Growing large quantities of cucumbers is just a matter of understanding the right techniques and implementing them strategically.
I love the taste of cucumbers and would make the world of effort for them. But, even if they didn’t taste so pleasant, they’re still super easy to grow as long as you keep these 12 tips in mind!
12 Super Tips For Growing Loads Of Cucumbers – Easy Guide
1: Pick The Right Variety
People who have tons of gardening space available and people who don’t both have a variety they can plant that will accommodate their circumstances. Choose bush or vining cucumbers based on space.
2: Start Seeds Indoors
Cucumbers love a headstart and a slightly longer growing season. The best thing you can do for your cucumbers is sow the seeds in pots indoors and transplant grown seedlings outside when temperature conditions are favorable.
If you’re wondering whether cucumber seedlings handle transplanting well, this guide has all the answers: Do Cucumber Seedlings Transplant Well?
3: Use A Trellis For Vertical Growth
Use a trellis to accommodate vertical growth and keep the developing fruit and leaves from touching the ground and picking up unwanted bacterial or fungal diseases. This will also help save gardening space and give the landscape some visual structure and density.
If you’re not sure which trellis to choose, this complete guide will help you find the perfect one: Choose The Right Trellis For Your Vegetables: A Complete Guide!
4: Plant In Full Sun
Cucumbers need plenty of sunlight to grow to their fullest potential. 6-8 hours on a daily basis is the sweet spot. Unfortunately, they don’t really do well in any kind of shade, and lack of adequate sunlight can cause them to weaken and fruit at a much slower rate.
5: Keep The Soil Moist But Well-Drained
Cucumbers thrive in moist environments and need plenty of water to grow. Long periods of dryness don’t really play out well for cucumbers and they either end up forming poorly or developing an unpleasant taste.
Keep your cucumber vines constantly moist but avoid overwatering as waterlogging issues can lead to root rot.
6: Mulch To Retain Moisture
To keep your cucumber crop from drying out and undergoing unwanted stress that could be fatal, use straw or leaves as mulch to retain moisture and prevent drying. This is especially useful if you tend to miss out on watering sessions often.
7: Hand Pollinate For More Fruit
Although natural pollination done by pollinators like bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds is generally best and most efficient, you can certainly go out of your way to hand pollinate using a soft brush and acquire more fruit.
This should be done if pollinators aren’t visiting your garden as often as you’d like, and it makes more sense to take matters into your own hands.
8: Feed With Compost Or Organic Fertilizer
Frequent compost and fertilizer feedings boost both healthy vine and fruit growth. Cucumbers are one of those fruits (yes, they’re a fruit) that really benefit from fertilization and nutrient boosts.
Not sure what to use? Check out this article: 8 Potent Fertilizers for Thriving Cucumbers and Tomatoes.
9: Pinch Off Early Flowers
Pinching off early flowers from your cucumber vines can help them grow stronger before fruiting. This ensures that the vines are strong and resilient enough to handle the stressful fruiting task without succumbing to disease and death.
If you want to learn more about this, check out my complete guide: How to prune Cucumbers suckers and flowers.
10: Harvest Regularly
The good thing about cucumbers is that they can provide continuous production if picked often. This means you won’t be running low on cucumber supply for a long time and can even store some for later use.
However, the trick here is to be gentle when harvesting your cucumbers and not pick them in a way that damages the whole vine as that is where they’ll regrow from.
11: Companion Planting For Pest Control
Look up some useful companion plants that go well with cucumbers such as marigolds, radishes, or oregano.
I actually have a complete guide on this topic: 9 Companion Plants That Boost Cucumber Growth & Keep Pests Away! Trust me, once you start companion planting, you’ll be amazed at how much it improves your crops
These crops will ward off any pest populations that could attack your delicate cucumber fruit and vines and help keep them safe without you having to intervene. Aphids, cucumber beetles, and mealybugs pose the highest risk to cucumbers.
12: Watch For Powdery Mildew
Cucumbers are quite susceptible to fungal diseases like powdery mildew which is typically caused by poor air circulation around the plant. The best way to prevent it is by pruning your cucumber vines often and spacing them out so that they aren’t bunched up together.
