Growing Cucumbers

[Jana]

I am new to growing cucumbers. I tried them last year and got really poor fruit. I would love any tips you can give me on getting a bumper crop of cukes! Also, is it a good idea to support them in a tomato cage?

Thanks for your help!

[jjj]

Cukes are natural climbers, so yes they will do very well on a tomato cage or a fence if you have one. Allowing them to climb will also help to make the fruit straighter, especially if you are growing a slicer. Don't plant them too early, I believe them minimum soil temp for cuke germination is 65F.

Give them a good shot of fertilizer I start out with higher nitrogen for the first fertilizing to get the vines going, then switch to high phosphorus for the rest of the summer to keep the vines flowering.

When they start flowering watch for bees, if you don't have many bees in your area this could be the reason you had poor fruit set. If necessary you may want to hand pollinate your female flowers.

Good Luck

[reklaw109]

It may be the strain of cucumber you bought. Some are the bush pickle kind, the ones the grow short and are irregular in shape. The moreland kind, grow longer, and used more for salads.

Also make sure you have good soil. It really does make a difference. While this probably is not a problem since this is your second season growing cucumbers, get in the habit of rotating your crops each season.