By George E. Boyhan
University of Georgia
Volume XXVIII |
Cucumbers are members of the cucurbit family, which
include many warm season
vegetables. Watermelon, cantaloupe, squash and pumpkin are in
this family. Interestingly
enough, young cucumbers are almost indistinguishable from
cantaloupes.
Give ’em room
Cucumbers are a vining crop that needs considerable room to
grow. You have
to have 3 to 4 feet between rows and 6 to 18 inches in the row
to grow them.
Although a number of diseases and insects attack cucumbers,
they’re relatively
easy to grow. They don’t have many problems under most
conditions.
They’re easier to grow in the spring and early summer than in
the fall. In
the fall, insects of various types can be troublesome.
Cucumbers are versatile, with fresh eating, pickling and
greenhouse types available.
You can grow any or all of these. It’s just a matter of where
you’ll grow them
and how you’ll use them.
What kind?
For salads and fresh eating, grow slicing cucumbers. They
have dark green rinds
with tender, mild flesh. Pick them when they’re about 6 inches
long. Don’t let
them get much larger, because the seeds will begin to mature
and harden, making
them uneatable.
Cucumbers are the main vegetable used in pickling. When you
think of pickles,
you’re thinking of pickled cucumbers.
This type of cucumber will turn lighter green or yellowish as
it matures. It
has more pronounced spines and a thin skin. It’s not very good
for fresh eating,
having a more bitter taste.
The thin skin and spines, though, help the cucumber absorb
the vinegar solution
used in pickling. As with the slicing type, pick these
cucumbers when they’re
immature, before the seeds begin to harden.
Finally, there are greenhouse types. These are often
available in supermarkets.
You can recognize them by their long, slender look. They’ll
also be individually
shrink-wrapped because they’re prone to moisture loss.
These types are called parthenocarpic, because they don’t
require fertilization
for the cucumber to develop.
Treated catalog seeds
If you buy cucumber seeds from a catalog, you may notice that
10 percent or
so of the seeds aren’t treated, while the other 90 percent may
have a bright
color indicating a seed treatment.
The treated seeds are a special type of cucumber called a
gynecious type. They
produce only female flowers. The untreated seeds will produce
both female and
male flowers and will act as the source of pollen. These
gynecious varieties
will produce more fruit.
The bottom line for gardeners is that cucumbers are easy to
grow, but they
do require some space to spread out. You can grow them from
both transplants
or seeds with little difficulty.
For more information on cucumbers, contact your University of
Georgia Extension
Service county office. Or check out the publications (www.ces.uga.edu/ces/p
ubs.html)
on the UGA College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences
Web site (ugacescn.ces.uga.edu
/caeshome/).
