Fall cucumbers

[b54red]

I am going to check my seed supply and if I have any cucumber seed left from spring I am going to start some seed for fall. The last few years I have had good luck with fall cucumbers. The biggest problem is keeping them alive the first week after setting them out in the heat of late summer. My spring cucumbers were fantastic this year and lasted far longer than normal so if the fall plants do well I won't have too long a gap without cucumbers.

Bill

[agee12]

According to the Farmer's Almanac for my area there is a short window for planting cucumbers the last 2 weeks in August I may not wait and actually plant this week because the temps are going to be slightly cooler and presumably similar to late August conditions.

What kinds of cucumbers do you grow?

If you are low on seeds I have seeds, both store seeds and seeds I got from trades.

[shelleybean]

I just pulled my April sown cucumbers and planted another round. I hope they do well in the heat. I've had a lot of problems with pillbugs eating seedlings at this time of year (squash, beans, etc) but I put down Sluggo Plus and that really seems to be helping. I've done better with mildew resistant varieties. They seem to last about a month longer in the garden. I've been growing Sumter the last few years. I don't have time to make pickles this summer so I just planted Tendergreen Burpless. I hope they're crunchy with small seeds.

[Gerardo]

same here, I just eliminated a row (dozen containers) and planted fresh ones.

I also set fresh ones in a 14 container row. Sweet Success, Eureka, Garden Sweet, Sweeter Yet, Calypso, Diva, Gral Lee.

Having a great cuke-pepper summer, tomatoes just average.

Best of luck everyone with your fall ones.

Wet feet help to keep mine alive in adverse conditions.

[b54red]

I pulled my old cucumbers this past week and started my seed for fall plants. I will set them out when they are large enough and after hardening them off.

I grow Sweet Success, and a couple of other similar burpless varieties. I find that mulching them heavily helps a great deal no mater when they are planted and feeding them regularly with Vegetable formula from Urban Farms.

This was the best year for cucumbers that I have ever had. Thanks to the incessant rains that really created a lot of diseases for my tomatoes the cucumbers never suffered for lack of water this season. I feed them every week and kept them sprayed with both the diluted bleach spray and a copper fungicide when I was spraying my tomatoes and that helped keep the leaf diseases in check. I also did something that I just tried a bit last year and that was keeping all the older leaves pruned off and limiting the number of stems that I allowed to develop. It seemed to really make a difference but I will try again next year and see if I get a repeat good performance.

Bill

[Gardeneer]

I also pulled my spring cucumbers , corn, bean and mage fall crops garden.
Now lots of voluntrre cuke are growing from the old neglected cukes in the patch.I just thinned and kep just a few. They are now have true leaves.
Cucumbers prefer cool weather and lots of water and of course fertilizer. Heat makes them tough.

[b54red]

I killed some of my cucumber seedlings yesterday. I thought they were well watered and they had been in the sun for a week so that shouldn't have been a problem; but when I checked them this morning some of them were totally wilted and I mean totally. After watering well and putting them in the shade most of them recovered except for a few leaves that just burned up. A few of them are showing no signs of recovery. I guess it is a good thing I waited to put them out in the garden til the next bout of rainy weather. I don't think I could have kept them alive in these 100 degree days. I hope it cools down a bit soon because they are about 6 inches tall and they will grow fast and become a big mess to handle if they get too long.

Bill

[Worth1]

Forgot to water my cucumber seedlings for two days in the tubs and figured they were dead.
Just watered them this morning and they are fine.
I need to fertilize everything big time.

[b54red]

I ended up losing some of my cucumber seedlings but had more than enough to set out all we will use. I set them out today because it has been overcast and somewhat cooler. I hope the 100 degree days are behind us because if I lose those seedlings I will not have enough to start again this late. I am still debating starting any fall beans because the whiteflies are so thick this year and I remember trying to grow beans one fall when the whiteflies were this bad and did not have much luck. The whiteflies enjoyed the beans but I didn't get to.

Bill

[Gardeneer]

I normally direct sow cucumbers in the spring time.
I sow the seeds inside a hole about 6" deep. As they come up I keep hilling them. This way they wont get thirsty very often. That is also how I plant potatoes.

[b54red]

My new cucumber seedlings are growing nicely despite the heat being above optimal. The biggest problem they are having is the whiteflies. I went out the other day just before the storms got here from Irma and some of the leaves were pure white from the whiteflies. They are sucking the life out of some of the leaves and I have to keep removing them as they die. I am spraying them every few days to keep the whiteflies thinned but the wind the past few days has thinned them out on my cucumbers but I am sure they will be covered by tomorrow.

Bill

[b54red]

Despite the whiteflies my fall cucumbers are making enough decent cucumbers for me and my wife. They are tending to be smaller then the ones grown in early summer but they are just as tasty. I am still getting enough tomatoes for a nice cucumber, tomato and onion salad. Yum.

Bill