling is what comes to mind first, but only pickling varieties of cucumbers should be used to make pickles. Other methods of preserving include dehydrating into cucumber chips, making cucumber jelly, relish and in salsas and sauces that can then be canned. Another option is to juice them in a fruit juicing machine and freeze the juice into ice cubes for a refreshing, summery flair to ice water, lemonade, or cocktails.

Propagating Cucumbers

Cucumbers are strictly propagated by seed. As outlined above, directly sowing the seeds into the garden or container is the recommended method, as transplanting from a pot to the final growing location can disturb their sensitive roots. If direct seeding isn’t possible, young seedlings can be transplanted after hardening off the young cucumber plants.

If you are growing a cucumber variety that you simply love, it’s possible for you to harvest and save the cucumber seeds to plant again next year, ensuring you’ll continue to have your preferred variety available. You’ll use the use the wet method of vegetable seed saving, a process that kills viruses and separates the good seeds from the bad seeds, as well as the pulp from the fruit.

Cucumber Problems

Cucumbers are as reliable a garden crop as any, yet they are still susceptible to some pests and diseases. Knowing what to look for is important when it comes to diagnosing cucumber plant problems.

• Cucumber beetles feed on leaves and flowers and can spread bacterial wilt, which appears as sudden leaf wilting despite sufficient water.
• Deformed cucumbers can result from a number of issues, including uneven watering, inadequate nutrition and poor pollination. For the last cause, pollinating your cucumber plants by hand can help.
• Yellow cucumbers have several different causes. It can be a sign of being overripe, and also of insufficient nitrogen. Also, some cucumber varieties can be yellow, so be sure to check your variety attributes.
• White cucumber fruit can be a sign it has powdery mildew, has had the color blanched out of it by being completely covered by leaves, or has been growing with too much water.
• Leaf spot is caused by Pseudomonas syringae and symptoms appear as dark spots on the leaves that look like water-soaked lesions.
• Pickleworms are the larval stage of the pickleworm moth (Diaphania nitidalis) and are aggressive eaters, preferring the buds and fruits of cucurbits. Early infestations can be spotted by noticing perfectly round holes chewed into vine ends, blossoms, or fruit with soft frass coming out through tiny holes.
• Hollow hearts in a cucumber can result from a lack and/or a surplus of nutrient absorption, irregular watering, and/or inadequate pollination.
• Anthracnose in cucumbers is a fungal disease caused by the fungus Colletotrichum orbiculare, and can appear first as water-soaked lesions that enlarge, dry and then appear as holes in the leaves.
• Bitter taste results from numerous issues, including the temperatures being too hot, temperatures fluctuating and uneven watering.

Growing Cucumbers in Containers

If you’re short on space, growing cucumbers in containers is an excellent option for patios, balconies or small yards. Compact bush varieties such as Hybrid, Salad and Picklebush are especially well-suited, although it is possible to finagle vining types to grow in a container with proper support.

Use a large container—at least 12 inches (30 cm) wide and 8 inches (20 cm) deep—with good drainage, and fill it with a rich, well-draining potting mix. Container plants need consistent watering, as they dry out faster than in-ground plantings. Be sure the container has at least one drainage hole so the plants never sit in soggy soil.

Place containers in full sun with warm temperatures, and provide a stake or trellis right after planting to lend support. With proper care, container-grown cucumbers can be just as productive as those grown in the ground.

Growing Cucumbers Indoors

You may think growing cucumbers indoors may be impossible, but if there’s will, there’s a way. Cucumbers can be grown in a home, but the process requires careful attention to light, space, and pollination. A sunny south-facing window or strong grow lights are essential. Growing a bush-type variety such as Hybrid, Salad and Picklebush to save space.

Another consideration is a lack of pollinators in an indoor environment, so brush up on hand pollination With consistent warmth, moisture, and support, cucumbers can produce a small but rewarding harvest indoors.

Companion Planting Cucumbers

Adding companion plants to your cucumbers can improve growth, reduce pest pressure, and make better use of garden space. To accomplish this, you’ll need to choose the right plant partners to create a more balanced and more productive garden.

Good cucumber companions include:

• Beans and peas: Add nitrogen to the soil, supporting leafy growth
• Corn: Acts as a natural trellis for vining cucumbers
• Carrots and beets: Grow well alongside cucumbers without competing heavily
• Dill, oregano and chives: Help attract beneficial insects and may deter pests
• Marigolds and nasturtiums: Draw pollinators and can repel harmful insects

Plants to avoid near cucumbers:

• Potatoes: Compete for nutrients and can increase disease risk
• Sage and other strong herbs: May inhibit cucumber growth
• Melons and other cucurbits: Share pests and diseases, increasing the chance of problems

By pairing cucumbers with supportive plants and avoiding poor companions, gardeners can naturally boost plant health and improve overall harvests.

Frequently Asked Questions

Cucumber Growing Essentials

• If you’re starting cucumber seeds indoors, use biodegradable pots such as the Jiffy Peat Strips Seed Starter Kit that I found at Home Depot so you can plant the pots and plants directly into the garden without disturbing the roots.
• The Jonathan Green Soil pH Test Kit from Lowe’s will give you an accurate reading of your soil’s pH so you know whether you need to adjust to grow your best cucumber crop.
• The FlexGrow A-Frame Trellis Classic available from Vego Gardens can keep your cucumber vines and fruit corralled and away from the ground.
• A soaker hose such as the Ace Soaker Pro from Ace Hardware can be set to deliver water at the base of the cucumber plant without wetting leaves, helping to prevent the spread of disease.
• The Fiskars 6-inch Pruning Scissors available from Amazon give you a clean cut through the stem so you don’t damage the still-growing vine.