Cucumbers 2023 SE Texas

[karstopography]

I have eight plants in their permanent homes. Six direct seeded and two transplanted.

Looks like it’s four Suyo Long, two Beit Alpha, one Monika and one Endeavor. Suyo Long is the only repeat from previous seasons. Looking mainly for fresh eating, but the Endeavor and Monika are pickling types. Crispy Crunchy hybrid got scratched from the list as those seedlings didn’t look too great and the one Suyo long and Beit Alpha in the pint containers got plugged into the spot moments ago. I added more bamboo stakes after the photo and will cut some more bamboo for cross members in the not too distant future.

Hopefully 8 plants will provide plenty of cucumbers for fresh eating. I grew straight eight last year along with suyo long, but we much preferred the flavor of suyo long. Straight eight was pretty productive, just not an especially tasty cucumber.

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[karstopography]

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Cukes about to start vining.

[karstopography]

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We are getting a few cucumbers now. So far, two Beit Alpha, the one little one in the photo and one slightly bigger one already consumed, plus these two Suyo Long, and the endeavor pickling type pictured.

I’m worried though as the plants will tend to wilt in midday direct sun. They bounce back once the sunshine is off them, but in my experience, that wilting is a sign of significant root knot nematode activity/damage. I do keep the plants moist.

If it is like other years, the nematodes will eventually win the day. I hope I can squeeze out a few weeks of reasonable production. I do have marigolds on one edge of the cucumber plants, but I don’t think the marigold magic is all that strong.

Plan for next year is to plant cereal rye in the fall in every possible spot where cucumbers might go. Maybe double down on french marigolds. Double the additional fresh compost added. Dig out an area and replace all the soil. Grow cucumbers in a grow bag. I don’t know.

[MarkAndre]

I bet they would do awesome in a SWC, if you could keep the reservoir full.

Really late start here. I was waiting to find some Bush Champion, which did really well last year. Too expensive online. Sprouted some old seed in bags, a technique which is having mixed results for me this year. I have three transplants waiting for a home now.

[karstopography]

I guess the good news is that the vines didn’t wilt today in spite of the abundant sunshine. Maybe they just needed a good soaking rain.

[GoDawgs]

I really really hope that water is all they needed. What you describe sure sounds suspiciously like 'todes at work. Be gone, 'todes!

[karstopography]

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Cucumbers are doing pretty well. One of each this morning. Suyo Long, Monika, Endeavor, and Beit Alpha. Monika is the furry looking pickling type.

[slugworth]

Suyo Long from saved seeds year to year keep getting smaller.
I am going with another Japanese type this year from botanical interests. Tasty Green
40 cents per seed
Last year was too hot and dry here, if that sounds familiar.
I had to water the cukes 2 or 3x a day.

[slugworth]

I love it when neighbors don't even know the Suyo Long is a cuke and ask how to cook it.

[karstopography]

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I’m getting about this amount every day or every other day. It’s more than enough for us so I guess that’s good. We’ve been able to share some with the kids and my parents. Some of the plants are more productive than others. One suyo long plant makes much more striped cucumbers than the other.

[GoDawgs]

Pickles has been buying the long cukes like Suyo lately for salads?. She likes the fewer and smaller seeds (seedless?) so I've been thinking about Suyo Long for next spring. I wonder what variety she's buying but there's no telling what it is. Meanwhile the National Pickling cukes have popped up.

Have you tried planting your cukes or whatever where your fall brassicas were? So far that seems to be helping here but we'll see what happens this year. I've got summer squash going into a bed where broccoli, cabbage etc grew last spring followed by garlic in the fall. They'll go down the middle of the bed since the garlic is still there right now.

[karstopography]

Pickles has been buying the long cukes like Suyo lately for salads?. She likes the fewer and smaller seeds (seedless?) so I've been thinking about Suyo Long for next spring. I wonder what variety she's buying but there's no telling what it is. Meanwhile the National Pickling cukes have popped up.

Have you tried planting your cukes or whatever where your fall brassicas were? So far that seems to be helping here but we'll see what happens this year. I've got summer squash going into a bed where broccoli, cabbage etc grew last spring followed by garlic in the fall. They'll go down the middle of the bed since the garlic is still there right now.

