I don't think it is too late to start cuke seeds. Get some potting mix and reuse those veggie seedling six or 4 packs and plant seeds there. That way the seedlings start while you are still decidng weather to pull your old cukes or not.

I just planted a few seeds yesterday directly in my onion patch, by the time the cucs are of any appreciable size I will be harvesting the onions. BTW I wouldn't let the fruit get to 10 inches before picking the larger they remain on the vine the less likely your plant will continue to produce.

I don't think it's too late. I just sowed the cucumber seeds about July 1st. They sprouted quickly and the seedlings are about 2-3 inches now.

Cucumbers grow fast - I purposely start them late because I'm trying to time the peak of cucumber production with the tomatoes. I start my tomatoes from seed in early April outside, so they mature later in the summer. If I was going for early tomatoes, I would start them indoors or buy starts, and would sow the cucumbers earlier.

Officially - DTM for cucumbers runs 50-70 days, depending on type. DTM begins from planting out time, so add another 20 days or so at least.

If mid September - October is good gardening weather for you you should be fine. Its rare here not to have a frost by mid October, so it probably wouldnt be with it for me.

The predicted first frost date for our area on average November 1 to 10.

That being said, remember last year's freak weather at the end of October and the previous year's snow storm. If your DTM beats those dates, you should be fine.

Just do it. Nothing to lose if you have the space. I started some 10 days ago and they germinated in about 4-5 days, and already are working on their first set of true leaves.

I have seeded a few 3 days ago.
Cucumber are fast growing and on top of that you don't have to wait for months for its fruits to ripen. You pick them unripe at any stage. This is the best short season plant same as zucchini , beans, ...Say your FF is in mid October, You have 3 more months left of your growing season

Thanks for the advice, I planted some today. I removed some of the original weaklings and sowed in their place.

I even sowed in between those that I would consider borderline weaklings. I will decide in a week if I should take those borderline fellas out or pull the seedlings next to them.

So far my M76 plants have produced the best so I just used those seeds and didn't bother with the Straight 8s.

My success this season on a scale of 1 (worst) to 10 (best)....

M76: 9
These account for about 80% of my harvest so far.

Straight 8: 6
I have been picking them at about 6" long because they don't seem to be growing proportionally with respect to their girth

Tendergreen: 3
Very lopsided mishaped fruit. Inconsistent color.

Bush Champion: 1
Goose egg for fruit production. Due to proximity of leaves to the ground, first to succumb to the brown holes in leaves issue.

All this talk of starting cucumbers now so I decided on starting a second crop myself. Today sowed seeds of Suyo Long and Orient Express. Both of those I got from Burpee.

Five days later I have my first leaves, waiting for first true leaves. Hoping to have some cukes by early September or is this not realistic? Sowed on 17 Jul with a 63 DTM.

Ten days later ALL of my beautiful seedlings have been suddenly obliterated, and I don't know why! I just assumed that growing from seed mid-way through the season was a piece of cake. Some of my first leaves had spots on them, others looked like they were stewed. I had not watered since Sunday night because following that we had heavy rain on Monday. Could it be because I fed the surrounding mature cucumber plants (on Sunday) and the new seedlings couldn't handle the Garden Tone fertilizer?

{{gwi:89689}}

I think this happened because of heat and the lack of water.
They could have been revived.

I planted one hill not to long ago.. What I did was, dug a hole about 6" deep and planted seeds in there. As the seeds germinated and kept growing, I kept filling the hole ... and watering, sometimes more than once a day. This way, the roots are way down and the tiny stems are not exposed and are filled around with peat moss and compost. and I will continue hilling until they have true leaves, up to true leaves.

You sure are having bad luck with your cucumber crops this year. Odd that they shriveled up and died like that.

Do you still have seed left? I would start another batch. Yes, it is late now but you have nothing to loose.

I am never succesful to start cucumbers from seed in mid-summer.
The seedlings either die from the heat or devoured by cucumber beetles.
It is better to seed in May-June 10-14 days apart, several plantings.