Hello everyone,
I would appreciate any and all advice in selecting which cucumber variety to plant this year. Last year I grew burpless, which produced to beat the band but were bitter - I could only share them with people I knew well enough to show them where to cut in half and throw out the bitter half. :-( But, at least with those you can cut and taste each one. For picking it would not work.
Firstly, I need a pickling type that I can be certain is not going to be bitter. Is there such a thing? I have been looking at seed from the french cornichon types, but I see in the plant files that they prefer soil a bit on the acid side.
We also eat cucumbers fresh so it would be nice to have one that can do double duty, but I can grow two types if need be. I am hoping to have enough extra to sell from an honor table in my front yard.
I am in central Texas, a good climate and good soil for growing. We got weekly rains last summer except for one spell when I had to water, so moisture in the soil and humidity is pretty consistent.
Thanks in advance for sharing your favorite cucumbers and any tips! :-)
Tina
Which cucumber should I choose?
I'm trying lemon cukes, Marketmore, and a white one this year. I had burpless and Straight Eight last year and neither did squat! If you go to Google and type in "vegetable varieties X county" (not sure what county you're in or near), you should get a planting guide from the Texas Ag Extension or Texas A&M horticultural division.
I don't think you're too far from me, so here are a couple for Tarrant County (Fort Worth area):
http://blog.briangallimore.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/vege-varieties-for-tx.pdf
http://tarrant.tamu.edu/page.asp?o=tamu&s=h&p=317761
I am going to try the lemon cukes and also ones called suyo long that I purchased from rareseeds, the suyo long are some sort of oriental cucumbers that take heat and humidity and produce really good under those conditions, but we will see. Both of these can be eaten fresh and can also be pickled as well.
Fanfare is a terrific slicing cucumber. It is a compact plant that produces like crazy. I don't know about bitterness because I don't eat raw cukes. But we sell out at the Farmers Market before other vendors & we are higher price.
You can get them from Burpees or Reimer seeds.
A good pickling cuke is Amour from Johnny's.
This message was edited Jan 3, 2010 10:47 AM
A good choice for fresh eating is the Armenian cuke. Not really a cucumber (it is a member of the melon family I believe), it takes the heat pretty well. Mine produced well into June here before the heat took them out. They grow pretty big but are best picked between 12-18". They are burpless with a mild cucumber taste and the skin is very tender. I found no bitterness in them at all and they are pretty prolific as well. Bought my seeds from Botanical Interests...
http://www.botanicalinterests.com/store/search_results_detail.php?seedtype=V&seedid=390
They have a few other varieites as well and I have always had excellent results with their seeds...
This message was edited Jan 4, 2010 5:37 PM
I've had great luck with a slicing type called Summer Dance, I bought it from Pinetree last year and I see it's in the Totally Tomatoes catalog as well this year. From a 6-foot long trellis we ate many ourselves, I made a dozen or so pints of bread & butter pickles, and we gave away bags full to just about anyone that would take them! 2009 was our 3rd year for growing them and have never had a problem with them being bitter, also have very nice thin skin.
Kelly, I am wondering do you have to peel this armenian cuke? The picture looks similar to the cucumber that I always see in the stores that sell individually for a lot of $, it is a type of european cucumber that is very sweet and the skin does not have to be taken off, which is the kind of cuke I am looking for.
Nope - skin is edible and very tender. No need to peel!!
thank you kelly looks like an interesting one to grow.
I agree on Armenian cukes- I have grown them in the past with great success- because of the scalloped edges, they are beautiful sliced, and the skin is so thin it is like they were peeled! Last year I had total failure, but the cukes looked weird from the beginning, so I feel sure there was something wrong with the seeds. (from a local seed rack). Try them- you will love them.And because they are not a *real* cucumber people who are intolerant of cukes can eat them with no problem. I prefer seasoned rice vinegar on mine- Yum!
I am also going to try General Lee next year after reading raves about it from several people here. I failed with Straight 8 last year, too- no more of them for me! HURRY SPRING!!!
