straight eight cukes
 

two plants in a 5 gallon bucket - already outgrown my trellis and almost sagging down to the top of the bucket

should I grab another trellis, or just let them sprawl? covered in female flowers - cucumbers will be coming out of my ears shortly

Cucumber plants sprawl all over the place! My trellis is 6' tall and the vines get taller than that and also sprout new vines off of the main ones. I vote for another trellis, but I guess it's because I'd worry about things nibbling on the ones on the ground- or someone stepping on them! Some cukes don't grow as straight if they aren't hanging.

kath

We go with the sprawl....

I decided to get some 6' bamboo stakes and give the vines some new real estate on which to climb. so far, so good - lots of male and female blooms, 4 developing cukes on the plant as of today,

I got some bamboo stakes and have been guiding the growth - check out my cucumber sprawl

Looks really happy! You'll be harvesting cukes in no time.

I have harvested one cuke so far - it was a little bitter; there are 3 on the plant now, but holy jeez check out this sprawl of vines from the pics today - this thing needs a fence to run down

Bitterness is a sign of inconsistent watering. Thus self-watering container with a float regulator is ideal if you are not around to water throughout the day...

harvested 3 cucumbers from the two sprawling straight eight cucumber plants this morning - they will not stop growing, but production has been low; may have to rethink my cucumber plant choice next year

Shapes not right on the straight 8's.
They are not happy about something.

gotta be inconsistent watering - but I try my gosh darnoodleydest to water a lot, and consistently

eh, nature - what cha gonna do?

I was wondering if it could be poor pollination. That could explain the low numbers of cukes too, if you were getting flowers.

lots of Bumblebee action around the vines, but I have seen more than one female flower wither and die.

Straight Eight's went bitter for me too, dropped them long ago. Also a a few of the long Asian and Armenian varieties did not like the dry heat, and I'm done growing those too.

AS for an OP I went to Marketmore's several years ago, still water the same way and they've not been bitter. And Diva's are a good one too, I've got them on a fence line and it's been 105F for a month, still sweet and crisp, and they self-pollinate.

[QUOTE=Ricky Shaw;585096]Straight Eight's went bitter for me too, dropped them long ago. Also a a few of the long Asian and Armenian varieties did not like the dry heat, and I'm done growing those too.

AS for an OP I went to Marketmore's several years ago, still water the same way and they've not been bitter. And Diva's are a good one too, I've got them on a fence line and it's been 105F for a month, still sweet and crisp, and they self-pollinate.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the tip - about to give up on these; I guess my climate and watering might not suit my straight eight plants