Diva versus Dvir cucumber
 

Wondering if anyone who grows Diva has ever tried Dvir? It's listed at Abundant Life Seeds as a certified organic variety. I love Diva, but the community garden where I grow cukes requires us to use organic seed if it is available for the variety we want to grow. If Dvir is similar to Diva, I might choose to grow it instead in spirit of choosing organic varieties whenever I can, but if it is not similar to Diva, I will just grow Diva! Maybe I should try both and compare...

I looked on their online catalog and I think they just have a typo. I think they meant Diva. They list Dvir as being a hybrid so maybe it is the same thing.

I have been growing cucumbers for over 35 years and Diva seems to be a very unique cucumber. I grow them every year along with Sweet Success and Poona Keera (which is a heirloom). Poona Keera is the only heirloom cucumber that I like the flavor of as much as Diva; but they are far less dependable for me. Sweet Success has proven the most vigorous producer for me but the seeds are ridiculously expensive.

I tried Diva last year partly due to all the talk about it here at TV. It was grown in a row right next to the variety Sultan. I believe I got both seeds from Johnnys. I also had a long cuc - Marketmore 76 and 2 "pickles" - Homade Pickle and Bush Pickle growing on the other side of Diva.

Frankly I was very disappointed with Diva. It was not very productive at all and it was a magnet for cucumber beetles. The beetles scarred them so bad that few were marketable.

The Sultan right next to the Diva, were far more numerous and had a similar look. They are what is called a "beit alpha" and are picked small and look just like the mini cucs that are in the stores in the winter and are greenhouse grown. The Beetles seemed to leave Sultan alone in comparison.

I just checked last year's Johnny's catalog as it was laying here next to the computer. They didn't list organic seed for either of them. But they say about Diva - "Foliage is non-bitter, hence not as attractive to cucumber beetles as some varieties". Maybe the foliage isn't as attractive, but the fruit sure was over attractive in my field.

Just my experience, YMMV.

Carol

Carol I have found Diva to be fairly unpredictable as to production but as far as cucumber beetles I haven't found any cucumber that they won't eat up. The reason I try to grow a few Diva plants each year is because I really enjoy their flavor. Every few years they make like crazy but most of the time I find them to have fairly low production.

I thought the point of diva was to produce under row cover. Isn't that one that doesn't need pollination?