Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
lizbeth_pa

Growing cukes in cages......anyone do it this way?

lizbeth_pa
11 years ago

I'm trying this way of growing cukes for the first time this yr. I usually have pretty good luck w/ cukes excepting for last yr w/ all the rainstorms we had about everyday. This yr I'm hoping for better luck! A friend of mine grows hers in nice, big cuke cages! I'm trying it cuz I did raised gardens this yr and I didn't know where the cukes were going to go. I hate it when the cuke plants start attaching themselves to my other veg plants!

Comments (20)

  • jean001a
    11 years ago

    I do it. I use 2 to 3 seeds, planted within the space enclosed by a tall rectangular cage. (The cages are labeled for use with tomatoes, but this is American ingenuity at work in the garden, right?)

    And I have 2 to 3 such cages set side-by-side.

  • ltilton
    11 years ago

    That's how I grow them

  • tesmith
    11 years ago

    I am not sure what your friends "cage" looks like.
    Last year I had a great crop of cucumbers, letting them go flat on the ground (They were in a shallow raised bed they quickly outgrew.) Here was when they were just getting going
    {{gwi:67793}}

    So this year I decided to Go upright and here is what I did
    {{gwi:67794}}
    They seem off to a good start{{gwi:67795}} I have a couple of these set up, I am anxious to see how it compares to last year, doing the same total amount of plants!

  • tesmith
    11 years ago

    I guess what I did could be considered a cage

  • jimster
    11 years ago

    I wonder if cucumbers would do well in tomato cages. The ones which are worthless for growing tomatoes.

    Any experience with this? Any guesses?

    Jim

  • ltilton
    11 years ago

    Get the tallest ones.

  • coralb
    11 years ago

    I have always grown mine on CRW cages. Works fine for me (though it is all that I have ever done so perhaps I do not know any better). Saves space, easier to see and my back thanks me when it is time to pick them.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Adventures in Agriburbia

  • lizbeth_pa
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Wow! Love the pics there, tesmith! Sounds like you have a lot of experience doing it that way. I bought some bamboo trellises that I have a feeling were meant for maybe a potted clementis or something like that. But they were so cheap where I bought them adn I got them at the end of the season. I got 2 sets of tall, arched bamboo rods. I just crisscrossed 2 and tied them tog. I may have to use some coated wiring instead of the strong string I wrapped around the bamboo cages. They were less than a couple of buck for each set of 2. Should have bought more!

  • Athenian
    11 years ago

    I'm growing cucumbers in a homemade "EarthTainer" using a cage and I'm amazed at their productivity. They are just climbing and climbing with flowers everywhere. I harvested my first two cukes this morning -- 52 days after set out!

  • natal
    11 years ago

    Like Tesmith I've used a trellis for cukes. Since I'll start pulling tomato plants in a couple weeks I think I'll use one of the cages and grow some cukes. Good idea!

  • fmart322
    11 years ago

    I put a 36" wire fence around my garden thud year because of a young digging puppy. I have 8 groups of three growing along the fence. They are still small right now but I expect good returns.

  • tesmith
    11 years ago

    Funny hearing mention of tomato cages, I am using Tomato cages for my green peppers and my eggplant!

  • zeedman Zone 5 Wisconsin
    11 years ago

    Like several others here, I grow my cukes on a trellis. Easy to pick & saves space, but you need to spend a fair amount of time training the vines.

    {{gwi:67796}}

    The spray bottle is a soap spray I use on cucumber beetles.

  • defrost49
    11 years ago

    Beautiful garden, zeedman.

  • mandolls
    11 years ago

    Zeedman - I cant believe how far ahead of me you are. I look at all of these gardens and think........Well I'm in WI so of course I'm behind, but so are you.
    When did you start those puppies? Were they in low tunnels at first?

    I put my cukes out later than I could have this year, about 2 weeks ago, but they are mostly just sitting there right now, 3-4 leaves per plant.

  • ltilton
    11 years ago

    Is that a photo from last year?

  • zeedman Zone 5 Wisconsin
    11 years ago

    I wish my garden looked like that now. The photo I posted above is from a previous year. My cukes are only a couple inches tall right now.

  • hejerry
    11 years ago

    Like tesmith, I grow cucumbers on a trellis which I highly recommend especially if you garden in raised beds. I built this trellis for cucumbers and planted three seeds under it. The photo below was taken on March 28, 2012.

    {{gwi:67797}}

    The photo below, shot from the opposite side of the trellis, was taken eight weeks later after the cucumbers were in production.

    {{gwi:67798}}

    We ate all the cucumbers we wanted this spring and gave away as many as we ate. I've grown cucumbers both sprawling on the ground and on a trellis and get far better results growing on a trellis. The trellis was made with 4' fence wire and 8 foot 2X4s with about 18" buried in the ground then attached to the sides of the bed with wood screws. The trellis takes up only about 18" at the end of the bed and the yield was terrific.

  • Patricia Baumhardt
    last year

    We grow on Plastic mulch and had a bunch of 42 inch tomato cages and tried it last year and it worked fine they grew up and back down again so taller would be better but used what I had ,made harvesting much easier and weeding between easier, we plant100 pickles and 100 cukes twice a year and saved my back and