Stephanie, Carminator. Country Gardens, Kelly, Weedwhacker, Jo, and Susan, thanks so much. You've given me lots of good suggestions to look at in my catalogues.
Stephanie, We aren't far apart. Blanket is in Brown County, between Brownwood and Comanche.
The lemon cucumbers sound interesting. I had noticed them in the catalogues and will look again. I like the small size.
Weedwhacker, I have both the Pinetree and totally tomatos catalogues so will look at Summer Dance.
Carminator,Locakelly, and JoParrott , thanks for the discussion about Armenian cucumbers, and other oriental ones. I wouldn't have thought about those, they look sooooo long. LOL
CountryGardens, thanks for suggesting Fanfare. I am skitish about the bitterness after having once, years ago, made pickles with what turned out to be bitter cukes. The bitterness stayed in the pickles and all that work was wasted. If people are snapping yours up then they must be good!
Susan I will try some Sugar Crunch! I'll look in my catalogues. That's what I am wanting: to find the ones that will be perfect here than I can grow every year. Like those Emerald Giant peppers (now if I can just find the seed for those LOL).
Tina
My wife, who eats cucumbers all the time, just told me the Fanfares are not bitter. But her favorite are the Amour. You don't need to slice them, they are small so just chomp away. They make fantastic pickles. I can eat a pint at a time.
I may even share a terrific recipe with you tomorrow.
Bernie
Bring it on Bernie. I've got some pickle fiends around here, including me.
Tina ~ when you research do keep in mind the zones. Not just the length of growing season but many cucumbers have a preference for climate as well...
Yes please share the recipe, I love pikles as well.
Hot Bread & Butter Pickles
25 or 30 - 3½" cucumbers.
2 medium onions.
5 cups cider vinegar.
5 cups of sugar.
2 tbsp. mustard seed.
1 tsp. turmeric.
Dill & garlic.
Hot peppers.
Wash cucumbers & slice with a french fry cutter.
In a sterile pint jar, put dill, garlic, & onion in bottom of jar.
Stand the sliced pickles in the jar. Add a piece of hot pepper. (Your choice).
Add ½ tsp. canning salt on top of jar. Set jars aside.
Combine vinegar, sugar, mustard seed & turmeric in a kettle & boil for 10 minutes.
Pour into the jars covering the pickles. put on the cover & tighten.
Jars are sealed when lids a depressed.
After a week, enjoy.
I'm looking at Diva from Johnny's Seeds. Anyone familiar with this one?
I'm surprised at your experience with Burpless. I grew them in a container on our south facing open verandah last year, and they were lovely. They're also popular in England. I'd recommend them to anybody. But, as someone else said, soil and climate can have a lot of influence.
Pat
lTilton, yes I grew Diva cucumbers about a couple of years ago they produced abundantly and the skin was fairly thin, I think you'll like them. I also grew the straigh 8 but the skin was to tough so I was not as impresed.
This is just the information I'm looking for, only I don't do pickles. I'd like to do heirlooms when possible, but I haven't found out if there's an heirloom cucumber that doesn't get bitter.
I grew Sugar Crunch last year, and some of them did turn bitter later in the season. But I'm pretty convinced that it was my fault. We had all that rain for months and months. And then I did my own watering, but there was some time where I let them go longer than I should've without water. So I guess that's what turned them bitter near the end of the season.
They were amazingly prolific and produced so many small, sweet cukes that I was giving bags of them away. I'd haphazardly planted several seeds (6? or more?) to cover a teepee/playhouse. Well, once they got started, they just kept coming and coming and coming! Curious at what was going on, I looked back at the package, which said that they produce about 70 per plant. Oooops!
Oh, and the Sugar Crunch might be resistant to powdery mildew. I had powdery mildew on my squashes not far away, but little to none on the cukes.
I'd like to find a variety for this year that has more of a fresh cucumbery taste than sweet, and is resistant to turning bitter.
