Bitterness in cucumbers

[hendi_alex]

My cucumbers have grown under stress this year, consequently have had quite a bit of bitterness, especially on the stem ends. As a result I did a little research on bitterness in cucumbers. On one site I found this list that may be of interest for anyone who has an ongoing problem with bitterness in their cukes. Note: My main variety was Straight 8, no wonder I had a bitterness problem!


Variety/ Percent Bitter Fruit
Burpee Pickler/ 90
Straight "8" (Pepino)/ 81
Chicago Pickling/ 78
Burpeanna Hybrid/ 40
Early White Spine/ 36
Marketer/ 24
National Pickling/ 23
Sensation Hybrid/ 20
Improved Long Green / 6
Eversweet/ 0
Ashley/ 0
Sunnybrook/ 0
Saticoy Hybrid/ 0
Lemon/ 0

Full article:

https://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/eb1250/eb1250.html

[mbaker410]

Good Post... I have not read the article yet. But what exactly is the Percentage of bitter Fruit.

Is it the bitterness makeup of that variety or is it the percentage of the total production from one plant that will be bitter?

Thanks and if its in the article just ignore my laziness! lol

[hendi_alex]

Thought I remembered some clarification in the article but checked to be sure.

"The accompanying table indicates the percentage of bitter fruit in selected varieties of cucumbers grown in test plots in eastern Washington."

Sounds to me like they did a taste test of many samples from each variety.

[mbaker410]

Ok, So it sounds like out of 20 tested 81% of the ones tested where on the bitter side.

Thanks for the clarification.

Out of curiosity out of the varieties of cukes you have grown are there big differences in the look and characteristics of the plants themselves?

[hendi_alex]

Not that I've notices, similar spread and leaf size, yet remarkable difference between the fruits of say picklers vs. slicers. I have tried some of the smaller so called bush varieties in the past. They have a much smaller footprint but I think tend to be less productive as well. But as my experience with those is limited, my observation could have simply led me to a false conclusion based upon too little experience. It would seem that the bush varieties would be more suitable for container gardening.

[Roger]

I don't know about 'bush' varieties, but most any seed packet that has the word 'pickle' or 'pickling' variety can be extremely prolific if kept picked reguarly, and tends to be a lot more contained in general size [in my garden, anyway] . Since I pickle a lot, I have come to grow the 'pickling' varieties almost exclusively in my garden now. [I do tend to grow one or two larger ones for salads and variety.] I've noticed the pickling varieties makes a thicker/shorter cucumber and tends to perform better under irregular conditions, if a bit slower to get started. They do demands to be picked regularly though; they will outright quit producing if you leave even one large cucumber on the vine hidden somewhere.