I am growing some cucumbers in a pot in the front porch. (UK south coast).?
Question:They are growing well and have flowers on them. Do I nip the tops - like tomato plants, and do I have to take off some of the flowers? How big should the pot be if I have to pot them on?
Answers:
We grow our cucumbers in 20 litre buckets that we bought from the building suppliers. Do you have hybrid cucumbers with only female flowers? If so, only pick off the first flowers till the plant reaches a height of 60 - 70 cm. If you also have male flowers (they have no mini cucumber behind the flower), you will have to remove all of them as they appear, or you will have seeds in your fruit. Modern cucumbers are not bitter. Let the plant grow a single stem up to the top of the wire or stick, about 6 feet, then when the plant goes over the wire and starts hanging down, let two side shoots form and hang down on the other side. If you have been feeding and watering your plants well, then you can expect one cucumber to form at every leaf. After every fourth fruit, pinch out one flower to let the plant gather some strength. Also pinch out all side shoots, except for the two on top of the wire. Happy growing!
You need to pinch them out exactly the same as tomatoes otherwise they will be bitter. You can use any size pot really as they grow upwards so make sure you have good support for them
just let them be and in a few months u can have some fun with them cucumbers just like the nuns do in the nunnery accross the road haha., t
Yes, pinching them is good and also make sure our container is big enough: at least a 5-gallon container is necessary; the bigger the better. Fertilization should be at half strength and being in pots, please remember to keep them moist but not wet. They need about 8 hours of sun per day.
Keep your cucumbers picked; you will get more that way as they keep producing.
Blimey Maggie, I am no expert, here in rural Bedfordshire, but my small crop of cukes in the allotment just seem to be bombing along in a slow fashion.
Bags of water, ro-potted some time ago into about 10" plastic pots, nipped off the flower buds, and all is wellish.
Same with the courgettes.
My spring onions, or shallots are a dimal affair, weedy little things. The new spuds are OK, as is the beetroot, but the cukes are making a poor show of it.
I have done something wrong !
Perhaps an over-rich potting compound.
Oh well, back to the supermarket if all fails.
Or go fishing, grab a duck with the rifle ?
No that is not needed. although my Great Uncle arrived at our home one Sunday morning with his motor-bike sidecar thing, with a swan and bags full of veg from the allotement.
He had invited himself for Sunday lunch, but the swan would not fit in the oven.
Half a swan, then.
Being a Geordie, it was more leeks than cucumbers.
My Grandad, upon prsentation of a salad with cukes, said "what the hells' this ?"
Nee meat to it !
Hey ho, and all the best with the cukes.
Bob
if you are ging to grow your cucumbers up a frame or net stop the plant when it reaches the top.the pant will then make lateral growth that can be trained latteraly.if you are growing f1 hybrid plants there is no need to remove any flowers as the modern varieties are all female flowering. if however your plants are of an older type then all the male flowers must be removed to stop the fruit being bitter.feed with dried blood mixed with water and be careful not to overwater as cucumber plants can rot at the stem just above soil level very easily.
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