Cucumber - vine/bush?

JustMe 4/23/2012, 11:16 pm

Are cucumber seed packets marked as vine or bush? Some cucumbers' variety names include bush in them, so I figured those were bush types.

The Burpee seed
packets didn't list a finished height, so I accidentally bought bush
cucumber seeds. Once home, I looked them up and have written down names of the vine type seeds to get.

The tomato plants typically are marked determinate or indeterminate. Is there some specific cucumber terminology that I should be looking for on the packages? Are hybrids typically bush? (I bought two hybrid packets.)

Too Tall Tomatoes 4/23/2012, 11:22 pm

In my experience, if a cucumber plant or seed packet isn't labeled "bush" then it will be your standard climbing variety.

landarch 4/24/2012, 12:01 am

I planted Spacemaster bush cucumbers last year and still needed a trellis. I thought it would be like a bush tomato and needed no staking but it wasn't the case.

**camprn** 4/24/2012, 7:10 am

landarch wrote:I planted Spacemaster bush cucumbers last year and still needed a trellis. I thought it would be like a bush tomato and needed no staking but it wasn't the case.

+1, My spacemasters were prolific producers and didn't get taller than 4 feet. I am planting them again, with a short trellis.

curio 4/24/2012, 8:27 am

Most cucumber plants will only keep producing fruit if the previous ripe fruit is kept picked and not allowed to totally mature (think turning deep yellow). I have not found a difference in this between bush or vining. The only difference has been the length of the vines, with the bush variety not taking up as much space.

landarch 4/24/2012, 11:18 am

My Spacemasters gave us more than we could eat before they all went down with cucumber wilt...the trellis was hip high...this year I'll be trying county fair on a large trellis.

JustMe 4/24/2012, 11:59 pm

Thanks for the responses. I may try to grow them up on corn.

**donnainzone5** 4/25/2012, 11:16 am

Growing cucumbers using corn as trellises may not be a good idea. The weight of several average-sized cukes might be too much for the corn stalks! (unless, of course, you're growing the variety I've seen that reaches 15' or so in height.)

As I mentioned in a recent post, several years ago, I grew some Spacemasters that weighed 38.5 - 42.5 oz.

You might want to try planting them in the corners of your box and letting them sprawl.

JustMe 4/25/2012, 7:54 pm

Thanks for that info Donnainzone10.

cpl100 8/18/2012, 3:25 pm

camprn wrote:
landarch wrote:I planted Spacemaster bush cucumbers last year and still needed a trellis. I thought it would be like a bush tomato and needed no staking but it wasn't the case.
+1, My spacemasters were prolific producers and didn't get taller than 4 feet. I am planting them again, with a short trellis.

I am having the opposite scenario. Having a hard time with my Spacemaster but my Bush Champion is growing well and now has a few flowers. I think they are all male flowers, though.

CapeCoddess 8/18/2012, 6:20 pm

camprn wrote:My spacemasters were prolific producers and didn't get taller than 4 feet. I am planting them again, with a short trellis.

Camp, So what happens...do they just stop growing up but instead spread out to keep producing? do you have a photo of those plants at maturity?

CC

mollyhespra 6/12/2013, 10:42 am

So...what about spacing for bush cukes, then? I have the 'Spacemaster' and the package says thin to 12", so I'm assuming one per square?

After reading the earlier posts on this thread I'm wondering if I can use a large round tomato cage placed in the center of 4 squares as a trellis of sorts. I've never grown a bush cuke before, so have no idea of it's habit.

For those of you who have grown this variety, do you think that the cage idea will work?

Thanks in advance!

landarch 6/12/2013, 10:59 am

I've grown Spacemaster cukes before on a small trellis...the vines produced heavily until they went down with wilt...they were about 4' ht at that time.

mollyhespra 6/12/2013, 3:14 pm

Landarch, how *wide* were the plants? The pics I see online seem to have them spreading out a bit and some places suggest an 18-24" spacing between plants. Any suggestions?

landarch 6/12/2013, 8:08 pm

From my experience, they really didn't have a width like a bush-type plant...they really acted like a vine (planted about 4"-6" on center).

mollyhespra 6/12/2013, 10:55 pm

landarch wrote:From my experience, they really didn't have a width like a bush-type plant...they really acted like a vine (planted about 4"-6" on center).

Hmmm...then I need to re-think my plan...I'm guessing then that the 24" width meant that it will sprawl around to that width if unsupported.

So how many did you plant per square?

landarch 6/13/2013, 8:34 am

I didn't plant in a SFG...I planted them all in a line in some extra space right outside a raised 4x4 box...I'll try to find some old pics and post.

landarch 6/13/2013, 8:52 am

Here's the only pic I could find of my Spacemaster cucumbers three years ago. I did a steel t-post on each end then hand-made a twine trellis. The plants were between hip and shoulder ht. when wilt took them out, however, as you can tell from the pic, seems like they were loaded with blossoms and cukes almost every day.
Cucumber - vine/bush? Dsc09611

landarch 6/13/2013, 8:56 am

pics of Spacmasters show people growing them in large flower pots, vines slightly trailing onto a deck or patio loaded with cucumbers...if I were to do one in a SFG square I would put it on an edge so you could train it to spill over the side a bit, away from other plants you don't want croweded out, climbed on, etc.

mollyhespra 6/13/2013, 9:12 am

landarch wrote:pics of Spacmasters show people growing them in large flower pots, vines slightly trailing onto a deck or patio loaded with cucumbers... [snip]

Thanks for your help & that pic, Landarch! I saw those cukes in pots, too, but it was hard to make out how that would relate to an SFG; to trellis or not, etc.

So I think I'm going to do one per square and make a trellis.

Thanks again for your help!

Sponsored content

Cucumber - vine/bush?

Cucumber - vine/bush?

Re: Cucumber - vine/bush?

Re: Cucumber - vine/bush?

Re: Cucumber - vine/bush?

Re: Cucumber - vine/bush?

Re: Cucumber - vine/bush?

Re: Cucumber - vine/bush?

Re: Cucumber - vine/bush?

Re: Cucumber - vine/bush?

Re: Cucumber - vine/bush?

Re: Cucumber - vine/bush?

BUMP!

Spacemaster

Re: Cucumber - vine/bush?

Re: Cucumber - vine/bush?

Re: Cucumber - vine/bush?

Re: Cucumber - vine/bush?

Re: Cucumber - vine/bush?

Re: Cucumber - vine/bush?

Re: Cucumber - vine/bush?

Re: Cucumber - vine/bush?


	Hello Guest! Welcome to the official Square Foot Gardening Forum. There's lots to learn here by reading as a guest. However, if you become a member (it's free, ad free and spam-free) you'll have access to our large vermiculite databases, our seed exchange spreadsheets, Mel's Mix calculator, and many more members' pictures in the Gallery. Enjoy.