When are cucumbers ripe?

[Yogas]

First year growing cucumbers - I have a huge one right now that has never looked dark green (like I expected) - rather it looks yellowish. Am I too early or too late? How will I know when my cucumbers are ready?

[jal_ut]

Hmmm, what variety did you plant? Lemon cukes are yellow. If that is what it is you should pick them when they are about 2.5 inches long. About like a lemon.

You can eat cukes at any stage of their development. Most people like them before they get ripe. When they ripen, they will have large seeds in them. Just what size to pick them depends some on the variety. Slicers 8 - 10 inches long. Pickling cukes 4-5 inches. Armenians can get quite a bit larger and still not have large seeds. 12 - 14 inches.

Pick that huge cuke and eat it. If it has quite large seeds, that will give you a clue when to pick the next fruits.

[garden5]

I'm with Jal: cucumbers are ready when you are. If you let them get bigger, they will be seedy. However, an additional benefit to harvesting them sooner is that you will end up getting more cucumbers in the long run as opposed to leaving them on the plant longer.

[gixxerific]

x3