Cucumbers

[Gary350]

How many feet long do cucumber vines grow?

How many days until first harvest?

Only time I ever grew cucumbers was 3 years ago I don't remember how long vines were or how many days to harvest? Vines took over a 25'x25' area of the garden cucumbers were hard to find & accidently step on a vine it kills the vine. Not doing this again. Cucumbers were bug magnets bugs killed vines in 3 weeks and the whole garden was infested with bugs.

Will vines climb up a 1x2 board 7 ft tall?

I can cut 1x2 boards in 1/2 to make ¾"x¾" boards but they will not be strong.

I have 32 tomato cages that will not be used this year they are only 4 ft tall.

A 6' to 7' tall trellis thing 40 feet long would be great BUT we have 40 mph wind with thunderstorms. This will need 40 tent stakes and 20 ropes to keep it from blowing down.

I am going to plant about 60 cucumber plants in a 40 ft row. I want 2 bushel baskets of cucumbers in 2 days, then pull vines up and burn them before they attract bugs to the whole garden.

WE only have 4 quart jars of Bread & Butter Pickles left they will be gone by Aug., we make relish for several things. I think we made 7 gallons or relish 3 years ago.

[TomatoNut95]

It can depend on the variety. There are bushier types that don't go all over the place like others. Straight 8, my main cuke, can get rather messy and rather tall.

[Gary350]

It can depend on the variety. There are bushier types that don't go all over the place like others. Straight 8, my main cuke, can get rather messy and rather tall.

I did not know there are bush cucumbers. So there are bush cucumbers & pole cucumbers just like bush beans & pole beans. I have Wisconsin cucumber seeds, Gharkin cucumber seeds, National pickling cucumber seeds. I bought these seeds 3 years ago I hope they are still good. I think National is what I planted 3 years ago.

Online says, Boston 55 to 60 day crop. National 52 day crop.

[applestar]

Cucumbers hold on with tendrils so thin support like strings or wire are best. If using board to make trellis, use nails or maybe screw eyes to affix strings or wire and raise them at least 1/4 inch from the surface.

For long rows, I think it’s easier actually to set up overhead metal pipe conduit probably no higher than you can reach (so no need to stand on ladders to harvest), then tie strings to ground with sticks (or tent pegs, etc) — for my short beds, I made support with bamboo poles last year.

You can cut off vine when reaches the metal pipe and allow side shoots/vines to grow across. You can tie strings horizontally to guide them.

According to Japanese growing instructions, cucumbers fruit best on secondary (children) and tertiary (grandchildren) vines

Some people use a method in which the strings are kept long and every so often unhooked to lower and coil the string and attached vine in the ground — so now there is more exposed string between top of the vine and the metal conduit for the vine to grow up to.

I thought that would not work for me since anything touching or close to the ground would be immediately covered with powdery mildew. I thjnj people who use this method regularly spray heavy duty fungicide.

[TomatoNut95]

It can depend on the variety. There are bushier types that don't go all over the place like others. Straight 8, my main cuke, can get rather messy and rather tall.

I did not know there are bush cucumbers. So there are bush cucumbers & pole cucumbers just like bush beans & pole beans. I have Wisconsin cucumber seeds, Gharkin cucumber seeds, National pickling cucumber seeds. I bought these seeds 3 years ago I hope they are still good. I think National is what I planted 3 years ago.

Online says, Boston 55 to 60 day crop. National 52 day crop.

If you are looking for a really bush cuke I highly recommend Dar. You'll find it on Baker Creek. It says the vines get only like 18" tall. Nice green fruits, I grew Dar one year in comparison to Straight 8. Dar definitely doesn't turn into a viny mess.

[applestar]

FYI

So this year, my plan is to try applying specific pruning and training / supporting / trellising and other techniques that I have been binge watching on YouTube over the past couple of years, and especially last year.

Here are details of the techniques for Cucurbits. Some are specifically outlined in instructions for growing specific variety of a hybrid melon (by which I mean the instructions may be tailored to the growth habits of the particular hybrid, and not universally applicable to the type of plant). Generally, the techniques appear to be in common use by Japanese market farmers, but there are regional differences, and I’ve basically compiled common methods and specifics that seem to apply to my growing conditions/climate….

