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Cucumber Help
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Posted by doku 7a (My Page) on Thu, Jan 21, 10 at 7:52
| How DO you grow yours? lol I seem to have the worst luck with cucumbers (and melons, but that's a different thread.. lol).. The cucumbers usually end up bitter tasting and some of them turn into little ball shaped monstrosities. They're nasty tasting things, too. :( EVERYTHING else in my garden seems to flourish, except cukes and melons. :/ I don't know why.
I got a few new types of cucumbers to try this year.. Straight 8, Lemon, Satsuki Madori (supposed to be the bomb cucumber, never bitter, early producing and extremely prolific- we'll see ) and Wisconsin Summer Cucumber.
Surely I will get at least ONE good one this year! lol
What are your tips & tricks? Do you feed them? If so, with what? How often do you water? Do you grow yours in the ground, in mounds, rows, in a square foot garden, in containers, in straw bales, double dug beds, on the side of a hill, or what? Full sun? Part sun? What kinda sun? Please tell me everything you do, step by step! PLEASE HELP ME! lol
Thank you! :) |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Cucumber Help
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| What is not good for tomatoes is also not good for cucumbers and vice versa, definitly! But what is good for tomatoes is not always good for cucumbers. Undefinitely. Cucumbers are broad leaf plants. They like to creep and climb. Feed them with kvas I already described in "One of the best...". Definitely! |
RE: Cucumber Help
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| Cucumbers, and all melons, are very heavy feders and need to be grown in a pretty rich, although balanced, soil well endowed with organic matter that is evenly moist but well drained. Many times people see that melons should be planted in a "hill" and think that means a mound when it really simply means several seeds planted in close proximity, not in a mound. Cucumbers, and all the other melons, need full sun so get your soil into a good healthy condition, with lots of organic matter, and after planting mulch to aid in holding moisture in the soil as necessary. |
RE: Cucumber Help
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| Bitter-tasting means not enough water. Mulch and water more, and ensure your soil is as above. I trellis mine. Dan |
RE: Cucumber Help
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| Much as above, I trellis to get them up and dry. Trellis also offers more straight cucumbers. They do much better in full sun. Lot of compost and/or composted manure to prepare the bed. I space mine at 8-10" and train them to the trellis over the first couple feet of vine growth. Trellising aids in pollination with visibility of the blossoms. They need a balanced NPK of 1:1:1 ratio. Excess nitrogen can slow blossoming. The compost should suffice for nutrients with good soil. Mulching once they get above 6" conserve moisture, I water with Rainbird drip irrigation. Water the soil under the mulch in the morning to keep the mulch fairly dry. Wet mulch can attract fungus and mold. As the vine is trained to the trellis I pull back the mulch and top-dress with 2" inches of compost to a radius of 6". Repeat the top-dress to keep the nutrients cycling. A moisture guage used weekly or more often assesses moisture needs. Every two weeks I foliar spray with compost tea. I brew my tea for 24 hours with a fish tank pump used to aerate. The tea places lots of beneficial organisms on the vines and leaves to combat any pests or diseases; perhaps adding some odour as a repellant. Companion plant radish and onions on opposite sides of the trellis. Consistant moisture and frequent pollination are the trick with cucumbers. I grow the Boston Pickling, Lemon and Marketmore 76 without any problems. I shall add the Armenian Yard Long this year. Good luck. |
RE: Cucumber Help
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OrganicDan, though I didn't initiate this thread, I wanted to thank you for all the in depth info. I have had trouble growing cucumbers too.
Sharon |
RE: Cucumber Help
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| I only grow armeanian cukes (they are actually a melon) best cuke, they are awesome dipped in soy sauce :) |
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