Podster, you mentioned climate, but I'm having trouble trying to figure that out. The seed catalogs say things like "they do/don't like heat." Well, it gets hot here - and humid - but then people in some southern parts of the country might disagree. It's relative. Another thing I'm seeing is "It does well in the northern part of the country." Well, we're northish, but how far north do they mean? If you have any insight on understanding how well vegetables will do in certain climates, please let me know.
I grow and sell a cuke variety called "Cool Breeze" The owner of one of the high-end restaurants I serve told me that this cultivar is the only one he's seen that is never bitter no matter what size they are picked. Supposed to be great pickling as well.
Aha! Here's some information on bitterness: http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s-5-16-1576,00.html Scroll down to The Bitter Truth section.
Lots of veggies don't like the heat. When it gets to 100º for 10 hours a day for days on end, they wither up and die. So, it's important to find varieties that can take the heat. This is why okra isn't very prolific in the north. It LOVES hot, hot weather and it just doesn't get that hot in the north for long periods of time.
Thanks, carminator.
Lettuceman,
I've been doing some research on cuckes this afternoon and actually placed Cool Breeze in my shopping cart from Gurnies just this afternoon. I came back over here to see if anyone has ever grown it before I purchase it and found your post. :-) I'm so glad to see your review on it. Thanks for posting!
~Susan
Cool Breeze is an excellent choice Susan. So is Diva. And, I also grow lots of Armenian cukes, which aren't a cucumber at all, but a relative of the Honeydew melon. Restaurants like them because they're unique, sweet and attractive
I am just wondering do the armenian cucumbers taste like cucumbers at all?
Yup - just a milder version of a cucumber, not real strong taste if that makes sense?
I think I saved seeds from mine - lol - can't remember now. If so I will send you some to try if you want...
kelly you have mail.
Not like European at all- Armenian are much crunchier and more tasty---I do NOT like watery textured cukes-that is my pet peeve with most varieties. ,especially burpless ones.
DividedSky
Podster, you mentioned climate, but I'm having trouble trying to figure that out. The seed catalogs say things like "they do/don't like heat." Well, it gets hot here - and humid - but then people in some southern parts of the country might disagree. It's relative. Another thing I'm seeing is "It does well in the northern part of the country." Well, we're northish, but how far north do they mean? If you have any insight on understanding how well vegetables will do in certain climates, please let me know.
Many things are difficult to keep growing here thru the intense heat of summer and we actually plant a spring and fall garden and don't try to fight the worst of summer. If you are (and I think you are) able to grow throughout the summer, I would say to stay away from seeds that do like heat. Okra was given as an example. A Minnesota SIL grows it but she still hasn't found the cultivar that does well for her. She harvests a meager crop every summer. Here when the soil warms, you can hardly kill it and wish for a frost to make it quit producing.
Perhaps others can offer more intelligent input on this or have other perspectives to share.
Ditto. I order seeds from companies all over the country and find some wide disparities sometimes when they list days to maturity. I've been burned so many times ordering stuff that liked heat but in fact wouldn't work after multiple tries.
The internet is wonderful for tracking down comments and cultural info. I look for recommendations by universities and growers in similar climates and even more extreme. For instance I look at TAMU, LSU, MSU and FSU. The dedicated forums at DG, GW, Tomatoville, Idig and a bunch more are very helpful to narrow down which varieties have performed well in a given area. You just can't trust the catalogs.
Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this post - I've been going through the seed catalogs and Diva and Cool Breeze were already on my short list of varieties to try.
That helps, thanks. Most of our summer is in the 80s and 90s. When we break 100, it doesn't last long. I do try to keep an eye on posts from my zone and area. I'm a bit overwhelmed with the choices in the catalogs, but that's a good thing! I wish I'd started gardening years ago. Got another catalog again yesterday; should be more on the way. Maybe I'll pick one cucumis sativus and one of the cucumber-like veggies. Sounds like a plan for this year.