Japanese Cucurbit pruning/training techniques:

[…]

CUCUMBER

1. Pinch side shoots (children vines) AND FLOWERS from first 5 true leaf nodes — allow fruits and children vines to develop from 6th to 15th nodes as described below
2. *select/allow (2~3 or 3~4) STRONG children vines to grow between 11th~15th nodes (knee to chest high)
— some of them will become Asobizuru 遊びヅル (leisure vine) — DON’T pinch growing tip; REMOVE all female flowers/NO FRUIT
— asobizuru is also called chikarazuru (power vine) — will be tucked inside the trellis to grow.
3. *As 1st fruit develops at 6th node and children vines begin to take off, pinch/cut 6th node to 10th node children vines after TWO leaves and allow just the one female blossom/fruit at base of 1st leaf to develop. Feed with supplemental fertilizer for bloom and fruit development (+PK, Dolomitic Lime=Magnesium+Calcium) at this time.
*Tsukaharanoen https://youtu.be/a9dee0tjQ3M
4. When growing vertically on a trellis, pinch/cut main leader vine (parent vine) growth point at 15th node = eye level ~ head height and tie/secure to top of trellis
5. From 11th node, continue to pinch/cut off the children vines after 2 leaves and harvest the one fruit at 1st leaf node, BUT choose 2 or 3 moderately strong vines to become Asobizuru / Chikarazuru / Powervine
6. Set up a horizontal twine support for the Powervines and tie down to grow sideways WITHOUT PINCHING/cutting off the growing tip.
— Powervines are like power generators for the main/parent vine. If parent vine leaves stops growing larger, assume another powervine is needed to generate supplemental energy. Up to 4 powervines.
7. As fruits are harvested from the 1st and possibly 2nd leafnodes of children vines, grandchildren vines will grow from the same 2 leafnodes. Continue to pinch/cut after 2 leaves for the grandchildren vines, and harvest the fruits that form from the leafnodes.
8. Remove yellowed lower leaves and keep up with fertilizing to maintain healthy growth

Tsukahara Noen https://youtu.be/RLOwmVCWVNg

[…]

…also this video with illustration was helpful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOgapRM ... e=youtu.be

[pepperhead212]

I have had good luck with the Wisconsin variety - a great pickling variety, and I would pinch off the vine at about 7 ft on the trellis (I can reach it to there), and let the side shoots take over - those children vines. The Wisconsin has sort of hairy vines and leaves, which keeps most bugs off, around here.

[imafan26]

There are bush cucumbers like spacemaster. I do grow vining cucumbers. Soarer, Suyo Long, and Diva are the ones that do the best. They have good disease resistence and Suyo is heat resistant. All of these are parthenocarpic, so they are burpless and are not bitter. They don't produce as much as othey gynecious varieties but I get enough from them. I get to harvest for about 6 weeks. Days to harvest 50-70 days. Soarer does well even through the rainy season it is downy and powdery mildew resistant, but not as heat resistant as Suyo. Suyo has moderate resistance to PM, so sometimes, I do have to spray with sulfur to control it. These are o.k. for eating freshly picked, and they are o.k. for a quick pickle like namasu, but they don't hold up as well as a pickling variety

[Gary350]

There are bush cucumbers like spacemaster. I do grow vining cucumbers. Soarer, Suyo Long, and Diva are the ones that do the best. They have good disease resistence and Suyo is heat resistant. All of these are parthenocarpic, so they are burpless and are not bitter. They don't produce as much as othey gynecious varieties but I get enough from them. I get to harvest for about 6 weeks. Days to harvest 50-70 days. Soarer does well even through the rainy season it is downy and powdery mildew resistant, but not as heat resistant as Suyo. Suyo has moderate resistance to PM, so sometimes, I do have to spray with sulfur to control it. These are o.k. for eating freshly picked, and they are o.k. for a quick pickle like namasu, but they don't hold up as well as a pickling variety

Last time I grew cucumbers stink bugs & worms were the biggest problem. The first week plants were ok but the end of the 2nd week there were 1000s of stink bugs and worms inside the cucumbers. There were so many stink bugs it was like a swarm of bees & cucumbers were full of holes with worms inside. Plants turned yellow & brown with 1000s if black spots. All those bugs spread to the rest of the garden.

My grandmother use to talk about how bad stink bugs were she planted a cucumber crop about the size of my whole garden then picked several bushel baskets of cucumbers in 2 or 3 days before stink bugs had time to take over and destroy the crop. Then she pull up all the plants and burn them. She made 10 gallons of brine & about 15 gallons of pickles in about 2 or 3 days. That was her solution to out smart the bugs before they hatch.

