Had a pretty good results with cucumbers this year. All trained up twine hanging from bamboo poles 6' above ground in so-so soil. Learned two lessons: (1)next year make it 7' high and (2) fasten the poles more securely--one slipped down. Grew 3 varieties, 2 plants of each, and had plenty of fruit to give away.
     Burpless: Picked at 10". So-so taste, lots of seeds. Fair production.
     Suyo Long: Picked at 13-16", curly. Good taste, thick skin, may want to peel. Productive.
     Japanese Climbing: Picked at 12-14". Fairly good taste. Strong climbing vines. Good production.

      All the plants stopped producing in the heat of August. I wonder if starting some plants two weeks later would extend the season, or if they would quit at the same time?   

     Next year besides Suyou and JC, I'm thinking of trying either Sweet Success or one of the Persian (Beit Alpha) cakes. Has anyone grown either of these?

DonShirer said:     Had a pretty good results with cucumbers this year. All trained up twine hanging from bamboo poles 6' above ground in so-so soil. Learned two lessons: (1)next year make it 7' high and (2) fasten the poles more securely--one slipped down. Grew 3 varieties, 2 plants of each, and had plenty of fruit to give away.
     Burpless: Picked at 10". So-so taste, lots of seeds. Fair production.
     Suyo Long: Picked at 13-16", curly. Good taste, thick skin, may want to peel. Productive.
     Japanese Climbing: Picked at 12-14". Fairly good taste. Strong climbing vines. Good production.

      All the plants stopped producing in the heat of August. I wonder if starting some plants two weeks later would extend the season, or if they would quit at the same time?   

     Next year besides Suyou and JC, I'm thinking of trying either Sweet Success or one of the Persian (Beit Alpha) cakes. Has anyone grown either of these?

I started seeds of quite afew different types of cukes this spring so I had a lot of fruit. Two real favorites were Green Fingers and Sweeter Yet. I also grew Burpless which I like and grow most years. And Marketmore 76 which was a very good producer for me.

I grew a Bush Champion this year, and didn't like it nearly as well as the Marketmore 76 I've grown for the past several years. We picked them at 5-6" and still thought the texture was lacking (not as crisp). I thought the skin was tough, and not as flavorful.

I also grow lemon cucumbers every year because we love the mild flavor and small size.

We normally aren't bothered so much by heat with these varieties, but the wet weather did them in early this year.

Sorry I can't help with info on any of the other varieties you asked about @donshirer

I think cucumbers will be the next project. I do not seem to have much success growing cukes. I like bush style because of space considerations and allow them to climb a fence panel. They either do not get fully formed or filled out, get powdery mildew or some kind of blight or wilt. It is either the variety I choose or my growing practices. Mostly I just plant the seeds in the ground and take what grows. This will be a good research topic for the long cold winter that is on the way.

I recently started growing cucumbers for the first time, but did a bit of an experiment- I started some indoors in peat pots & did some direct sow. They both are doing fantastic, however, the ones started indoors are a bit bigger than the other & even have tendrils that are attaching themselves to my trellis!

We grew the marketmore ones, about 12ish plants. Ours produced longer than Rita's did, but got a very very late start. They only just stopped this past weekend when the hard frost (there was ice on everything) finally killed them.

ChefDebbie said:I recently started growing cucumbers for the first time, but did a bit of an experiment- I started some indoors in peat pots & did some direct sow. They both are doing fantastic, however, the ones started indoors are a bit bigger than the other & even have tendrils that are attaching themselves to my trellis!

I like to start mine indoors about 3-4 weeks before I plant out. I find they start producing fruit that much earlier.

Bummer on the frost so early, Robyn. Is that usual for your area?

ChefDebbie said:I recently started growing cucumbers for the first time, but did a bit of an experiment- I started some indoors in peat pots & did some direct sow. They both are doing fantastic, however, the ones started indoors are a bit bigger than the other & even have tendrils that are attaching themselves to my trellis!

Probably the direct seeded ones will soon catch up.

PaulF said:I think cucumbers will be the next project. I do not seem to have much success growing cukes. I like bush style because of space considerations and allow them to climb a fence panel. They either do not get fully formed or filled out, get powdery mildew or some kind of blight or wilt. It is either the variety I choose or my growing practices. Mostly I just plant the seeds in the ground and take what grows. This will be a good research topic for the long cold winter that is on the way.

I know late in the season Cucumber plants do tend to come down with all sorts of problems. Spotted leaves, mildew and who knows what else. But before that happens you should be able to get a really nice harvest of many cucumbers.

mom2goldens said:

I like to start mine indoors about 3-4 weeks before I plant out. I find they start producing fruit that much earlier.

Bummer on the frost so early, Robyn. Is that usual for your area?

I start mine and put them out as transplants because otherwise the slugs just eat them and I have nothing.

robynanne said:We grew the marketmore ones, about 12ish plants. Ours produced longer than Rita's did, but got a very very late start. They only just stopped this past weekend when the hard frost (there was ice on everything) finally killed them.

Marketmore is a good one, So many being grown and very popular.

Not surprised they died, cukes hate the cold. Actually you did really good that they produced so late in the season for you.

Newyorkrita said:

I start mine and put them out as transplants because otherwise the slugs just eat them and I have nothing.

I agree -- I start mine several weeks before planting out and they seem to do much better than direct sown. My favorite variety is "Summer Dance," a long (12" plus) slim type, with small seeds, that grows best on a trellis and is extremely productive.

Weedwhacker said:

I agree -- I start mine several weeks before planting out and they seem to do much better than direct sown. My favorite variety is "Summer Dance," a long (12" plus) slim type, with small seeds, that grows best on a trellis and is extremely productive.

I never heard of Summer Dance, I will have to look it up.

So hold on, I did look it up and it looks very good. I am sure I would like it.

Years and years ago I used to direct sow a whole row of cucumbers. They came up fine and it worked out well. I must not have has as many slugs as I could never do that now.

mom2goldens said:

I like to start mine indoors about 3-4 weeks before I plant out. I find they start producing fruit that much earlier.

Bummer on the frost so early, Robyn. Is that usual for your area?

Yeah, it's pretty normal. Mn is basically Canada with no universal health-care.

I was pretty happy with them. It'd have been nice to get them started earlier, but they got really sun shocked when I put them out this spring, which was annoying since I had hardened them off slowly. I don't know, they hated going in the ground. They even had those pots you just put in the ground with them. I ended up putting seeds directly in the ground a few weeks after the transplants and they grew well. Caught up to the transplants and then everything grew about the same rate.

Robyn, here are 2 suggestions: if you use peat pots and plant them in the ground, be sure to have the rim of the pot buried below the soil surface (the moisture will actually wick away from the plant otherwise), and break up or cut into the bottom of the pot before planting so the roots can escape. And, try covering the young plants with "floating row cover" for a week or two after planting; I don't even bother hardening my seedlings off anymore, I just cover them with the row cover for a while to give them a little protection from the sun and wind (and also to help hold the moisture in the ground).

Maybe that was 3 suggestions