Cucumis sativus (Cucurbitaceae or cucumber family)
Production, Field
Soil preparation
- Cucumbers should not follow other cucurbits or nightshades, but they do follow well after cole crops, sweet corn and some leguminous green manures.
- Where phytophthora (phytophthora capsici) is an issue, rotate away from this land. Biofumigation has shown some effectiveness to reduce incidences.
- Apply compost and other amendments based on the results of a soil test.
- Spread lime as needed to increase both the pH and Ca levels. Dolomite lime will also increase Mg levels. Spread gypsum when calcium levels are low but pH is correct.
- Incorporate compost and plant cucumbers in high raised beds covered with plastic mulch. Infrared transmitting (IRT) plastic mulch can help raise the soil temperature for the earliest plantings.
Common recommended fertilizer rates1
| Nitrogen | Phosphorus | Potassium | pH |
| 100 | 0-160 | 0-160 | 6.0-6.4 |
| 1Rates are for New York and are from Cornell University’s Nutrient Guidelines for Commercial Vegetable Production (2019). Check the Cornell website for updated guidelines, or consult with local experts for recommended rates outside New York. | |||
Varieties
- Virginia variety trial
- Select varieties with broad disease resistance.
- If you want to maintain an insect cover until harvest, choose a parthenocarpic variety, or one that will set fruit without pollination. Monoecious varieties produce both male and female flowers, while gynoecious varieties produce only female flowers. If a variety is gynoecious only, you’ll need cross pollination from another variety. This other variety is often mixed with the gynoecious variety in the seed packet.
- Open pollinated and organic favorites include Marketmore 76, 86 and the downy-mildew-resistant varieties 97 or 420 (if available).
- Corinto is both gynoecious and parthenocarpic, meaning it will produce seedless fruit.
- Gateway #4777 (gynoecious) offers a high level of disease resistance.
- Eureka and H-19 varieties are good for pickling.
Greenhouse guidelines
- EZ Seeder seeding plate #5
- Use a 1020 tray with 24 pots for more light, which results in stockier plants. When using a 38-pot tray, make sure you transplant before they get leggy.
| Cell pack tray | Germination temp | Growth temp | Hardening off | Cell pack tray |
| 24 or 38 | 80°–95° | >70° day >60° night | Withhold water | Put plug trays on a wire mesh bench to encourage air pruning. Space cucumber flats like checkers when plants get leggy to obtain more light. |
Seeding time and number of successions
- Start transplants 3–4 weeks before you’re ready to set them out in the field or in a high tunnel. Make sure the soil is sufficiently warm; it should be at least 60°. Temperatures below this will stunt the plant.
- Plant every 2–3 weeks until July for continued harvest through the season. In the northern United States the last seeding will be some time in July.
Direct seeding information
- Seeding directly into bare soil or through plastic mulch works very well after the soil has sufficiently warmed up. It’s important to use row covers or insect netting to protect young seedlings against striped cucumber beetles.
Transplant readiness indicators
- Transplant in the field when plants have enough of a root ball to hold the soil in the pot or cell pack together. When they don’t, roots will be damaged and the plants will have a higher fatality rate.
- To reduce elongated growth in seedlings, brush plants with a broom at least once a week to get stocky seedlings. Dr. Joyce Latimer of Virginia Cooperative Extension found that this type of mechanical stimulation is an effective way to prevent excessive stem elongation (stretching). Brush across the top of the canopy in long gentle strokes with a broom, preferably one that is unpainted because leaves won’t stick to it. Run the broom about ½–1 inch below the top of the canopy to gently lean the plants over. Begin treating cucumbers as soon as the cotyledons open, and brush for the next 5 days. It keeps the plant stem about 25% shorter. More treatment than that can damage the leaves. If you see damage, it’s too much! Brush when the foliage is dry but the plants aren’t wilted. Mostly, this will be before watering in the morning.
- Harden plants off outside; plants that are lush don’t perform well in the field.
Transplant tips
- Lay plastic mulch at least a week before planting to allow the soil to warm and weed seeds to germinate. Planting on the same day you lay the plastic will cause weed pressure in the planting hole.
- Avoid transplanting in plastic mulch during the heat of a hot summer day. The heat of the plastic can cause damage to the young seedlings. To avoid burning the young plants, transplant in the evening, use stocky transplants and water deeply. If planting by hand, water plants with a watering can. Avoid applying row covers in hot conditions. When hot weather is expected after transplanting, only use insect cover for protection.
- To help resist cucumber beetle damage, dissolve Kaolin clay (Surround) in plenty of water and drench the complete tray in the solution before transplanting.
Transplanting in 5- or 6- foot raised beds
| Rows | In-row spacing | Planting depth (inches) | Notes |
| 1 | 12-18 inches | Cover the complete root ball | Take great care to make sure the root ball stays attached to the plant, as cucumbers do not like to be transplanted. Keep a walking break in the plantings. |
Cultivation procedures (without plasticulture)
- Cucumbers are commonly planted in plastic mulch but will also do well on bare ground.
