Kitchen Garden Forum

I have 2 cucumber plants in my green house that are now 8ft. tall and producing fruit. Should I be stopping them or let them grow rampant. Also the bottom end of the cus. haver rough points on them . Is this normal and when will I KNOW WHEN THE FRUITS ARE READY TO PICK AND EAT?
advice needed.
Regards Brenjon

Lucky you! I have never managed to grow cucumbers in the greenhouse and stick to the outdoor ridge types.
They will be ready when they have stopped growing. You dont want to allow then to mature on the plant as then the seeds will be large/tough and the skins will also be tough. Put it another way, if they are long enough for what you need, then they are ready. Additionally, if they are left to mature, then the plant may not produce further fruit.

I grow mini cucmbers and have to keep picking them like courgettes to allow others to form if I get too many to pickle I feed them to the hens who love them, do try Tiggers Bread & butter pickle recipe if you get a glut it is delicous and mine was still producing some fruit in October last year !

Hi Brenjon. If you nip the tops out of your cucumber plants, they will produce laterals and more fruit will come off those. When I plant my cues in the greenhouse, I build a framework of bamboo canes (like this -HHHH, if you get my drift!)with the horizontal canes about a foot off the soil. I train the main stem up the upright, and side shoots along the horizontal ones.I add more horizontal canes as the plants grow. Some of the sideshoots are taken off as it becomes a wee bit crowded. So far, I have never had to stop the plant. The frame/support works a treat and keeps the cues off the ground and stops the greenhouse looking like a jungle!
You Know when the cues are ready as they "feel right". If you leave them too long, they lose a lot of flavour and have a lot of seeds. I took my first cue three weeks ago and it was rather small but delicious. The ones which followed were larger and the two plants are now absolutely festooned with cues. My neighbours are going to be very happy! Hope this helps a little. Cheers.

Hi Elaine
Your advice helps a lot.Thanks for replying
Regards Brenjon