[applestar]

I’m guessing in your more southern location, you get the pickleworms? So far I’ve only encountered them once (in the house) when I tried to overwinter a container started cucumber. I believe normally, even if they make it up to this area (hurricane-driven?) with the hot weather systems towards the end of the summer, they are winterkilled.

Do those moths lay their eggs INSIDE the cucumber fruits? Or do the hatched caterpillars burrow their way in? If the latter, maybe spraying with Bt, Spinosad, or Neem oil might be able to affect the baby caterpillars before they get inside (these are organic-rated products that affect caterpillars when they ingest them), and/or kill the eggs (oil/soap spray can dessicate eggs)?

** Note that Bt ONLY affects lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) caterpillars, but Sponosad and Neem can also be harmful to beneficials like bees and predators **

There is probably a pheromone sticky trap for monitoring for the adult moth presence, that would help signal when to spray.

@imafan, if you are reading this, do you know? I know you usually talk about bagging the fruits to protect them….

I didn’t see stinkbugs on my cucumbers (our locally heavy population of Brown Marmorated Stinkbugs seem to favor pole beans more than cucumbers) but last year, I was dealing with heavy infestation of Spotted Lanternflies on the cucumbers.

All that said, cucumbers are relatively easy crop for me here. I only tried growing them on the ground once — I always grow them vertically up a trellis.

[imafan26]

I have a lot of predators so stink bugs are not a problem. Pickle worms and fruit flies are. The problem gets worse if zucchini is around. That is a magnet for the pests. If there is no zucchini, the cucumbers don't have that much of a problem. Right now, I am just starting to have problems with fruit flies so I just got some bait and I am covering the cucumbers with a stocking to keep them from being stung. I have not grown spacemaster in years. It is a good cucumber if you eat it the day it is picked but it loses its' crispness very quickly. I also prefer the Japanese cucumbers. Diva is not a Japanese cucumber but it shares the disease resistance and seedless qualities. Soarer, Diva, and Suyo are vines and they average 8-10 feet. I do trellis them up, otherwise they would take up too much space and the fruit grows straighter if it is hanging. I either plant them in the tomato buckets which is next to the CRW trellis or in individual buckets with a folding tomato cage that is stacked two cages high. Each cage is about 39 inches tall so after the cages are stacked, the trellis ends up about 6-7 ft tall.

Right now, the butterflies and moths are out so, pickle worms are making trouble. The fruit bags need to be put on the fruit when they are very small. Newspaper works too, but it needs to be changed if it gets wet. I have my butterfly net to capture butterflies. The geckos usually are hiding on the leaves and will catch them if they can.

Pickleworms eggs are laid during the flowering time and the larvae burrows into the cucumber. If it is timed right then the fruit won't be damaged. If not, at least the pest is trapped in the bag. Otherwise, I need to dispose of all of the damaged fruit to prevent the worms from completing their life cycle.
Spraying the flowers can work, but it also affects pollinators. The parthenocarpic fruit do not depend on pollination, but is better with it.
https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/veg/pickleworm.htm

[applestar]

Thanks @imafan

I also found this paper that describes the pickleworm life cycle in the first paragraphs —

Monitoring Pickleworm (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) Moths with Pheromone-Baited Traps
D. MICHAEL JACKSON, J. A. KLUN,l A. P. KHRIMIAN,2 A. M. SIMMONS, AND K. A. SORENSEN3 U.S. Vegetable Laboratory, USDA-ARS,

[Gary350]

.Do those moths lay their eggs INSIDE the cucumber fruits? Or do the hatched caterpillars burrow their way in?

I never see worms on the outside of cucumbers. When I see holes in the cucumber the inside is already full of worm tunnels.

What color moth do I look for? I see White & Orange color 1" moths already. There will be Yellow moths soon. Is there bate or traps for moths?

[applestar]

Here’s the one I found in the house. I believe they are yellow orange or orange-tan with black markings as shown — about 1 inch across



According to the paper description above, they burrow into a cucumber fruit as 4th and 5th instar (nearly full size) caterpillars, and live on flowers and flowerbuds until then.