I had some broccoli in part of the area where the cucumbers are now, but the pre Christmas 18° x 2 freeze with crazy wind took out the broccoli. I’ll probably move the cucumbers for next year, maybe into a better spot, less nematodey area. I do plan on planting cereal rye in a lot of areas of the garden as I have read that grain is a nematode trap. I want to get the rye in fairly early in the fall while the nematodes are still active and let it grow all fall, winter and into spring.

I do believe the brassicas and mustards really help both with nematodes and also some of the fungal issues. I planted a lot of both and tried working in the leaves into the soil in the weeks before planting out peppers and tomatoes. Seems like my peppers and tomatoes on the whole look better than ever.

I also ordered some crab shell meal fertilizer to apply late fall or winter as I understand that is helpful to combat RKN. My soil in most beds is largely clay with silt and I do think clay is better than sand where RKN come into play.

I don’t ever think I’ll eradicate the RKN, but I’m not throwing in the towel and going to grow bags or anything like that yet. The tomatoes, even unprotected OP types, show no sign of RKN. The cucumbers seeem to be hanging in there pretty well so long as I keep them moist. Cucumbers are the most susceptible to RKN of anything I’ve grown.

[karstopography]

Planted Endeavor, Tokiwa (Tokyo Green) and Green Finger Cucumber seeds today, direct seeded. Seeing if I can squeeze in a fall crop.

[karstopography]

Plan now is to run with two Tokyo green and two Green Finger plants each. I eliminated the two pickling Endeavor plants I had going and put a squash plant in that spot.

The cucumber seedlings look good. Definitely growing. If I get a total of 12-16 quality cucumbers from the lot I’ll consider it a success, anything beyond that will be a bonus. Three or four good cucumbers from each plant seems like a modest but attainable goal considering the season. A good cucumber or two every other or every third day for three weeks would be nice come November. If it fails, I’ve wasted a few seeds and a little fertilizer, no big deal, it is the Price to play.

[AKgardener]

Wow impressive I’ve been doing them in containers vs ground I’m thinking ground next year still waiting for production… there is a new variety out there it is Parthenocarpic it’s called Adam just throwing it out there if any want to try them or have tried them

[karstopography]

I’ve had only moderate success with cucumbers. I get a decent crop for several weeks in late spring here most seasons. I don’t think I ever quite dial in the fertility or even moisture as well as I could or should. This fall, I’m trying to make sure the plants get what they need when they need it. With the extra heat this summer forecasted to carry on in a modified way into the fall the gamble is it will be warm enough going into November to get a decent crop. I fully expect that by some point in December, the cool season we always get at some point will have to finally assert itself and shut down the cucumber plants. If it gets cool early in November, then I might not get anything. I don’t have a firm handle on what exactly cucumbers can tolerate with weather conditions on the cool side. Sure, I can read online gardening material on this, but what I have found is that online sources can vary quite a bit on their information and not always reflect what I have experienced growing various other vegetables.

Moderate success is acceptable to me since I’m only growing these crops for my immediate family use. Wouldn’t make a living from it though.

[Stitchingmom]

My cucumbers do amazingly well in hydro buckets. I can get two or three into a five-gallon. They taste just as good, if not better than in soil.

[karstopography]

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The four cucumber plants, two Tokyo green and two green fingers this morning, plus one Early White Scallop Squash on the right, then the pepper jungle in the background. I like doing plant experiments and fall cucumbers fall into that category.

The Cucumbers look to be growing fine and aren’t too far from starting to vine. I’ll stick in some dry bamboo as a trellis once they really are vining. This spot gets some periodic lightly filtered light and plenty of air moving. Weather looks favorable for the foreseeable future.

[karstopography]

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Tokyo Green has a few cucumbers on it, this one the biggest. Green fingers has a few also. Weather has mostly been below long term averages for quite some time on temperature so I’m pleased getting any cucumbers.

Fall cucumbers are viable here that’s my take away. I might put them in a couple of weeks earlier next year.

[karstopography]

I pulled the plug on the Fall cucumber experiment. Picked the handful of smallish cucumbers on the 4 plants and then yanked out the vines. The vines looked alright, at least the newer growth on down the vine a ways, but everything was moving in slow motion, the new vine growth, the flowering, the sizing up of the fruit. I think it has been overall too cool for cucumbers to really thrive. Roots on the cukes looked clean and smooth, free of RKN activity and that’s a good sign.

Might try an earlier in the fall plant out schedule in 2024 or give up on the idea of fall cucumbers.

Sugar Daddy snap pea and Cascadia snap pea seeds got planted in the space moments after the cucumbers came out.