Measure the length of the cucumber. Armenian cucumbers are longer than most other varieties. English cucumbers are also long, but are usually slightly shorter than Armenian cucumbers. Garden cucumbers, which are the most common variety in North America, are usually shorter than both Armenian and English varieties.
How do I identify a cucumber plant?
The cucumber plant is vining with large, lobed, triangular, green, bristly leaves and long petioles. Fruits are elongated, cylindrical, yellow-green to dark green and either spiny or smooth. Cucumbers are eaten raw or pickled. Size is variable, depending on variety.
Are there different cucumber plants?
There are basically two types of cucumber plants, those that are eaten fresh (slicing cucumbers) and those that are cultivated for pickling. Under the umbrella of these two common cucumber types, however, you will find a wealth of different varieties suitable for your growing needs.
What are the varieties of cucumbers?
There are 4 main types of cucumbers, including American slicers, Persians, pickling or “gherkin” cucumbers, and burpless or seedless cucumbers. Within each category there are hundreds of unique cultivars that have been bred for different purposes.
Do all cucumber flowers turn into cucumbers?
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.
Why are my cucumber plants flowering but no fruit?
A cucumber plant will flower but produce no fruit if there is a lack of either male or female flowers on the plant. A lack of fruit will also occur due to poor pollination. Growing conditions (such as temperature, weather, and nitrogen levels) also affect pollination and flower production.
Which cucumbers are bush type?
Some of the most popular bush cucumber varieties are Bush Pickle and Pick a Bushel (both perfect for – you guessed it – pickling), Salad Bush (great for slicing), Bush Champion (for longer fruit), Fanfare, Bush Whopper, Potluck, and Spacemaster (the ultimate space-saver, which can also be grown in hanging baskets).
What kind of cucumber grows in a bush?
Bush cucumbers ( Cucumis sativus) produce big results in a small space. This easy-to-grow shrubby version of traditional cucumber vines lets small-space and container gardeners add a summer favorite to their vegetable gardens.
Which cucumbers are climbers?
Varieties such as ‘Burpee Hybrid,’ ‘County Fair 83,’ ‘Dasher 11,’ ‘Liberty Hybrid,’ ‘Saladin,’ ‘Slice Master Hybrid,’ ‘Slice Nice,’ ‘Sweet Slice’ or ‘Sweet Success’ are popular choices for vining cucumbers.
Are baby cucumbers just small cucumbers?
Mini-cucumbers are typically cucumbers that are harvested early, when the fruit is small. They are usually quite tender, and can be consumed with or without the skin. Additionally, some varieties of cucumber have smaller vines and produce smaller fruit as a rule. The mini-cucumber is eaten both raw and pickled.
What is the most common type of cucumber?
Garden cucumbers are the most common cucumbers in North America. They are relatively smooth-skinned and dark green. Cucumbers sold at grocery stores tend to be waxed to help them retain moisture. For this reason, you’ll want to peel these cucumbers.
Why are my cucumbers prickly?
Cucumbers are members of the Cucurbit family along with squash, pumpkins, and melons. They are divided into two groups: pickling and slicing varieties. Both varieties may have varying degrees of cucumber prickles – so prickly cucumbers is actually quite normal.
Are all cucumbers climbers?
At a very high level, there are two kinds of cucumber plants: bush and vining. The vining varieties are climbing plants, and the bush types are not. So, if you want to try growing cucumbers on a trellis, you need to make sure you buy the climbers, and not the bush types.
Do cucumbers like to climb?
Cucumbers do best if they can climb instead of spread over the ground. The tendrils of the vines will grab fences, string, wire trellis, or tall cages so that the vines climb the structures.
How many cucumbers do you get per plant?
Depending on who you ask, a healthy cucumber plant can be expected to produce 10 large cukes or 15 small ones within a harvest period of about three weeks.
Should you remove male flowers from cucumbers?
To avoid a bitter tasting Cucumber, pick off male flowers once a week. If you allow the male flowers to develop and pollinate the female flowers, the fruits that develop will leave you with a nasty aftertaste as the seeds contain a bitter compound called cucurbitacin.
Should you pinch off 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 also keep cucumbers off the ground).
Can I cut the leaves off my cucumber plant?
‘Remove older leaves from the plant to let light get in to reach your new fruit and improve how the air circulates. Trim off the shoots that branch from your plant’s main vine stem routinely,’ adds Stark.
Do you need 2 cucumber plants to pollinate?
Most cucumber varieties are monoecious with unisexual flowers—have separate male and female flowers within the same individual— and thus require animal pollination for reproduction.
How do I get my cucumbers to produce fruit?
Cucumbers need full, bright sunlight to produce fruit. If this is not the problem take a look at your fertilizer. A fertilizer high in nitrogen can cause the plants to produce more foliage than cucumbers. Another key to getting cucumbers to produce is pollination.
Can you eat bush cucumber?
‘Bush Pickle’ does not vine out like most cucumbers, instead it maintains a nice bushy habit, which makes it ideal for growing in containers or for small-space gardens. The fruit can pickled or sliced and eaten fresh.