Cucumbers -- when are they ready?

cherriesjubilee 5/25/2010, 6:20 pm

I'm growing the Slicemaster hybrid type. The plant stake read "8 inches at maturity." Well, mine are almost there. I'll bet my biggest one is 6".

But my cucumber has prickly little projections on it. You would have to handle it with gloves. Will they smooth out as the cucumber gets bigger? My cuke is also not very big in diameter.

Thank you.

Megan 5/25/2010, 7:28 pm

I am not familiar with Slicemaster, but some types of cukes can be very prickly, both the fruit and the leaves. I am growing cukes for the first time this year since I was a kid, but I do not ever remember the pricklies going away. If anything, they got more prickly as time went on. When we harvested we wore long sleeves and pants and tall socks, they really can scratch you up.

You might try eating one now if it looks tasty to you! Wink

I would also make sure your plant is getting enough water, cukes are water hogs when they are setting fruit.

cherriesjubilee 5/25/2010, 9:09 pm

Thanks very much. Yes, I am keeping up with the watering. They get watered every day, in fact, because it's been so hot. I put straw mulch on the soil to help cool them down.

I don't know how they'll taste! I will report on that later.

**donnainzone5** 5/25/2010, 10:40 pm

My experience with the Spacemaster variety is that the "prickles" diminish as the cuke matures.

I've been trying to post pix of my harvest of a few years ago, when my HOA properly hacked the olive tree next door. A couple of them weighed 42-1/2 oz!

Nurse Grams 5/26/2010, 9:47 am

Hey cherriesjubie, I'm not familiar with that variety either, but when I was a kid, we always grew pickling cukes and they always had prickery things on them. We were kids so we didn't wear gloves, but I'll be wearing gloves when my cukes are ready this year! Those prickery things knock off fairly easily.

I don't like my cukes to get too big, because the seeds inside also get bigger and I don't care for that. I'd pick one now, and see how you like it.

---Pam

cherriesjubilee 5/26/2010, 9:06 pm

Well, good news! One cuke was 8" long and I picked it today.
It was good! Now all I need is some tomatoes and onions to
put with it. I am not growing tomatoes -- I think I'll get some at
the Cowtown Farmers Market on Saturday. Very Happy

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Cucumbers -- when are they ready?

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