[applestar]

Bad news according to article out of LSU Ag last May —

Diaphania nitidalis and Diaphania hyalinata, Pickleworm and Melonworm Moths (Lepidoptera: Crambidae)
https://www.lsuagcenter.com/articles/page1619562097942

Research has demonstrated cucurbit resistance to both insects is based on the female moths’ preference for some varieties during egg laying. However, there are no current commercially available cucurbit cultivars with resistance available in the state of Louisiana. Sex pheromones of both species have been discovered and synthesized. However, they are not used for monitoring of these pests.

Clear photos of both kinds of moth in the article though.

[Gary350]

In the past I had very good luck planting squash seeds next to ant hills, ants find & eat bug eggs before they hatch. I have 2 different kinds of small ants in the garden, I will look for ants before I plant cucumber seeds. If I plant cucumber seeds near ants that might be helpful keeping worms & bugs off of the plants. I have seen those 1" brown color moths before.

I have several ideas for a 6 foot trellis type thing for cucumber vines but every thing will be a whole days work. 100 ft of white color rope is $3 at Harbor Freight. Hay bail twine is $8 for 1000" or $30 for 5000 ft at farm supply. Planting 6 times too many seeds to get 2 bushel baskets of cucumbers very quick in 2 or 3 days might work good to use tomato cages. Tomato cages are short Q-cumber vines might grow up then down & across the soil before vines have Q-cumbers. 6' tall trellis seems to be the best idea so Q-cumber vines are not on the soil. I have until about 1st week of May to figure out what to do. Building a 6 ft tall 40 ft long trellis might be fun I have everything but 100 ft of rope. It will take a whole day to remove vines and take trellis down. I could also leave trellis up a week to give away 20,000. cucumbers.

[pepperhead212]

Something that I spray on cucumbers, and many other plants as well, is Surround. This keeps many bugs off, for the most part, or at least keeps them from hanging around there (for laying eggs, etc), as they don't like the feel of it. It stays on fairly well in slow rains, on the undersides of the leaves especially, as that's where the bugs usually go to. And on the fruits themselves, the surround wipes off easily. Since cukes grow very fast, I keep a large sprayer in my shed with surround in it, plus a little potassium bicarbonate - a good, organic antifungal. This way, I can spray the new growth every few days.

One pest, that most of you don't have yet (hopefully), but I'm sure apple knows them, is the Spotted Lanternfly. This is something that supposedly doesn't lay eggs, or feed on the cucumbers, but I have been noticing them on my cucumbers, bitter melons, okra, and eggplants, the last two years, increasing last year. While maybe not doing direct damage, any insects can spread disease, such as bacterial wilt. In fact, until I tried the Wisconsin variety, a couple of years ago, every other variety would get bacterial wilt, except for County Fair, which is resistant. Little leaf is another supposedly resistant variety, but it did not produce well, the one year I tried it. Supposedly, the bacterial wilt is spread by the cucumber or potato beetles, and I'm worried about the SLF spreading diseases, like that.

[TomatoNut95]

Moths are something I never see on my cukes. But watch out for the cucumber beetle. They're small and yellow with black spots like a ladybug.

[Gary350]

Will cucumber vines slide down vertical strings & vertical ropes?

[pepperhead212]

I don't think they will, since strings and ropes will give something for those tendrils to grip. They grip well on smoother surfaces, but especially things like that.

[Gary350]

I figured out how to build an easy trellis 34' long 6' tall with 627 feet of rope or string 4" apart. 2 seeds at each string is 68 plants. If plants can climb up and not slide down this will work. Nylon trop line fishing fishing strings is reasonable price but slippery. Hay bale string does not hold up to the weather very long 2 months might be ok. Nylon rope is strong and slippery also. Net would be good but where to get 1 this size & what is the price?

[imafan26]

Pickle worm moths come out at night and lay the egg on the flowers or nearby leaves. The caterpillar migrates and burrows into the cucumber. Pickle worms leaves large holes with exudates usually in the middle of the cucumber. Fruit flies sting cucumbers when they are very small. Usually, those stung early will yellow and die shortly after. Pyrethrins do work, but the bees do visit the flowers, so I am doing thuricide (Bt). I spray it just before dusk.

I can't even see the ground at night much less any moths flying around, but I am sure they are there. I also found monarch larvae are chomping on the crown flower on the shade bench. I picked off three. Between monarchs and cabbage butterflies, I have my work cut out for me capturing them. I will spray Bt every 3 days or so and check for caterpillars. I have geckos in the garden so I hardly ever see caterpillars on the cabbages, although there are a few holes in the leaves. I have not seen any geckos on the shade bench. For the crown flowers I am doing both Bt and pyrethrins. Crown flowers do not attract bees. There are no shortages of monarchs here.

