Cucumber plant question.

cooking-mama

I have a few cucumber plants,all (except 1,)grown from seed, but grown in different circumstances....most of the plants i put outdoors in the plastic growhouse weeks ago...these ones are quite short,with medium sized leaves,and some are growing kinda sideways rather than upwards,but most have buds and some have small yellow flowers--Then, one plant I grew from seed and kept indoors,and 1 plant i bought from garden center are both now quite tall,(13inches)ive added bamboo skewers to support them,both have very large leaves,but no sign of flowers or buds and one has what looks like a "feeler" stalk growing from the top of it.
So basicaly the question is----Should cucumber plants be short and creeping...or tall and climbing??? Thanks.

skelly01

last year i let mine do their own thing and they went groundwards and had good yields. This year i am training them to be upright and there doesn't seem to be any difference.
I think the important bit is if on the ground to support the fruits with straw etc in order that they don't rot from contact with moist compost, soil etc.

cooking-mama

Thanks Skelly01.im just amazed that the ones banished to the growhouse,with minimum care are the ones that seem to be thriving best,whilst the pampered indoor ones are growing like wildfire but with no sign of flowers etc....maybe the least interference the better eh.

skelly01

I think the least interferance approach is sometimes best, if it aint broken don't fix it kind of appraoch.
I killed one by giving too much water and it rotted at the base. Now i hardly water them just keep the compost moist and no more.

4li5on

Are they getting enough sunshine?
I always grow mine indoor and train them up canes and I've always have good yeild. Some years I've kept them in the porch or large kitchen window, other times in the spare room window.
This year I've kept one in the kitchen and the others upstairs. The spare room gets direct sunshine in the summer from 6am to 4pm-ish and the plants are thriving. The one downstairs is slightly smaller and only just flowering. They are all from the same seeds, planted in batches, the only difference is their locations.

Just a thought!

Orange_King

skelly01 wrote: »

I think the least interferance approach is sometimes best, if it aint broken don't fix it kind of appraoch.
I killed one by giving too much water and it rotted at the base. Now i hardly water them just keep the compost moist and no more.

I had similar experiences with a few of mine. I have them on a capillary watering mat now and they seem to be doing better though still not developing that quickly. Do they resemble the growth that courgettes have and need plenty of space when you finally plant them out somewhere or are they best kept in pots in the greenhouse?

skelly01

Mine stay in the greenhouse. They don't go quite as ballistic as courgettes, but are similar.

ginvzt

We used to grow cucumbers a lot at my grandparents (in Lithuania). The rule they used with huge success that the one grown in greenhouse would be tied to the up: stick in the ground, rope/string tied to it, and then the other end of it tied to the railing/roof of the greenhouse. These would grow tall.

The ones grown outside were always left to grow on the ground, never up the canes.

Ok, so weather is not exactly the same (but similar - we just used to have a bit warmer summers probably and much colder winters). I am trying cucumbers for the second year - will see if I manage to succeed this year.

invisiblecabbage

:jI grew cucumbers for the first time last year and had absolutely loads, what's more OH could eat them without that disagreed with you feeling he gets from shop bought ones. Mine had string tied to roof of greenhouse and they just flourished leaving ground area clear for lettuce etc.

Sally_A

Tall and climbing - with tendrils grabbing on to anything they can find.

cooking-mama

Thanks for all the replies guys..checked on the outdoor ones this morning and their lovely wee yellow flowers have kinda shrivelled up Dunno if this is relevant or not...but i wont give up on any of them yet....I just read the label on the garden center bought one and its an all female F1?...all i know about the others is they are grown from poundland marketmore seeds.