If your cucumber plant are getting unruly and taking over the garden , it is in all likelihood meter to bring out the pruners . cucumber can grow into large vine that are infamous for suckering , and pruning can help keep your plants healthy , productive , and tidy especially if you are growing them up a trellis .
While you have your shears out , you may trim off some of the bottom leaves to help atmosphere circulation and countenance sun in . Or , you’re able to pick off fruits that wo n’t have sentence to ripen . Will pruning the Cucumis sativus improve your harvest or make the cukes taste better ? Keep reading to find out as we discuss the 5 footfall to successfully dress your cucumbers .
Step 1: Start Pruning At The Right Time
begin pruning cucumbers as presently as you transplant them into the garden . If you direct sow your seeds , you could begin pruning when the vines are about a calendar month old , or when they are 30 cm to 60 curium ( 1 - 2 ft ) high .
If you await until the plants are more mature , many of the low suckers will have become quite naturalized and it might be too hard on the plant to remove them . If the works did get away on you , simply entrust the large suckers on the bottom of the plant and start pruning away any new 1 that develop . Continue to lop your cucumbers at least once a calendar month . For more strict maintenance , cucumber will call for to be clip every 1 or 2 week to keep them under control .
cuke are prodigious plants that produce very quickly in the warm summer months , so you will probably want to keep at it all time of year long once pruning starts . There are a number of advantage to uphold a well - pruned plant , including :
Pruning is n’t for everyone , and here are some reasonableness you might not want to prune your cucumbers :
Step 2: Don’t Forget to Remove Suckers
The main reason to prune cucumbers is to limit the numbers of suckers it has . Suckers , also called lateral prow , get from the main vine , andif left in stead , they will move around into tumid lowly branch which will produce more and more sucker until you will end up with a dense , bushy vine .
Remember , cucumber plant will grow very quickly in the summertime , so you will have to check over your plant every calendar week to remove any unwanted suckers that have forge .
Why Remove Suckers
Suckers are typically removed to keep the vine manageable . This is peculiarly good when training a cucumber to grow up a treillage and provide you to grow more cuke plants on a single trellis .
Most commercial grower wagon train cucumbers to grow up a string . This allows them to really maximize the space inside their greenhouses and simplifies harvesting . In this instance , all chump are get rid of and the vine is trained as a unmarried stem , called a drawing card .
In our garden , we are not usually as aggressive in our pruning , and most gardeners prefer to go out at least a few suckers to produce a nice , shaggy-haired plant life that is still practical .
How To Identify Suckers
Along the chief stem of your cucumber industrial plant are minuscule increment points called nodes . The nodes look like little lumps in the otherwise smooth stem . At each node , four different things will happen : the plant will beam out a distaff prime that will work into a cuke , a lank tendril will grow to help the plant
Pruning Cucumbers To A Trellis
As your cucumber grows up its trellis , you might want to cut back off sucker to keep it growing where you need it . Monitor your cucumber throughout the growing season , and remove any sucker that will send the vine off where you do n’t want it .
The tendrils might not be sufficient to restrain your vine to the treillage , especially when your plant life is oppressed with fruit . While you are pruning off suckers , attach the rest vine with clips or garden ties to keep it securely in place .
TIP : We habituate old pantihose or stretchy wind sock to tie our works to the treillage . They are free and do n’t damage the prow .
Don’t Cut Off Tendrils
As you prune off suckers , avoid trim the slender tendril . While bump off tendrils wo n’t damage the plant , they will still provide extra support as your plant grows on its trellis .
Step 3: Remove Bottom Leaves
Once your plant has get through a decent size of it , it is often a respectable idea to trim off some of the bottom farewell . unfold up the cornerstone of the industrial plant has a few advantage , for example :
It is significant to not start removing leaves too early . Taking away foliage form new industrial plant will significantly cut down its power to photosynthesize which can have serious negatively charged affect on the plant . You want to wait until the flora has enough leaf that it wo n’t miss a few leaves .
Some growers suggest removing everything from 4thnode downwards , and while cucumbers will grow and grow very well with such an intensive pruning , we prefer to only murder some of the leave ( up to one-half ) so the bottom of the plant is not completely exposed .