It is more of a problem with all kinds of pests at this time of the year when many plants are leafing out. It is why I have cultivars I can grow in the off season. During those times I have fewer issues with pests and I don't have to spray or even cover the fruit, except for tomatoes. The birds never leave. and they like big tomatoes.

[Gary350]

We went to grocery store today I was looking for Pickle spices when I see a women pick up a box of pickling salt. We started taking, she is going to plant cucumber seeds in May also. She is getting stocked up now because once everyone gets started making pickles there won't be any, vinegar, salt or spices in any of the stores. She planted cabbage March 1st she said it is doing good. She cans chopped cabbage is quart jars. I told her I canned cabbage in pint jars. She almost had me inspired to grow cabbage but I realize in the past bugs eat it, sometimes cabbage rots into a pile of gray slime, it gets hot before cabbage makes heads we have 90°F weather usually mid May. I have a lot of fun talking to people at the garden store.

[Gary350]

This is a good Bread & Butter Pickle recipe, a little too much over kill trying to kill bacteria twice. Vinegar & sugar are both preservatives. My Brine recipe below. Pack jars with fast cooked cucumber slices & fast cooked onion slices then fill jars with brine 1/2" from top. Put on seals & rings then stand jars upside down until they cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL6YCt3-hRY

[imafan26]

Cucumbers are easier to grow than tomatoes for me. At least my cucumbers taste better than the tomatoes do. I grow large plants in pots. I have grown cucumbers in the main garden as well. To get the most out of the 18 gallon pot. I plant 4 seeds of cucumbers (they don't all make it). I stack two folding tomato cages on top of each other and support it with additional stakes. The square or triangular tomato cages usually can fit or be squeezed to fit inside of the bucket. The vines grow up on the cage so they are not really messy at all. I have to admit I do have to use a stepstool to get to fruit at the top, otherwise, most of them I can easily see and reach. Occasionally, a sneaky one will hide behind the pot and I might miss it. The fruit will grow straighter if it can freely hang. I under plant the cucumbers with short crops. I have planted lettuce and the last time I planted bok choy with the cucumbers. Soarer will grow well even when it is wet. It is resistant to both downy and powdery mildew. In summer I can grow Soarer, but when it gets close to 90 degrees Suyo is more heat tolerant. Suyo has good downy mildew resistance but only moderate powdery mildew, so it get more mildew if I grow it in the rainy season. Suyo has a rougher skin. Both are parthenocarpic so they produce mostly female flowers and an occasional male. They are seedless, crisp if you eat it freshly picked and non-bitter. It is kinda feast or famine. Once the cucumbers start producing I can get 4 cucumbers at the same time. It produces for about 6 weeks, then I have to start new plants.

Right now, I lost a couple to pickle worms. A couple I harvested early because of pickle worm. It has been raining the past few days so the butterflies and moths are not coming around as much. I have also been bagging the fruit and spraying them with Bt. It is usually a temporary problem. Most of the time I don't have to cover the cucumbers as long as there is no zucchini around to attract more pests like fruit flies.

I put the zucchini in the side yard so they will draw the pests away to attack it instead of the cucumbers.

[Gary350]

This is an interesting video, how to grow cucumbers. Gravity makes hanging Q-cumbers grow straight. Hanging Q-cumbers are more productive than Q-cumbers on the soil.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua1TbZAyqjc

[pepperhead212]

I grow all of my cukes on trellises, some extended to about 8', and they reach the tops, no problem! The rest I just run them horizontally, like with pole beans and other long vines. These all do better on trellises.

[imafan26]

I do the same thing. I grow cucumbers in a 5 ft crw cage or on stacked folding tomato cages. Tomato cages are 39 inches high. after stacking they end up around 6-7 ft tall. I have planted up to 4 vines on a trellis. Japanese cucumbers don't make a lot of side shoots. When they go over the top, I run them horizontally.

I did grow Spacemaster. It is a bush and the cucumbers come out all at the same time. The downside is that it is best if you eat it the same day you pick it. It loses its' crunch faster.

