Cucumber Harvest Tips

Most slicing cucumbers for fresh eating should be harvested when they are seven to nine inches long and have a dark green color. If they get much larger than this, they'll be bitter and won't have a pleasant texture. When you pick cucumbers, leave a small, one-inch section of stem attached to the cucumber.

How do you know when to pick a cucumber from the garden?
What's the secret to growing good cucumbers?
Should I pinch off early cucumber flowers?
How many times can you harvest cucumbers?
How many cucumbers do you get per plant?
Why is my cucumber prickly?
How often should Cucumbers be watered?
What should you not plant together?
What is best fertilizer for cucumbers?
Why are my cucumbers flowering but not fruiting?
Can a cucumber plant have too many flowers?

How do you know when to pick a cucumber from the garden?

However, cucumbers are generally ripe and ready for harvest anywhere from 50 to 70 days after planting. A cucumber is normally considered ripe when it is bright medium to dark green and firm. You should avoid cucumber harvesting when cucumbers are yellow, puffy, have sunken areas, or wrinkled tips.

What's the secret to growing good cucumbers?

For the best-tasting fruit and optimum yields, grow plants in a sunny spot and in warm, fertile, and well-drained soil rich in organic matter with a soil PH between 6 and 7. If possible, plant cucumbers in a raised bed or container garden to ensure that soil drains properly.

Should I pinch off early cucumber flowers?

A: Pinch off the flowers if you want more stem and leaf growth – especially if the plant is young. You can remove flowers on the bottom so the plant will focus more on the top cucumbers (this will keep cucumbers off the ground too).

How many times can you harvest cucumbers?

Pick pickling cucumbers every two days. Regular dills are best picked when 3 to 4 inches (7-10cm) long. Burpless cucumbers should be picked at about 10 inches long. Hothouse-grown English or Armenian cucumbers are best picked when 12 to 15 inches (30-38cm) long.

How many cucumbers do you get per plant?

Expect to get 10-20 cucumbers per plant. That's roughly two to three pounds. Pickling varieties will produce on the higher end of that estimate; slicing varieties will produce on the lower end of that estimate.

Why is my cucumber prickly?

Some might have tiny little hairs and others all out spines. The slicing varieties are usually less prickly while the pickling types are spinier. Native to India, cucumbers may have become spiny for the same reason that some animals are camouflaged or have horns… to protect themselves from predators.

How often should Cucumbers be watered?

The main care requirement for cucumbers is water—consistent watering! They need at least one inch of water per week (or more, if temperatures are sky-high). Put your finger in the soil and when it is dry past the first joint of your finger, it is time to water. Inconsistent watering leads to bitter-tasting fruit.

What should you not plant together?

Other commonly believed plant incompatibilities include the following plants to avoid near one another:

Mint and onions where asparagus is growing.
Pole beans and mustard near beets.
Anise and dill neighboring carrots.
Cucumber, pumpkin, radish, sunflower, squash, or tomatoes close to potato hills.

What is best fertilizer for cucumbers?

Side-dress cucumber plants with 1 1/2 ounces of 33-0-0 fertilizer per 10 feet of row one week after the first flowers begin to open and again three weeks later. Sprinkle the granules or powder evenly on the soil 6 inches from the base of the plants then water the fertilizer into the soil.

Why are my cucumbers flowering but not fruiting?

The female flower cannot produce the pollen needed to cause the fruit to develop and is dependent upon insect (or human) pollinators to transport the pollen from the male flower. The male flowers begin forming before the female flowers form. So, it is possible to have cucumbers blooming, but not producing fruit.

Can a cucumber plant have too many flowers?

A: Cucumber plants that are healthy and growing vigorously under good conditions can develop an excessive number of flowers—far more than the plant can successfully carry through to fruit maturity—particularly, early in the plant's life.