When trimming leave-taking , render and bring down them off as stuffy to the stem turn as possible . If there is too much of the leafpetioleleft , it can molder and become a gateway to many disease and insects to infect your plant .
Step 4: Cull Bad Fruits And Leaves
Most pruning is about take away goodly maturation , so the remaining increase will grow even healthier and more productive . However , as you are crop away at your cucumbers , keep your eyes opened for any fruit , foliage or other foliage that have gone bad .
This let in any portion of the works that show signs of disease , are extremely discredited , or are turning yellow and wilting . These “ weak spot ” can insert disease or insects into the rest of your healthy cucumber industrial plant .
TIP : Do not throw disease or infested foliage into the compost bin . Many of these issues can survive the heat of the compost process and will be reintroduced to your garden when you employ the compost . Always combust or switch off anything like this .
Step 5: End Of Season Pruning
cuke are sore annuals that will not survive even the thin freeze . As your season winds down , you might be spooky for the ripening fruit that might not make it before the first fall frost sets in . Thankfully , pruning can help you get your craw off in a seasonable mode .
Topping
Topping is the practice of snipping the main stem at a node rather than a sucker . When you cut the crown of the plant ’s vine , it will put its vigor into the plant that is already there instead of bear on to grow big , and some of that energy will be put towards ripening the cukes .
Topping has been known to help yield mature faster . This method is peculiarly helpful in northern climates with curt turn seasons where the cucumbers might not otherwise have a chance to to the full ripen before being frost - obliterate .
Culling Unripe Cukes
Another pruning proficiency that can help you get your crop off faster is to cull out any cucumbers that will not have time to ripen before the season ends .
As surrender frost approaches , cautiously select any cucumbers that are still too immature and snip them off the plant ( recall , you’re able to consume cucumbers at any stagecoach of their growth though their smell might not be as perfect ) . This will allow the plant to redirect its redundant vigor into ripening the eternal sleep of the cukes faster .
Again , this is a common practice amongst northern gardeners that I find peculiarly helpful in my Zone 2 garden .
Conclusion
I was always wary of pruning my plant , afraid that I would get irreparable harm . Once I start , however , I found it was not nearly as scary as it seemed and turn out to be one of my favourite job around the farm .
While I still sometimes make cuts in the incorrect place , the benefit are often well deserving the few mistakes and it is delightful to see a works fanfare after a careful pruning . I go for this guide was helpful and that you will have even more success than I have .
FAQ
If this is our first time pruning cucumber , here are some motion you might be asking yourself :
A : No , you certainly do not have to prune cucumbers . Many gardeners grow them quite well by letting the vines grow as they will . In certain situations , however , there can be many benefits to pruning .
A : Nothing . write out a tendril will not affect the health of the plant . If you remove too many tendrils , however , the plant wo n’t be able-bodied to climb very well so it probably wo n’t work very well on a trellis .
A : Pruning off cuke efflorescence can be very beneficial if the vines are too minor to bear fruit . The growth of unripe works can be retarded if they set fruit too early , so remove the flowers at this peak can be very good for the overall health of the plant .
Alternatively , you may prune off flowers towards the end of the year if they do not have enough fourth dimension to develop fruit before Robert Lee Frost .
A : This depends on how neat you want to keep your industrial plant . If you want a very trim plant with a single loss leader , you will credibly have to prune every week or so .
A : It is vernacular to prune off some of the bottom will off the Cucumis sativus plant to reduce possible disease issue . However , if your garden is not prostrate to cucumber disease , then it is perfectly fine to leave them alone . It is a good idea , however , to remove any sickly or infected leave of absence as soon as you see them .
A : No , vining cuke can grow very well sprawled along the ground . They might be more prostrate to insect and disease issues however , but with right attention they can be very goodly .
Written By
Amber Noyes was born and elevate in a suburban California townspeople , San Mateo . She holds a master ’s degree in horticulture from the University of California as well as a BS in Biology from the University of San Francisco . With experience working on an constitutive farm , piddle preservation research , farmer ’ markets , and plant greenhouse , she understands what make plants thrive and how we can better understand the connexion between microclimate and plant wellness . When she ’s not on the land , Amber loves inform citizenry of new ideas / things touch to horticulture , specially constitutive gardening , houseplants , and grow plant in a small space .
