Cucumber Support

Hi all,

I'm growing cucumbers for the first time this year in my greenhouse. They are looking healthy at the moment and I'm wondering what sort of support I should give them as they get taller.
Do I treat them pretty much the same as tomatoes?

 

Thanks John,
They are Suttons F1 Baribal. I think they may be a fairly new addition as the packet is plain white. The variety is female, self fertilising and the fruit (are they fruit?) are not very long, about six inches.
Having read the packet again it suggests tying the stems to wire or canes. Does that mean they won't produce tendrils?
At the moment they are on a windowsill indoors, I know they are tender, so hope they don't grow to big before I can get them outside.

 

I'll let you know John how I get on with them. Thanks.

 

Interesting reply John, thanks for that.

I am growing cucumbers for the first time myself. My plan is to use one end of the raised bed in my polytunnel. I have crop bars directly above where I will plant the seedlings. I intend to place a length of timber between two of the crop bars and then run strings or wires down to the plants for them to grow up.

The variety I have chosen is called "Burpless Tasty". I sowed 12 seeds in a cell tray and all twelve have germinated, look very healthy and are about an inch and a half tall at the moment.

Having read your comments I am now wondering if I am going about this the right way? Or should I change my plan?

Regards

Chopper.

 

"Burpless Tasty" are an outdoor variety (which can be grown in the greenhouse) so leave the male flowers on (normally male flowers are removed on greenhouse cucumbers [and there are F1 varieties that have no male flowers], and left on outdoor ones ...). You may need to do manual pollination as they are inside the tunnel, in case the insects don't do a good enough job .

I train mine up a string tied to the cropping bars above, so that sounds fine. I grow 3 plants to feed our family, so you might find 12 plants a bit much! unless you are planning to preserve them, or test the "Burpless" attribute to the maximum!

 

My understanding is that it depends on variety. Outdoor "Ridge" computers you leave the male flowers on, and the fruits need pollination to set. Indoor varieties you avoid pollination because it makes them taste bitter (and they would be full of seeds), so you take the male flowers off.

As far as I know "Burpless Tasty" falls into the outdoor category.

But happy to be corrected ...

Dr. H. says of Indoor Cucumbers "Remove Male flowers from ordinary varieties - fertilized fruit is bitter" - and then goes on to list two "types" - the "ordinary varieties" and the "all female varieties" where clearly this advice would not apply anyway!!

Under Outdoor Cucumbers Dr. H. says "Fertilization is essential - never remove the male flowers" and then lists Ridge, Japanese, Gerkin, Apple and ... wait for it! ... "All Female" varieties

Clearly a nightmare and dependent on variety, or just buy seeds of an F1 All Female variety for the greenhouse (but they are blinking expensive - over a £1 per seed ...)

 

It seems we're all a bit confused about this cucumber lark. I think we should all go the way we think best and report back later.
It'll be interesting to see who gets what results.

Could be some sour facial expressions later in the year. :WINK1:

 

I am also growing cues in my greenhouse for the first time ... I got a xmas gift from a friend of three packs of seed and little clay pots with compost ( think they were from M & S) all it says on the pack about the cues is: 'Cucumber green and tasty' but no variety name ! however , they have sprouted well on the window sill and soon will need re-potting - was just going to keep them in greenhouse with the tomatoes .. also got lettuce and tomatoes in the box - the only one named is the tomatoe - Mascota' ...

Val

 

I've got one pack, telegraph, which says remove male flower before it can be used to pollinate, and another pack, wautoma, that says leave the males on.