Cucumber: Suyo Long, yellow leaves, spindly fruit

[waddo]

Hi all.


Our Cucumber (Suyo Long variety) plant is getting more and more yellow leaves. Also, the fruit seems a bit spindly. See photos.

We are in Tokyo and it is a rainy time of year now, so rain almost everyday, sometimes heavy. Quite cloudy at other times. Occasional day of sunshine. I am not sure if the yellowing is related to the wet weather, or fertiliser problem or something else! We only started vegetable gardening 2 years ago and are still beginners.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Cheers

Waddo

[digitS']

My first thought was water-saturated soil.

It isn't a problem that I have much familiarity with. My garden soil drains easily and very little rain falls here during the growing season.

Is it possible to remove some soil from paths or somehow improve drainage around the plant? Gardeners are always thinking of how "things" can be done differently, next year.

Steve

[imafan26]

Suyo is a long skinny cucumber with ridges and spines. Yours looks fine. It could be thicker, but not much more. If the fruit grows fatter on the bottom than on the top, it was probably pollinated and the seeds will be larger.

My leaves get yellow after the plant has produced awhile too. Suyo is parthenocarpic and puts out a lot of flowers and almost all of them will potentially produce fruit. If you allow too many cucumbers to hang on the vine a long time before picking them, the leaves start to show prominent veins and yellowing faster.

Cucumbers need a lot of water but when it rains, you need to apply fungicide or mildew will be a problem on the leaves. Cucumbers are fairly heavy feeders and need side dressings or miracle grow every two weeks while it is in production.