How to Grow Pickling Cucumbers
Pickling cucumbers are fun to grow. These "little" cucumbers grow just the
right size for your favorite pickle recipe. They are tender and tasty, with
smaller seeds than a regular sized "Cuke". Popular varieties include Boston
Pickling and Sumter.
Pickling cucumbers are grown just like a regular cucumber. It is a vining
plant. They will grow well on a fence or cucumber trellis.
People often ask if you can pickle a regular cucumber. The answer is yes.
Pickling cucumbers are usually preferred for their size, taste and texture.
Days to Maturity:
50 to 65 days. Once cucumbers begin to ripen, you can usually harvest them
for several weeks. They are profuse producers.
Sowing Pickling Cucumber Seeds:
Plant in rows or hills, planting them one to 1 1/2 inches deep. When planting
in rows, sow seeds 2 to 3" apart. If you are planting in hills, plant four
to five seeds per hill. After they have germinated, keep the best two to
three. Cover very lightly with soil.
Water on planting day, and if there is no rain, every two to three days until
they germinate.
Growing Pickling Cucumbers:
Cucumber plants require well drained soil. Like other members of the cucurbita
family, they are big eaters. Provide plenty of fertilize high in nitrogen.
Switch over to a more balanced fertilizer, after the flowers begin to bloom.
A side dressing of fertilizer and regular feedings of fertilizer will
significantly help the health of the plant and the size of the harvest.
Soil pH Range: 5.5 - 5.5
More on soil pH
Also make sure to provide lots of water to for fast growth.
Tip: Cucumbers grow quickly and are at their best when picked before
they get too big. Encourage new fruit development by picking regularly. Do
not allow them to get overripe on the vine or they will slow down, if not
cease bearing new fruit.
Insects and Pests:
Like all members of the Cucurbita family, the Cucumber Beetle is the dreaded
pest of cucumbers. Cucumber Beetles are either striped or spotted. They feed
on the leaves of the plants and can cause even greater damage as they spread
disease from one plant to another. They are effectively treated with most
insecticides.
Public enemy number one to the cucurbita family is the Squash Vine Borer
which bores into the vine, usually near the tap root ,and will eat right
through the vine. Once it gets inside, the only way to kill it is to surgically
remove it. Cutting Squash Vine Borers out of your vine is done by slicing
up or down from the entry area until you find the pest. Then, apply fungicide
around the wound to minimize disease.
A variety of other pest can also cause problems, depending upon where you
live.
More on the Squash Vine Borer
Disease:
As a member of the Cucurbita family, cucumbers are susceptible to the same
diseases as pumpkin and squash. These include both fungus and bacterial problems.
Treat with fungicides at the first sign of problems.
More on Plant Problem
Diseases and Problems
How to Make Pickles:
Making pickles is easy. All it takes is salt, water, and pickling cucumbers,
and your favorite pickling spices. When it comes to pickling spices,
home gardeners get creative, often using a variety of home grown herbs, to
produce many different pickle flavors.
Dill Pickle Recipe
Veggie Cages expand a whopping 7ft! Stores flat
in almost no space. Try them on cucumbers, sweet peas, tomatoes, pole
beans, and other climbing climbing flowers and vegetables.
More information:
Cucumber in a Bottle - An amazing story about
a cucumber grown and preserved in a bottle, then forgotten for decades.
Buy Pickling Cucumber Seeds
Nutritional Value of Cucumbers
Cucumber in Sour Cream Recipe
Dill Pickle Recipe
Our Garden Recipe Collection
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