Cucumbers Gone Wild !!

Bought 2 small cucumber plants from Home Depot. Once in the ground they did not seem to be doing so well. So i picked up a pack of seeds and threw a half dozen in the ground.

The wife suggested that the two plants feeling ill might just need water - A LOT OF WATER. So i began to water them. In the mean time the seeds broke ground.

Well the "HD" plants recovered and are doing VERY well. I am averaging 7 cucumbers a week in the 12 inch range from each. The seeded plants are also doing great. They are all putting out fruit in large numbers between 8 and 10 inches long.

Problem is the vines are going WILD.

Question.. If i clip the upper portions of the plants down to a managable 8 foot tall will this increase the flowering and fruit output on the lower portion of the plants?

Thanks

I don't have the answer to your trimming question, but wanted to tell you that I'm jealous of your cuke growth. After 2 years of trying to grow cukes for pickles I just figured the "A LOT OF WATER" thing out a couple weeks ago. I installed the drip irrigation and wasn't sure how long to run it. Funny how quickly they jump up after a good soaking! Hopefully someone else will be along that can answer your trimming question.

Happy gardening!

I don't have the answer either, and am also jealous that you have that problem.... but wonder if the water might be the issue with my cukes. I planted pickling cukes three weeks ago, and nothing, so last week I planted more over top and I "think" I see something, but it could be another weed. I've been watering regularly, but mabey they need more. I am determined to not buy the plant,but if I don't see anything by next week, I will break down and pick some up.

Wow, I didn't realize I should be water my cucumbers more! I will start giving them more, they are just being so slow. Thank you for your posts!

I would have lost the first two if it had not been for the wife. She worked in a nursey while in college. I also have a book i found at my mothers place after she passed by Better Homes and Gardens. It has info on all kinds of gardening questions. It has been a real help.

One of the things the book says is to pick regularly. So when i have 5 or 6 cukes on the vines i pick them all. Almost at once, a day or two, i find several more to take there place. I also find this to be true with pole beans and peas. I pick by the hand full.

All the books i have even Mel's updated SFG'ing says - water deeply once a week. Well i do not know the weather where you all are but at my place it has been HOT and dry. It has been hitting 87 to 89 on a regular bases so far. It should move to mid 90's in couple weeks then to the high 90's with heat index over 100 by first of Aug. Watering once a week, deeply or not, will not cut it. I notice early on that the tomatoes would droop if i did not water DEEPLY every day. I began watering in the am B4 10 but the heat was so bad it did not really help. So i now water around 4 or 5 pm. Tomatoes look better and are flowering more which means more fruit.

I am finding out this first year - every situation is different. The books are a great guide but you need to tweek to your location and weather. Also the soil mix. I am always looking for something new to use. I found compost at Whole Foods that they make. It seems to work pretty well. I also change up weekly on my fertilizer. One week higher Nitrogen 5 .x .x the next lower 3 .x .x. I have also put down 10 10 10 and will repeat the last of July.

Good Luck All.

I too am jealous! I planted picklers and burpless (these never got very big at all...the burpless). I have had issues with
pillbugs eating them (funny how most people say they don't do any harm, but I have proof otherwise). I planted them in March and they are pretty much done now. I got a decent amount (compared to my first year doing sfg when I got about 5 total) but definitely not as many as I thought I would.

I planted some picklebush in a few squares so I will definitely remember to water deeply.

I'm jealous, too. My cuc adventure is sad, to say the least. I have no idea what going on but here's my latest find on a 3 inch plant:



Closer but blurry:


Super growth in the last couple of days, then *whammo* over she goes. What's up with that???

CC

Well hope everyone has had inproved luck with their cukes. As i wrote in ...Gone wild pt 2 i lost my Burpless to cucumber beetles. My pickling cukes are doing ok. When i saw what was happening to the burpless i hit the pickling crop hard with seven dust. I seemed to have saved the 6 plants in this group.

The burpless i pulled out and tossed. I mixed in seven dust and let it sit for a week. I then watered it in good and added 10-10-10 as well as more MM. I am going to hold onto this area and put lettuce in a few weeks.

marietta mike wrote:Well hope everyone has had inproved luck with their cukes. As i wrote in ...Gone wild pt 2 i lost my Burpless to cucumber beetles. My pickling cukes are doing ok. When i saw what was happening to the burpless i hit the pickling crop hard with seven dust. I seemed to have saved the 6 plants in this group.

The burpless i pulled out and tossed. I mixed in seven dust and let it sit for a week. I then watered it in good and added 10-10-10 as well as more MM. I am going to hold onto this area and put lettuce in a few weeks.

Mike, there's no such thing as seven dust. There is a trademark pesticide Sevin. Note the label directions on Sevin dust which tell you that it is illegal to use on blooming plants. This is because it kills your pollinators - the bees. You can be cited for pesticide misuse and wind up liable for losses to a neighbor beekeeper whose services you need, and whose livestock you may be killing. If you are going to use Sevin on cucumbers, you need to get control of the pest before bloom begins. The dust is especially dangerous to bees, because it is similar in size to the pollen grains and gets carried back to the hives, where it is fed to the young along with the pollen. It can easily kill an entire hive this way - not just the workers that are in the garden.