- If growing cucumbers in the traditional bed system on bare ground, you can use your regular cultivation toolbar with side knives, set up for 1 row cultivation. Don’t use any finger weeders—precision cultivation can easily damage cucurbits. Keep some distance from the plant to avoid crop damage. Hand hoe between plants.
Cultivation procedures (with plasticulture)
- When using plasticulture, plant at least a week after laying the plastic mulch to allow weeds to germinate under the plastic. Use IRT plastic to warm the soil earlier in the season.
- After transplanting, cultivate once or twice between plastic with a rolling cultivator or Spyder to control weeds. Cover the wheel tracks with rye straw at a rate of 3 lbs. per foot. (One 600 lb. round bale covers 200 feet of wheel track.) Increase this amount when using an early cutting of orchard grass because hay breaks down much faster than straw. Over time, hay and straw mulch will release a significant amount of K and other beneficial properties like silicon, contributing to long-term soil health. Mulching also protects crops from soil splashing. This reduces soilborne diseases and time spent cleaning produce after harvest.
Frost, disease and insect protection
- Plant early plantings downwind from later varieties, as both powdery and downy mildew are windborne.
- For your earliest plantings, use floating row covers to protect against frost and striped cucumber beetles. For varieties that require pollination, remove the covers at flowering. Use 10-gauge wire to support the row cover, since abrasion against the cover will damage the plants. If frost protection or providing a warm environment isn’t necessary, use insect covers to provide protection against beetles.
- Powdery mildew: The best way to avoid losses from powdery mildew is to use tolerant or resistant varieties. Powdery mildew can be somewhat controlled with a mixture of Bacillus subtilis (as in CEASE), and potassium bicarbonate (as in MilStop SP). Sulfur causes phytotoxicity in cucumbers, so be careful when applying sulfur in any form to control powdery mildew. A full list of OMRI-listed control products on powdery mildew is available from CALS.
- Downy mildew can be somewhat controlled with the biological control Pseudomonas aeruginosa, available as a product as Zonix. Also, consider using tolerant or resistant varieties. A full list of OMRI-listed control products is available from CALS.
Other cultural practices
- Irrigate frequently for optimum yield and plant health. Frequency depends on soil type, evaporation, precipitation and the particular needs of the crop.
Double cropping and/or cover cropping
- Remove all plastic mulch and drip tape.
- Work under any harvest remains to avoid insect or pathogen buildup, and plant a cover crop. In the northern United States and Canada, you can follow summer- and early-fall-harvested cucumbers with a cover crop of oats and peas in September, or rye and vetch planted at later dates. Adjust accordingly in other regions.
Additional resources
- Managing Cucurbit Downy Mildew on Organic Farms
- Organic Production and IPM Guide for Cucumbers and Squash
Production, High Tunnel
Soil preparation
- Apply compost and other amendments based on the results of a soil test, and plant cucumbers in high raised beds.
- Early crops must be planted in warm soil. You can accomplish this by either preparing a hotbed (a heated cold frame) or by laying infrared transmitting (IRT) plastic a few weeks before planting and closing up the greenhouse to trap the heat.
- A soil test will determine if additional K is needed. Apply all additional N and K that’s needed through a drip line.
Varieties
- Pennsylvania high-tunnel variety trial
- Select varieties with broad disease resistance and suitability for greenhouse production. Most greenhouse varieties don’t require pollination (they are parthenocarpic) and result in seedless cucumbers.
- Katrina is a favorite of many growers during hot summer conditions.
- Corinto, Poniente and Socrates are good organic varieties.
Greenhouse guidelines
- EZ Seeder seeding plate #5
| Cell pack tray | Germination temp | Growth temp | Hardening off | Notes |
| 24 or 38 | 80°–95° | > 70° daytime > 60° nighttime | Withhold water | Space cucumber flats like checkers when the plants get too leggy. Put plug trays on a wire mesh bench to encourage air pruning. |
Number of successions
- Due to the high investment of time and inputs this crop requires, growers try to sustain their trellised cucumbers throughout the season.
- Otherwise, you can have 1 very early crop and 1 very late crop to avoid low market prices at the height of the season.
Greenhouse guidelines
- Grafting cucumbers is a way to improve crop vigor and yield while providing disease resistance. It’s a common practice for organic greenhouse producers in the Netherlands. Grafted plants are usually grown in 3-inch pots.
Transplant readiness indicators
- For non-grafted plants, transplant from a 24- or 38-cell tray when the plants have formed 2 true leaves.
- Transplant in the high tunnel when plants have enough of a root ball to hold the pot together. When they don’t, they’ll get damaged and have a high fatality rate.
Disease and insect protection
- Powdery mildew: The best way to avoid losses from powdery mildew is to use tolerant or resistant varieties. Powdery mildew can be somewhat controlled with a mixture of Bacillus subtilis (as in CEASE), and potassium bicarbonate (as in MilStop). Sulfur causes phytotoxicity in cucumbers, so be careful when applying sulfur in any form to control powdery mildew. A full list of OMRI-listed control products on powdery mildew is available from CALS. Good sanitation is also important to slow the spread of powdery mildew. Remove the first occurrences from the high tunnel and harvest the infected areas of the high tunnel last.
