Gourd Family: Cultivating Cucumbers (黄瓜)

 

Cucumbers are widely used in different parts of the world as an essential ingredient in dishes. It can be eaten raw as salad, stir fried or preserved as pickle.

Below are the steps needed to plant cucumbers. To save space, I built a little netting overhead for the cucumber vines.

Materials you need

• At least a space of 2m by 1m either on ground, or just let the cucumber crawls but harvesting will be slightly challenging.
• Or overhead netting where you allow the cucumber vines to creep upward then flourish in the overhead netting. You will need a pole of 5 to 10cm diameter and a height of about 1.8m. The height greatly depends on the height of the planter as it must not obstruct the planter ability to walk under the vines and look for the flowers/fruits and yet within easy reach for him/her to hand pollinate the flowers.
• This illustration is designed and documented using a green house plot.
• Cucumber seeds. I use Australia cucumbers but other species give similar result

Step 1: plant the cucumber seeds in a pot. Refer to here if you need help to prepare the pot/soil. Space them out about 5cm apart or follow the instructions on the packaging. Seeds typically take about 6 to 14 days to grow into seedlings suitable for transplant.

I usually seed about 5 to 8 seeds and choose the strongest 3 to 4 seedlings to transfer to the actual plot.

Fig. 1 Packet of cucumber seeds.

Step 2: Transfer the seedlings to the actual location you have prepared for the cucumbers to grow permanently. Typically the vines will twine up the nearest pole without any help. If some cannot find it way, just help the vines by bring them closer to the pole or just secure them with gardening cable tie.

Fig 2. Cucumber vines climbing up the poles. From left to right, week 3, 4 and 5. after transplant

Step 3: fertilized the plant once a week with organic fertilizer. Just dig a 5cm diameter hole about 5 to 8cm away from the main stem, scoop 1 tablespoon full of fertilizer into the hole and cover it. By week 9, the vines should have reached the overhead netting. You will also find lots of flowers blooming all over



Fig 3. On the left, fully grown cucumber vines with lots of flowers ( ready to fruit). On the right, closed up on the flowers.

Step 4: It is now time to identify the female and male flowers and start the hand pollination process. If your area has enough bees or insects to do the work for you, you can skip this step.



Fig. 4 The female flower. A flower attached to a fruit.

Fig. 5 A male flower ( the one held by the hand), just a flower with a stem

Step 5: Pluck the male flower off the vine. Brush the center of the flower with a brush to pick up the pollen.



Fig. 6 Pick up the pollen from the male flower

Fig. 7 Closed up. Do you see tiny yellow powdery substance on the brush?

Step 6: Brush the pollen onto the female flower. Congrats, you have completed the hand pollination process.

Fig 8. Brush the pollen onto the female flower

You can also hand pollinate the cucumber by rubbing the male flower against the female flower as in fig. 9. But I find using brushes more effective.

 Fig 9. Rubbing the male flower to the female flower

Continue to water the cucumber daily and apply fertilizer weekly. The cucumber will grow into full size about 4 to 6 weeks from pollination. More cucumbers will fruit after 16 weeks from planting.

Fig. 9 Cucumber 4 weeks after pollination



 

This specie of cucumber does not taste very crunchy when eaten as compared to the Japanese cucumbers. It is best eaten cooked than raw or used to make pickles.

 



 

Disclaimer:

Information are documented to the best of my ability and your result may varies.

Products and brands mentioned directly or indirectly in this blog reflects the experience of the author and does not represent the views of the individual merchants. There are many factors like seeds condition, weather, actual soil mixed, individual planting habits etc which may affect your results.