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As the atmospheric condition heat up , now ’s the perfect time to grow and cull cucumbers!With these easy tips and antic , you ’ll be set up to successfully glean and store the cucumbers you grow until they ’re ready to eat .
Unless otherwise noted , all photographs right of first publication © 2017 by Andrew Mefferd .
The pursuit is an excerption fromThe Greenhouse and Hoophouse Grower ’s HandbookbyAndrew Mefferd . It has been adapt for the web .
Figure 10.8. A pickling cucumber being grown by the high- wire (single-leader) method in the author’s hoophouse.
The Resilient Cucumber
Cucumbers are a very fast - growing crop . When grow quickly at high temperature , they can take as little as twenty - one day to go from seed to transplant stagecoach , and another twenty - one Clarence Day to go from transplantation to first harvest . Under hot weather condition , mature plants can develop 4 inches ( 10 cm ) or more in a twenty-four hours . As long as they are keep well water , cucumbers plants can tolerate hotter temperatures than tomatoes .
The firm ontogeny rate think cucumbers may require more frequent attention than the other vining / fruiting crops . During catamenia of fast ontogenesis , cucumber may need pruning or trellising more than once a workweek . Small - fruited varieties like cocktail cucumber may necessitate to be pick once a day or more to keep them from set out too big .
Harvesting Cucumbers
Figure 10.8 . A pickling cucumber being raise by the high- wire ( single - loss leader ) method in the author ’s hoophouse .
Frequency of harvest home in cucumbers is regulate both by salmagundi and by how fast the plant are acquire . The destination of cucumber harvest is to pick the cucumber once they have reached a minimal size and degree of matureness , before they have become overmature . There is some latitude in when to peck cucumbers , since they are picked when horticulturally matured , not botanically matured ( in other words , ripe ) .
Consider the divergence between pick a ripe tomato or pepper ( tegument has changed colouring material , seeds are ripe ) and plunk a cucumber ( ground on sizing , not ripeness ; semen should not be fledged if present at all ) . In greenhouse cukes , the matter can be disconcert , since they are parthe - nocarpic and gynoecious and do n’t set up germ . But we can still say that overmaturity corresponds to the leg of maturity date in a cucumber when it would otherwise have hard seeded player . This definition still allow for some line of latitude in when to harvest .
A special variety show may be harvest somewhat large or little , once it has reached horticultural adulthood , based on grower preference , buyer druthers , and stage of growth . Cucumber plants in a more procreative phase will tend to produce longer , magnanimous fruits .
Cucumber Maturity
Overmaturity in cucumbers represent to bloating . This is because cucumber originate to a certain distance before doing most of their diam expansion . So an overmature cucumber is one that has reached its last length and increase too much in diameter . You want to pick cucumber at the desired length , before they have begun bloat , because flavor will get going down at that dot .
Since protected finish cucumber are seedless , overmaturity is not as much of a problem as in field cucumbers , where cuke will start to have gruelling cum when picked overmature . But the best eating quality in cuke comes after the cucumber has replete out and reach out its optimal duration , and before it has commence to bloat .
If you are grow a unexampled variety and are shy where the sweet touch of adulthood is , undermature cucumber tend to look slightly angular because they have n’t filled out completely yet , like an underinflated balloon . And an overmature cuke will have stopped originate in length and start thrive outward only . Most cukes are at the right diam when they no longer have pointy terminal and are cylindric , but before their shape has start to inflate . Ultimately , there is some discretion in when to pick cucumber vine , so show workers instance of what you require them to pick and not piece .
Post-Harvest: Storing Cucumbers
It ’s important to get cucumbers out of the Dominicus as soon as potential , since their glowering skin absorbs a lot of heat the longer they are left out . computer storage cucumber at 55 to 57 ° F ( 13–14 ° C ) , and at 95 per centum humidity .
As long as they are held under ideal post - harvest conditions for only a few days until sales event , you’re able to retail farseeing European cucumbers or put them in a CSA box without shrink - swathe . For a produce sales chain much longer than that , or wholesaling where handling is out of your control , shrink - wrap should be used .
Cucumber Wrapping and Packaging
picture 10.10 . A young harvest of long European greenhouse cucumbers grown umbrella - style . The plant have just reach the top wire , which is 6 to 7 foot ( 1.8–2.1 m ) high , and are soon to be top to let the laterals develop .
On a very small scale , stretchy plastic wrap may be used to wrap the cukes , with the ends wrestle to seal in moisture . On a intermediate scale , machines are useable that will speed up the process . The simplest of these can be dilute with a large roll of credit card wrap , with a red-hot conducting wire to cut it . A person stands in front of the car and wraps each Cucumis sativus , and when they rustle the enwrap Cucumis sativus the hot telegram cuts the plastic .
On a larger scale , cucumber vine are put into a loose tube of plastic wrap and then mail on a conveyor rap through a heater , which shrivel the wrapping to fit the Cucumis sativus . These have a very high output and are much more expensive than the other choice .
Most American slicer and pickle type do not need shrink - wrapping , because their pelt are thick enough to prevent dehydration . Most of the mini / midi / cocktail flimsy - skinned Cucumis sativus can benefit from some type of dehydration shelter , just like long Europeans .
This packaging may also be useful to keep the cucumbers together in a marketable unit , since the smaller types are usually sold in chemical group rather than by the piece or the pound . Shrink - wrapper cocktail or snack cucumbers to a small composition board tray is a common industriousness method that also has skillful presentation . Bagging small - fruited cucumber for sales event may be a more virtual option for smaller growers . The drawback is that sometimes the bagful can mist up , making the Cucumis sativus heavy to see .
Recommended Reads
Getting to the Root : Growing & Harvesting Carrots
How to Harvest , Store , and Cure Squash
The Greenhouse and Hoophouse Grower’s Handbook
Organic Vegetable Production Using Protected Culture
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