I look for disease and heat tolerance in the cucumbers. I don't grow a lot of the regular garden cucumbers like marketmore and poinsett. These tend to be seedy and can get bitter. I prefer the thin skinned parthenocarpic varieties of Japanese or persian cucumbers that are seedless, burpless, and usually not bitter.

When the temperatures get much above 80 degrees at the end of May, I have to switch from the cool varieties to the more heat tolerant ones like Suyo or Summer Cross. I am trying new heat tolerant ones this year. Dasher II, Thunder, and Corinto. They have good heat and disease tolerance as well. I am trying beit alpha cucumbers for the first time. This is the first time I was able to find seeds that were available and did not cost an arm and two legs. Actually, I take that back. I grew Diva many years ago. I recently found out Diva is an beit alpha type cucumber. I really like Diva. Just most of the people I share the cucumbers with don't want to try Diva because it is not a Japanese cucumber. They are spoiled.

I usually look for varieties that have good powdery and downy mildew tolerance as well as CMV. I grow them in pots so nematodes will not be an issue. The biggest pest is pickleworms. Thankfully, they are not around all year. So, I only have to use Bt for part of the time. I still have to fungicide with sulfur especially when the weather is the way it is now where humidity is high and it is raining every night and sunny in the afternoon. The second biggest pest are melon flies. I put out bait for that, spray the host plants, and cover the fruit with net bags. I have the zucchini (a pest magnet) planted far away from the cucumbers.

Mildew resistance does not go far when the environmental conditions like this persists for weeks. It is cloudy and rains every night with the sun coming out briefly in the afternoon. Sulfur is a bit indiscriminate since it will also affect beneficial insects. So, I recently switched to hydrogen peroxide sprays. I have to mix it up right before I use it 12 Tablespoons hydrogen peroxide to 1 gallon of water. It will kill fungal spores on contact. It washes off with rain and it has no lasting power. For residual effect, I would have to use a baking soda spray weekly unless it rains, then it has to be reapplied. Copper sulfate can control early infections. Copper stains and can become toxic so I can't use too much of it. If the disease gets out of hand there is nothing I can do except to pull the whole plant out and start over.

[applestar]

I realized I didn’t post this cucumber pruning method. I thought the illustrations were easier to understand

キュウリの整枝について　1/2　イラスト編
[How to prune cucumbers 1/2 — illustrated version]

…here is a screenshot of one of the illustrations

(translated)
UP TO 20Th NODE —
prune suckers (children vines) after 2nd leaf

UP TO 10Th NODE —
prune suckers (children vines) after 1st leaf

UP TO 5Th NODE —
remove all suckers (children vines) and blossoms

[imafan26]

Interesting video. You are right the illustrations are informative. The cucumbers I grow don't produce a lot of side shoots until the plant is older. Is this a varietal thing?

[pepperhead212]

So, do you stop pulling the suckers after the 20th node? I'll have to look closely this year. I'll have 3 varieties, with one new one, and that Wisconsin 58 is notorious for getting countless suckers on them.

[Gary350]

I don't know anything about cucumber this year will be the 3rd time I ever grew them. I am growing 3 different kinds I'm not sure if they are all 55 day crop or what? I hope to learn which variety is best so next time we need cucumbers we know which one is best.

[imafan26]

The cucumber you pick really depends on the qualities you want. I want a burpless cucumber with a thin skin. So, I prefer parthenocarpic Japanese cucumbers. It is good fresh and it is never bitter. I also need resistance to downy and powdery mildew.

However, if you are looking for a pickling cucumber, this is not a good one.

If you want heat tolerance. Ashley, Dasher II, Thunder, Suyo, and Beit alpha are the most heat tolerant cucumbers. Cucumbers prefer temperatures under 80 degrees. Diva is a good AARS winner.
https://all-americaselections.org/produ ... mber-diva/

I don't grow any monoecious cucumbers.

I prefer parthenocarpic because while they produce fewer cucumbers, most of the flowers will be female and if they are not pollinated, they don't get seedy or have weird shapes. The vines are productive for about 6 weeks, so I stagger the plantings for a continuous supply.

As far as I know, none of them are pest resistant, so you will have to manage that.

[pepperhead212]

I'm growing a new variety this year - Sambar, which is a small variety grown in Southern India, so I am guessing it should be fairly heat resistant!