- Scout weekly for spider mites. You can achieve control with beneficial insects and trap crops. Start the season off using potted green beans around the interior perimeters to serve as traps. When these plants show spider mites, release the beneficials. At the same time, support predators by intercropping with nectar and refuge plants (such as alyssum or marigolds) at row ends and in a few other spots inside the structure.
- Scout weekly for thrips. An organic control option for thrips is a spinosyn-based product (such as Entrust) approved for tunnel application. Biocontrol options exist but must be introduced early and repeatedly to keep the thrips population in check. They aren’t effective once the pest population is well established. Both western flower thrips and onion thrips can infest and significantly damage cucumbers.
- Where phytophthora blight (phytophthora capsici) is an issue, rotate away from this land. Biofumigation has shown some effectiveness to reduce incidences.
Other cultural practices
- Irrigate frequently for optimum yield and plant health. Frequency depends on soil type, evaporation, precipitation and the particular needs of the crop.
- Greenhouse cucumbers need a significant amount of water and nutrients to thrive. Plant tissue testing is highly recommended. Adjust soil nutrient levels with a fertilizer injector when using drip irrigation.
- Greenhouse cucumbers need trellising since they are a vine crop. To trellis them:
- Select either the single- or double-leader method, whereby the stem is trellised on twine hung from a support in the form of a suspended wire or conduit.
- The vines are nudged to grow clockwise around the twine towards the support wire and are then allowed to drape down over the wire or conduit and grow toward the ground.
- To allow for vegetative growth, some growers remove all fruit until the leader (or double leader) reaches the top of the wire, so that no flowers are allowed to form until the sixth or seventh leaf.
Additional resources
Harvest
| Yield | An average of 7 cucumbers per row foot, but much higher yields have been reported. |
| Standards | Harvesting1 Eight ½-bushel buckets per person, per hour |
| Washing Productivity depends on how dirty the cucumbers come out of the field. Wash with a rinse conveyor washer or brusher washer only when needed, at a rate of 350–500 lbs. per person per hour. When washing by hand, avoid dumping cucumbers in a tub. | |
| Tools and supplies needed | ½-bushel buckets and/or ⅝-bushel buckets |
| 1Harvest rates don't include the time required to transport crops from the field to a wash and pack shed or storage facility. | |
Ready-to-harvest and quality indicators
- Cucumbers are about 6–7 inches long and are firm, dark green, straight and smooth.
- The skin is free from cucumber beetle damage or any other blemishes.
Harvest procedures
- Wash hands before harvesting cucumbers.
- Make sure you harvest the newest plantings first to prevent the spread of disease.
- One person harvests each side of a cucumber bed.
- Go down the bed and pull all harvest-ready fruits off the vine without breaking the skin off the cucumber, and place them in a bucket.
- When the bucket is full, place it in the harvest lane for pick up with a flatbed trailer.
- You won’t need to wash cucumbers if the wheel tracks are mulched with straw or hay.
Washing and packing procedures
- Wash hands and rinse boots before entering the wash-and-pack shed, and cover up field clothes with a bib. If a long-sleeve shirt contains soil, remove this as well.
- If washing is necessary, use a rinse conveyor washer or a brusher washer. Make sure you use the appropriate pressure on the nozzles to avoid crop damage. Don’t dunk cucumbers in cold water as this can create cross-contamination of pathogens that are absorbed through the skin of the fruit. Add a sanitizer like hydrogen peroxide and peracetic acid to the water in the circulation tank of the rinse conveyor vegetable washer. Use the guide How to Wash Produce Using a Peracetic Acid Solution to establish how much sanitizer solution to add to water.
- Sort fruit by size (see “Additional resources” below) in a well-lit location.
- Pack fruit for wholesale customers in waxed 1 1⁄9-bushel boxes.
Additional resources
- Wholesale Grading and Packing Instructions Cucumbers Select
- Wholesale Grading and Packing Instructions Cucumbers 24 Ct
- Wholesale Grading and Packing Instructions Cucumbers 36 Ct
- Wholesale Grading and Packing Instructions Cucumbers Super
- Postharvest Factsheet Cucumbers
- Production Guide for Storage of Organic Fruits and Vegetables
Packing and storage summary for cucumbers
| Packing in the field | Fill buckets |
| Packing for delivery | The average when picked regularly for CSA distribution is 40–60 cucumbers per container, each weighing 45 lbs. Use waxed 1 ⅑-bushel boxes for wholesale See the International Federation for Produce Standards for the correct PLU code. Add the prefix 9 for organic crops. |
| Storage | SAt 50°–55° and 95% humidity. Don’t store below 50°. Cucumbers are highly sensitive to ethylene exposure. Allow for good air exchange and don’t store with crops that release ethylene. Pack in closed containers for longer storage. |
This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture through the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or U.S. Government determination or policy.