Growing Cucumbers: Feeding, Planting, Disease Control, Trellising and Pollinating

Growing Cucumbers: 
 Feeding, Planting, Disease Control, Trellising and Pollinating

Seed Starting:

Cucumbers really enjoy the warm weather. As your garden is transitioning from cool weather crops to the warms season crops... you might not have room cleared for your cucumbers. I highly recommend starting your cucumber seeds in 8 ounce or larger cups. It is true that cucumbers don't like to be transplanted but that is more about starting them in little seeds cells like you probably used to start your tomatoes. Cucumbers will out grow those little cells too fast but larger cups are effective.

Creating Cucumber Transplants


You can save yourself a couple weeks of time by letting your cucumbers germinate and grow in cups. Not only will you have nice transplants for your garden when space opens up... you don't have to worry about the seeds germinating in the ground. There is no risk of losing time and having to replant because the seeds don't come up.

Planting:

Cucumbers are heavy feeders and they need a lot of moisture. There are several products you can use to amend your soil. In general, it is a good idea to dig out a 1 foot wide and 1 foot deep hole or larger to prepare the planting hole. There is no exact recipe and you can use what you like but here is the basic idea.

1. Mix in 2 large shovel fulls of organic matter like peat moss or compost
2. Add a small handful of lime if you are using peat moss for PH balance
3. Add 1 or 2 tables spoons of  10-10-10 fertilizer or your organic equal
4. Add in 1 tablespoon of Epsom Salts to help prevent yellow leafing
5. Add back in the soil you dug out and mix it in well and deep

Not only are you amending the hole with nutrients and elements to hold water but you are loosening the soil for deep root development. Epsom Salts help keep your plants green.

Curing Yellow Cucumber Leaves with Epsom Salts


Cucumbers need a good soil to start and grow but they also need a mid-season side dressing of fertilizer and some liquid fertilizer while they grow. Cucumbers really take the nutrients out of the soil. Around mid-season or when the cucumbers are bigger and have set some fruit, they will need a nutrient boost. Scatter 1-2 tablespoons of 10-10-10 fertilizer around the base of the plants and give them a 2 gallon drink of liquid fertilizer.

Your choice of products is fine. That will give them what the  need to continue fruiting and finish out the season. Here is what mid-season cucumbers look like and how you can save them.

 Saving Yellow Beat-Up Mid-season Cucumber Plants



Pests and Diseases:

Cucumbers are very susceptible to powdery mildew, mites and white-flies. The best way to address these problems is by using a baking soda spray on the leaves to control powdery mildew and a soapy water spray on the undersides of the leaves and stems to manage mites, white-flies and other soft body insects.

1. Spray your plants 1x weekly to prevent powder mildew and address soft-bodied pests
2. Spray your plants daily for 3 days if you notice powdery mildew or pests

Identifying at Treating Cucumber Powdery Mildew



Getting Cucumbers or Hand Pollinating:

You don't have to hand pollinate your cucumbers but in some cases you may want to increase the plant's yield by hand pollination. The best way to see how to do this is in the video. Female plants have a small cucumber below the flower. Male plants do not. If the female plant is not pollinated, the tiny cucumber yellows and dies out.

Hand Pollination Cucumbers: Male & Female Flowers



Trellising:

Cucumbers are vines that love to grow. Trellising is the best way to grow your cucumbers. You give them a way to grow vertically. This not only saves you space in your garden, it cuts down on pests and diseases by getting the vines and fruit off the ground. There are many methods of trellising. The video shows you several ways to trellis your cucumbers.

3 Vertical Ways to Grow Cucumbers


Building a Cucumber and Vine Trellis


Cucumber Varieties:

There are many kinds of cucumbers beyond the basic 8 inch variety. I encourage you to grow a couple different varieties. Taste does vary a bit but more importantly they will mature at different times and you will get to pick them steadily over the season. I highly recommend the 'Armenian' cucumber. It has a great color and shape. You can eat the skin. It tastes like a cucumber. And it is very very prolific. The four plants that took down my trellis in the above video were 'Armenian' cucumbers.

Growing Armenian Cucumbers




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Unexpected Frost and Tomato Damage: Tips and Lessons Learned

Unexpected Frost and Tomato Damage: 

Tips and Lessons Learned

This is the follow up video to how I prepared my garden for a 100 year record breaking frost. My area got it and we got several hours of prolonged below 32 degree temperature. This is a review of the success and damage and total losses. I learned some things that might help you with a future frost.

I show off the damage and spliced in a clipped of frozen plants from the morning after the frost. It shows off what methods worked and didn't work.




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Emergency Frost Protection for Container and Earth Tomatoes: When Frost Attacks!

Emergency Frost Protection 

for Container and Earth Tomatoes

A cold front has hit the east coast and my area is predicted to have a 34 degree night. Since I am in the suburbs that always means we get a little colder. Typically the weather at this time is 50ish degree nights and 70 plus degree days.

Mother Nature decided to set a new record in our area and along the east coast.  This video provides some emergency frost ideas from trash bags and bathroom waste baskets to plastic sheets and 5 gallon buckets. Hopefully, you will never need to view this video.