[imafan26]

It sounds like it will be heat tolerant. I looks interesting, more like a melon than a cucumber.

https://adventuresofcarlienne.com/sambar-cucumber/

[Gary350]

The cucumber seeds I bought advertised, Pickle Cucumbers, that is the only reason I bought them. I grew National before they were great but stink bugs & worms took over about July 14 then all cucumbers were bad. This year I also have Wisconsin 58 & Gherkin. The biggest problem I had was cucumbers attracted bugs to the whole garden both times that I grew cucumbers. After cucumber vines were destroyed 90% of the bugs were gone. At the moment garden the wooden row marker stakes give birds a place set and look for bugs. Birds are nesting now for 15 to 21 days I think they have been setting on eggs for about 7 to 10 days. Birds eggs should hatch about June 1st then it takes 5 weeks for birds to leave the nest about July 7th that is about the time cucumbers will be ripe. Birds feed baby birds for about 1 more week after they leave the nest July 15 is when I see a big increase in garden bugs. Birds seem to be helpful in the garden but I'm not sure if they eat stink bugs.

Seed pack says, Gharkin the AD said Gharkin but online says, Gherkin.

[imafan26]

Birds do eat a lot of bugs. I rarely see stink bugs, but I have a lot of predators. I have hover flies and parasitic wasps that are attracted to the pollen and nectar garden. They and the geckos are a major source of my garden patrol. There are a lot of birds around too, but most of them are cardinals, bulbuls, and doves. They like to eat leaves and fruit. The mynah and cattle egret eat bugs, they also eat geckos too.

[pepperhead212]

It sounds like it will be heat tolerant. I looks interesting, more like a melon than a cucumber.

https://adventuresofcarlienne.com/sambar-cucumber/

I saw that article about it, and a couple of others, which said it's mostly for cooking, but sometimes for pickling type things, like chutneys. I also have two other similar things - Armenian cucumbers (not really cucumbers), and pickling melons. I'll see how these do, as far as pest attraction and disease. Bitter melons are another cucurbit that I grow that doesn't attract many pests, until those spotted lanternflies showed up last year, and the bottle gourd never seems to attract anything.

Gary That problem you have with cucumbers attracting pests was the problem I had the one time I grew potatoes! Those things attracted so many of several pests, that almost all of my eggplants were wiped out by them, and a few varieties of tomatoes, as well as unrelated plants, while they didn't affect the potatoes much, as they had so many leaves I couldn't even find many of the pests. Wasn't worth growing again, for me.

My cukes aren't in outside yet, but as with other things, I immediately spray the Surround on them, when they go in. I did this yesterday with everything out there, and used less than 1/2 gal of mix, mostly on those large eggplants, being sure to get the undersides of the leaves. It rained .17" last night, but you can see that most is still on, when dried, and of course the undersides don't wash off.

[imafan26]

Does surround affect beneficial insects? I don't have easy access to kayolin clay, so I have never tried it. There are a lot of bugs here year round. I only treat the ones that cause severe damage. I depend largely on trap plants and natural predators to control most bugs. Some trickery as well, like pheromone traps, and lights.

I do have to control snails, slugs, erineum mites, and diseases with chemicals, but unless there is a lot of damage, I try to preserve predators. I use water and pruning to control bacterial spot, white flies and mites. I select cultivars that have good disease resistance, but I do have to do preventive fungal sprays when it rains for a week or more. A good garden patrol usually means, I only have to monitor the trap plants and I usually don't have to treat much. Before I had the organic cucumbers attacked by this disease, I never had many disease issues with cucumbers.

Bitter melon and zucchini for me are bug magnets. I have to keep them away from the cucumbers. It is why the zucchini is not in the side yard. Without the zucchini, the cucumber are not bothered as much by fruit flies. Fruit flies like bitter melon. For me that is a weed, so I have to keep pulling it out. I have some to pull out now that is trying to take over the bay leaf.

[pepperhead212]

That kaolin clay does not affect beneficial insects - it just makes the leaves "unpleasant to touch" for many insects, and if it does that for them, they'll go on to others, like the greens, that I don't spray. Fortunately, I don't have nearly as many insects around here, due to the winter killing many of them. I have few fruit flies, until late in the season, when they are around for things like over-ripe fruits. Most of the time most of them hang around the creek, on the other side of the next street over; however, this is the reason I have a problem with pepper maggots - a native host plant that lives in wet-lands. I think there may be something similar with the SVB - something that appears in no time, if I plant the squash that are prone to it. Strangely enough, that was the only insect that was a problem with it, not a bug magnet, like in your area.