Cucumber

[b54red]

Besides Sweet Success other good ones are Tasty Jade and Oriental Express. I gave away cucumbers by the bushel this year with those three producing most of them. Tasty Green made okay and it had some of the longest cucumbers I have ever seen.
These varieties also do well in pickles because they usually have a very small immature seed cavity meaning they will be nice and firm unless you let them get huge.

Bill

[Poohtoo8]

Originally Posted by b54red

Besides Sweet Success other good ones are Tasty Jade and Oriental Express. I gave away cucumbers by the bushel this year with those three producing most of them. Tasty Green made okay and it had some of the longest cucumbers I have ever seen.
These varieties also do well in pickles because they usually have a very small immature seed cavity meaning they will be nice and firm unless you let them get huge.

Bill

Thanks Bill, I’m definitely going to try some of these next year. Last year I was giving bushels away, this year the straight eights have let me down. Lots of vine and blossoms just not a lot of cucumbers.

[b54red]

Another benefit of those varieties is they are burpless. They also can be very large and still have almost no seed cavity. You will have to experiment with when to pick to find what is right for you. It is amazing the number of pickle spears you can get from a 14 inch by 1 1/2 inch cucumber. The biggest disadvantage to this type of cucumber is that for them to make nice straight long fruits they need to be on a fence so they can hang.

Bill

[Poohtoo8]

I grow all my cucumbers on tomato cages so the majority of the cucumbers are “hanging”.

[Jeannine Anne]

My cukes plants just croaked in my greenhouse, I was sick yesterday and didn't water and that's all it took.

It seems to be a perennial problem for me, I get very early fruits and plenty of them then they simply stop, then the plants turn yellow and that's it, it is almost like they grow too fast and burn themselves out.

I think maybe I start then too early maybe, everything else in there is doing fine

[Poohtoo8]

You don’t have the dreaded beetle on them do you? They’ll cause a beautiful healthy plant to “wilt and die” almost overnight. I lost all my plants two summers ago. Now I spray them with Sevin every 7-10 days and have had no problems.

[Jeannine Anne]

No there is not a bug in site

[Al@NC]

Jeannine, cucumbers tend to be heavy feeders are you using a slow release fert like Osmocote?


Also, you could succesion plant your cuk's and start more seed every so many weeks..


Al

[Fritz77]

I have the same problem but with pumpkins. My plants look very green and healthy but at one point they start growing and cruising around my garden without roducing a single pumpkin
I'm so stubborn (dumb some might say) that not only I planted pumpkins again this season but also 4 plants of melons that are having the same problem with the only difference that they have a lot of flowers. For this reason, yesterday I decided to try maual pollination. I'm not confident but I'll let you know if it worked.

My cocumbers are always good producers. They are just very disease prone. This season I'm growing 2 different varieties: one is Marketmore, the other...I don't remember

Originally Posted by Poohtoo8

I have eight beautiful cucumber plants with tons of blossoms, unfortunately not a lot of cucumbers. Am I doing something wrong?

[b54red]

I finally pulled up my cucumbers today because they were just too old and messy with lots of diseased leaves. I can't complain because of the 15 or so cucumbers only two had noticeable nematode damage and that may be why they remained productive for so long. Usually they are done and gone by the first of July or earlier.

I have found the perfect fertilizer for cucumbers and things like broccoli and Brussels sprouts or any heavy feeders. I use Urban Farms Vegetable formula and it keeps them green and productive far longer than any other fertilizers I have tried. Their Texas Tomato Food is good but on these type plants the Vegetable formula is outstanding and it is easy to apply with a hose end sprayer every week or so.

I am going to plant a few seed this coming week and try for a few fall cucumbers. They usually don't do nearly as well but they are really nice to have that time of the year and especially if you can get some early lettuce in before the cold kills them.

Bill

[imp]

If our weather ever moderates a bit, I'd like to try to grow a few cukes for fall time. Will look for seed for those Bill mentioned. I can grow those with the pecan trees in back.

[peppero]

I planted my seeds in a tire with crw around it and got some great plants with blossoms galore, all male for about two weeks before I got any female. I am getting some nice ones now.

Jon

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by Jeannine Anne

No there is not a bug in site

what variety are you planting? and yes they are very heavy feeders and need copious quantities of water. I have about 3 rows on trellises in the greenhouse which are about 30 ft rows. I water for two hours every morning with fertilizer. they have drip tape and plastic underneath them. and it gets HOT in there. they are producing oodles of cukes right now but I planted parthentocarpic varieties so I didn't have to worry about pollination. yours may not be getting pollinated if there isn't a bug in sight...nor enough food or water.

[Poohtoo8]

Straight Eights. I’ve got tons of bees, I just think it’s the variety. On another note, do you know what makes cucumbers bitter. The last few we’ve eaten were bitter. Thanks

[clkeiper]

too dry for the bitter is my guess. I had one volunteer plant where it was really dry... the first ones were fine but the last few were terrible. they were where they got no water.. (outsid eof the drip tape area in the high tunnel)