smokeeater360
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Growing pickles or cukes as climbers

A couple of years ago, I saw an article about growing pickles or cuckes as climbers to help with space limitations. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions for doing so? Would you plant them in the ground and make a area for them to climb, or would you plant them in a raised planter box and let the vines fall to the ground? If you plant them in a raised planter box, how deep of a planter box would you need for good root development?

pepperhead212
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I have always grown cukes up trellises. The last two years I have grown them in SIPs - sub irrigated planters - and have never had such production, due to the fact that they were constantly moist, and cucumbers love water! For any kind of container growing of cukes, however, this involves watering them frequently - I have a timer with a drip emitter filling the reservoir in each SIP twice a day! Cukes really suck up water fast.

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Gary350
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I would do them exactly like I do melons, sweet potatoes, butternut squash. Plant 2 seeds 3 feet apart make the vines grow in a circle. Keep turning the vines once a week make them stay in a 10 to 12 foot circle. My grandmother use to harvest about 5 gallons of tiny little cucumbers and make the best Bread & Butter pickles.

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applestar
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I use vertical wire fencing trellis or nylon netting trellis secured to sturdy frame including overhead cross-piece. 1 foot apart and assume one foot of space (basically one per square foot ground space) I make the trellis no more than 6 foot high. The vines will spread or can be guided back and forth all over the trellis and will need wider (longer?) overall space.

The difference compared to allowing them to sprawl is significant, however. When they sprawl, they will root along the vines, grow multiple side vines, and the leaves grow much bigger -- ultimately are more productive.

For me, though, damage to the fruits from ground contact and overall fungal issues can become more pronounced. I prefer to keep them trellised, off the ground with plenty of air circulation -- I still end up with more than enough/too much harvest.

imafan26
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I use tomato cages and I usually plant 3 or 4 vines at the base of the cage. The variety I plant does not get very tall and tomato cages that I have can be stacked and staked. The folding tomato cages are only good for supporting things like peppers , cukes, peas, beans, and as a divider. I used to use the old tomato cages as fences to keep the my dog out of my garden. He and the cat had that it common, they both liked freshly tilled soil.

Cucumbers, especially Japanese cucumbers will grow straighter if they are on a trellis. If they are on or touch the ground they tend to curl.

gumbo2176
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I'm also a big proponent of growing them on a trellis for all the reasons already stated. As for production, I have a 24 ft. long by 6 ft. high trellis that I plant half of it in pickling cucumbers and the other half in the longer, slicing variety and I can't possibly eat all the cucumbers these vines produce. I put up dozens of jars of pickles with the smaller pickling variety and have to give away tons of them by the time they quit producing and are removed from the garden.

This year I'm not only growing pole beans, but also bush beans and soybeans for edamame and have 2 double planted rows just starting to emerge with new plants. The soybeans can pretty much be harvested all at the same time with the way they grow on the plants, but I'm truly not looking forward to picking the bush green beans with all that bending over to harvest them. Ergo, one of the reasons I generally like to trellis many plants-------the picking is easy.

pepperhead212
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Something that I didn't mention that I did last season, after getting a huge number of cukes all in a short period, then very few after about mid August, was succession planting. I planted one (that's right - one. The production in those SIPs is incredible!) every 3 weeks, and 3 on the 4th planting, to get a bunch for pickling in the fall. Worked great! Cukes have always fizzled out for me, so I don't know why I hadn't done this before.

PaulF
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Cukes here are always grown in the ground with a fence for them to climb. I use a cattle panel as the trellis. These are usually 8 feet long so I have cut one in half to use as the trellis. It is anchored on each end by fence posts. The cucumbers, whether climbers or bush will climb the fence. Mine are planted in the ground about six to eight inches apart. You can plant on one side or both sides of the fence depending on placement. In my area, the seeds are direct sown because cukes grow fast enough they do not need to be started early. Some folks like to start seeds early or purchase plants. All that is the growers choice. On a trellis the cucumbers are easy to see and pick and they grow straighter, too.

imafan26
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If you have a permanent garden it is best to have a permanent trellis on the north side of it just for things to trellis up. My trellis looks like a tent frame so the vines actually go over head. I have another one made of tent poles and ez corners but it cannot hold a lot of weight, the gourd bent the poles from the weight. The other trellis I have is a 7ft x 10ft CRW that I wrap around the tomato pots and I put a third pot between them. It is actually on the paver patio outside the garden so it would not take up any more garden space. Actually I have a lot of things in pots all over the yard since I can move them to make the most of the spacing and some things like eggplant, citrus, and tomatoes take up too much space in my small garden. Others like herbs do fine in pots and some of them will last more than a year so they are easier to manage in pots. Watering takes a lot of time though. I use the folding tomato cages for temporary trellisses and fences in the garden for cucumbers, beans and supports for peppers if they get too laden with fruit.

I used to grow spacemaster bush cucumber. I got about 11 cucumber from one plant. It actually took up the same space as a zucchini (36 inch circle) and the trellised cucumbers ( all four of them) take up about 1 square foot. Spacemaster had to be eaten the same day as it lost its' crunch fast.

The garlic man
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I have the most success with planting in the garden and using a plastic coated fence for a trellis. 4 feet by 4 feet and t-posts for stakes. Soaker hoses to keep them happy and healthy. Good luck.

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jal_ut
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Feedlot Panel, Cattle, 16 ft. L x 50 in. H
You will need a couple of T Posts the hold it up.

Just copy the first line to your browser for more info.

xtgold
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I had some in a hanging basket last year but most of the time I grow them against a wire fence for them to climb.

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Gary350
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c if this gives u ideas?

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