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Creating a Splash and Disease Barrier for Tomatoes: Grass Clippings!

Creating a Tomato Disease and Splash Barrier 

Using Grass Clippings

Grass clippings are readily available. You can use other mulches of your choice. It is important not to use grass clippings that have been sprayed with chemicals. Yes... sprayed weed killing products will see your vegetables as targets. I typically wait at least 14 days before using grass I sprayed.

***After some research into a problem I had with Weed & Feed... I recommend waiting 5 weeks before using any grass clippings that have been sprayed - edited June 10, 2013.

The video shows you tomatoes that are quite muddy on the stem and underside of their leaves from hard rains. This mud splash is one way disease spores can get onto your tomatoes and start infections. You can create a disease and splash barrier by mulching with grass. The video describes the method and tips for using grass clippings.

• Clean the tomatoes with water or use a baking soda spray or similar
• Mulch 1-3 inches with grass clippings
• Let the grass clipping turn dry and turn brown and repeat (about a week)
• The grass clipping mulch conserves water
• The grass clipping mulch stop spores from splashing onto the tomato plants
• The grass clippings keep the underside of the leaves clean for respiration

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Pruning Indeterminate Container Tomatoes: Identifying & Removing 'Suckers'

Pruning Indeterminate Container Tomatoes

Identifying and Removing 'Suckers'

Pruning and removing tomato leaves and 'suckers' is more of an art that is shaped by experience and preference. With time and experience you will find your own technique for pruning and managing your tomatoes. Many factors determine how you might prune your tomatoes and they include planting zone, tomato type, planting location and local diseases. So many factors in fact, that I can't give you a cut and dry method for pruning tomatoes and removing tomato 'suckers'.

What I am going to do this year is give you the situation and the method I use for my area. I will present many pruning and tending scenarios over the 2013 gardening season. Today's entry is about pruning indeterminate tomatoes in 5 gallon containers.

'Black Plum' Indeterminate Tomatoes - The Rusted Garden Blog

My Planting Zone and Plant Variety

I am in Maryland Zone 7 and the main diseases that attack my tomatoes are Septoria Leaf Spot and Early Blight. I am growing many types of tomatoes in 5 gallon containers. The tomato I am pruning today is the 'Black Plum' indeterminate variety. It can get up to 8 feet tall when planted in the ground. The pruning goal for this tomato is to manage the size of the plant so it can grow well in a 5 gallon container.


Why Prune Indeterminate Container Tomatoes?

I will keep the 'Black Plum' to a single production stem (main stem)  for couple months. As the season progresses I may let more main stems or productions stems develop. A tomato 'sucker' is actually a main stem that will become a production stem. It will produce leaves, flower clusters and fruit. Indeterminate tomatoes will produce 'suckers' or new production stems at just about ever leaf joint on the tomato. If you let them all develop when growing them in a container, the plant will over-whelm the container and cause watering and nutritional issues down the line. You have to prune indeterminate tomatoes that you are growing in containers if you want to maximize fruit size and plant health. And to not go insane.

A tomato 'sucker' really doesn't suck the life from your tomato plant.  It makes it bigger and creates more opportunities for fruit. More fruit comes at a cost of overall smaller sized fruit. There is only so much a tomato plant can do to produce larger or full sized tomatoes. You may or may not be concerned about this as some gardeners want bigger fruit and some want a higher yield. But... in a container you have to prune out the tomato 'suckers' to insure your tomato stays healthy and produces quality fruit.


Identifying and Removing the Tomato 'Suckers'

Your newly transplanted tomatoes are single stems with a growing tip. As the transplants mature they will obviously grow, leaving behind leaves and flower clusters. In the joint where the the leaf meets the initial main growing stem, will come a new shoot. That new shoot is often called a 'sucker'. What it really is - is a new production stem. It will produce leaves and flower clusters. Flower clusters become tomatoes. That new growing stem will also produce 'suckers' in the joint. You can imagine what would happen to your container tomato if you didn't prune out most of the new production stems or 'suckers'. It would be massive. That is why determinate varieties are often grown in containers instead of indeterminate varieties... plant size management.

The video shows you how to identify and remove the 'suckers' or new production stems from the freshly transplanted 'Black Plum' indeterminate tomato plant. A general rule of thumb is to prune from the bottom and leave the upper 1/4 or 1/3 alone as to not accidentally prune off the growing tip. As the plant gets taller, you work you way up it and prune out unwanted growth.





How Many Main Stems or Production Stems Should I Grow?

That is up to you but I would recommend 1 or 2 main production stems if you are just starting. They are just easier to manage while you gain tomato container growing experience. It also depends on the variety of the indeterminate tomato. Cherry tomatoes might merit many productions stems, where large beefsteak tomatoes merit fewer. Keep in mind that you want fewer main stems when growing indeterminate tomatoes in containers verses earth beds.

I also suggest 1 or 2  production or main stems for about 1/2 of the growing season and then letting the top of the plant develop more stems. But as you might notice there is no set way or set formula or exact technique that tell all gardeners how to prune a tomato. It becomes a practice in creating a living sculpture. You become an artist with your own technique. Good luck.



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