Growing Better Cucumber Plants

Whether you prefer slicing, pickling, or European style, cucumbers are a favorite among market gardeners, large-scale farmers, and backyard gardeners alike. Enhance your growing season by providing proper spacing to improve general health and production, decrease pest and disease pressure and competition, and increase air circulation. 

Understanding Cucumber Varieties

Similar to tomatoes, there are bush and vining cucumbers with growing patterns that match their name. Bush, or dwarf, varieties stay shorter and more compact and are great for containers, raised beds, patios, and small-space growers. 

Bush cucumbers do not require trellising, but you can train them up a support system, which may decrease the chance of disease and make the fruits easier to harvest. Vining cucumbers grow tall, produce more fruits than bush varieties, and require trellising. Plan your trellis systems accordingly when selecting varieties. 

Pro tip: Select disease-resistant cultivars if you experience high populations of cucumber beetles or squash bugs or your region’s climate causes high levels of fungal diseases. Also, practice good crop rotation. 

Benefits of Using a Trellis

Trellising cucumbers has many benefits:

• It makes harvesting more manageable.
• Plants are healthier, resulting in higher yields.
• Plants compete less for sun, water, and nutrients. 
• Flowers are more accessible to bees and other pollinators.
• It allows for healthy air circulation, which is crucial for plant health and reduces disease risk. 

Related: Selecting the Right Seed Starting Cell Trays

Ideal Spacing for Planting Cucumbers on a Trellis

Provide vining, trellised cucumbers 12 to 24 inches between plants and three to four feet between rows. Bush cucumbers can be spaced 12 to 36 inches apart in a raised bed and about five feet between rows. The specific spacing depends on the variety, type, and your trellis system. Large slicing cucumbers with more vigorous foliage may require two to three feet between plants, whereas smaller, pickling cucumbers may only need 12 to 18 inches.

Ensure proper spacing between rows. Otherwise, harvesting will be difficult, good air circulation will decrease, and diseases and pests will spread more rapidly, jumping across plant rows via foliage. 

How to Measure Spacing

When transplanting large quantities, have a friend help you measure the spacing for accuracy and speed. 

You’ll need: 

• A long measuring tape or wooden stick
• Garden markers
• Trowels 

Pull out the measuring tape to the length of the garden bed, securing it at each end. Mark your desired spacing with your garden markers. Then, have your friend follow behind and drop a transplant at each spot. Together, plug them into the ground. 

Alternatively, grab a long, unused wooden stick and measure various spacing units, noting each or using a different color marker to distinguish them. The stick should be long enough to mark three to four plantings. As you go along your garden bed, have your friend drag the stick as you dig a hole with a trowel at each measurement you want. This method allows you to prepare the entire bed quickly with precise spacing and alleviates having to hold a measuring tape in place. 

Planning Your Trellis System

When growing in a high tunnel or hoop house, you’ll likely be trellising vertically with a roller hook system. To add strength to your building, install trusses to safely handle the weight of ripening fruits before trellising cucumbers. Drop a string down for each plant and secure its stem to the string using support vine clips. 

Secure outdoor cucumbers to trellis netting connected to t-posts. Train the tendrils to latch onto the netting directly above them to keep plants and fruit organized. Monitor the netting throughout the growing season, ensuring plants have enough height and support to keep growing. If they extend past six feet of netting, train them over or cut the top so the plant sends energy into ripening the existing fruit rather than producing more. Alternatively, if t-post height allows, add a line of garden jute or tomato string to offer them more height. 

Our article Succession Planting for Success in the Market Garden teaches market gardeners how to plant successively and move on to the next succession before this overgrowth occurs. 

Tips and tricks for trellis system installation: 

• Pull the trellis netting tight before securing it to provide the greatest stability. 
• Use high-quality string and support clips. 
• Provide trellis strings when plants send out tendrils to avoid them grabbing each other and tangling. 
• Remove all parts of the trellis system at the close of the season. Sanitize and store properly to extend the life of the products. 

Planting Techniques for Best Yields

Cucumbers love a heavily composted garden bed with loose, well-draining soil and a pH between 6.0 and 6.5. Prepare your soil by adding a general fertilizer. Look for a fertilizer with NPK levels of 3-4-6 or something similar and begin feeding this when plants start to flower. Higher levels of phosphorus and potassium assist with proper fruit formation and growth. More nitrogen will prevent plants from being lush in foliage but not in fruit production. 

Cucurbits don’t love having their root ball disturbed, so handle them as little as possible when transplanting. Using a trowel, dig a hole large enough to fit the plant, place the cucumber transplant in the hole, gently bury it, and tamp the soil down. 

If your crop planning allows, you can also directly seed your cucumbers to avoid root disturbance—direct seed cucumbers only when soil temperatures are 70℉ or higher.  

Water new cucumber transplants immediately and every other day or as needed as they become established. Irrigate your cucumbers if you don’t receive at least an inch of rainfall weekly. Continue to fertilize as the product label recommends, and add a side dressing of compost mid-season. If you notice bronzing of the leaves, it may indicate a need for a potassium boost. 

Common Problems and Solutions for Growing Cucumbers

Overcrowding 

While squeezing a few more plants in your garden bed can be tempting, proper spacing is crucial to overall health and performance. Overcrowding may cause fungal diseases to spread quickly and allow pests to take over. Plants all need sunlight, water, and nutrients; if overcrowded, you create an environment that forces them to compete. Adequately spaced plants on a trellis will remain healthy and productive for longer. 

Fungal diseases 

Humidity, excessive moisture, and poor air circulation can cause health issues. Growing in a high tunnel increases the risk of humidity issues, making air circulation even more critical. Powdery and downy mildew are prevalent fungal diseases that will spread quickly under ideal conditions. Avoid overcrowding and prune plants regularly to reduce disease risk. 

Pest control 

Aphids, flea beetles, squash bugs, and cucumber beetles can cause severe damage. Cucumber beetles carry bacterial wilt, which spreads quickly and can take out your entire patch. Add hoops and cover young transplants with insect netting. Remove the netting when you see flowers so pollination can occur. Established plants will tolerate more damage from pests. 

Many market farmers also use beneficial insects as part of their IPM (Integrated Pest Management) program. 

Related: Beneficial Insects for Gardens, Farms and Greenhouses

FAQs

What is the best distance to plant cucumbers on a trellis?

Depending on the type, variety, and your trellis system, space cucumber plants at 12 to 36 inches. 

Can I plant different cucumber varieties on the same trellis?

Yes. Stick labels in the ground where varieties change so you can note specific differences throughout the season. 

How much space should be between rows of cucumbers?

Leave three to four feet between rows of trellised vining cucumbers and five between rows of bush cucumbers. Non-trellised cucumbers left to vine on the ground require several feet and have a higher risk of disease, so it’s not recommended. 

What type of trellis is best for cucumbers?

Vertical trellising with a string trellis system works best for vining cucumbers in a high tunnel, whereas trellis netting with t-posts works best outdoors. While bush cucumbers don’t require trellising, tomato cages or the Florida weave will offer support if needed. 

How often should I water trellised cucumbers?

Cucumbers need an inch of water weekly. Set up an irrigation system that deep waters the plants to ensure they receive what they need for peak performance and to avoid bitter-tasting fruits. 

Written by Jenna Rich @partnersgardens