Glad to hear all the positive input on the Diva Cucumber which I am also considering purchasing from Johnny's. I grew the Armenian for the first time last summer but we had such an atrocious summer I only got 2. They were good, though and I am hoping for better results this summer. I also like Sweet Success which has few seeds.
Which cucumber should I choose?
I found this very interesting ...
http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s1-5-16-1576,00.html
I was thinking about growing my cucumbers with some corn to provide some shade and also planting beans to provide nitrogen, both are a good companion to the cucumbers, hope this will help a little when temps start getting to the upper 90's as it tends to do here in the summer time. As far as watering is concerned we tend to get a lot of rain during the summer months at least we did last year.
I planted a variety of okra called "north and south" to shade cucumbers last summer. It is a short variety of okra and worked pretty well.
CMV also makes cukes bitter, so plant a resistant variety.
Calalily what does CMV stand for?
What a great thread this has turned out to be. I am learning so much from everyone!
The question of bitterness is one that has yet to be solved, I guess. Susan and divided sky, thanks for your links and Calalily thanks for your info about the virus and bitterness. I remember hearing many years ago (before I was gardening) that somehow fertilization played a role in bitterness. [edited to add: Fertilization in the sense of male/female, not of compost)]
Bernie, I've sent to a Johnny's catalogue and will look at Amour. They sound like they have other qualities too that I seem to be leaning toward: small size, dual-purpose. Oh boy and thanks for that pickle recipe! I LOVE to make pickles and that is a big reason for growing them - I can't get good pickling ones if I have to buy them, not fresh enough or the right size or else can't afford them!
Podster, good advice, about the climate. Texas in general, and my spot in particular, has a lot of unusual variables. The area where I live seems to have a squillion microclimates! I grew two gardens last summer, planted a few miles apart and boy did I learn some lessons from that! Might as well have been in different states! LOL And not to get this thread off topic, but I am growing more curious about the length of daylight hours on things other than onions too...
Hello to Pat in Finland! I was shocked too, as the burpless have a reputation of *not* being bitter. I am going to try several varieties this year, of differing kinds, to find out which might be perfect.
I'm leaning toward:
Sugar Crunch that IO1 and divided sky mentioned, Cool Breeze (thanks lettuceman - that's one I was looking at before I posted), and one called Eureka Hybrid (can't remember the catalogue right now), and one more - maybe Diva, or the Amour that Bernie described.
Tina
This message was edited Jan 7, 2010 5:10 PM
This message was edited Jan 7, 2010 5:12 PM
I was wondering the same thing about CMV. I assumed the V stood for Virus and after googling found this info on Cucumber Mosaic Virus as well as others at this link: http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/factsheets/Viruses_Cucurbits.htm
I don't think I have ever experienced this virus, just the regular Wilt.
"Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) is probably the most widely distributed and important virus disease of cucurbits in New York. The virus overwinters in many perennial weed sources especially attractive to aphids when weed growth resumes in the spring. Early infection of squash and melons is particularly common. Aphids are the main and most efficient method of virus spread. Summer squash displays severe downward cupping along the midvein and leaf reduction from which the plants fail to recover (fig. 3). Color breaking of squash fruit is usually seen, but is not unique for this virus; other viruses causing this symptom include watermelon mosaic viruses 1 and 2, squash mosaic virus, and zucchini yellow mosaic virus. Early decline of muskmelon vines is usually attributed to CMV infection and should not be confused with collapse or "sudden wilt," which is a more complex disease and a plant-stress-related syndrome. CMV may be seedborne to a limited extent in some crops and weeds such as common chickweed (Stellaria media). Good CMV-resistant (actually tolerant since plants are infected by the virus) cucumber varieties are commercially available and produce a high percentage of unmottled fruit. All other commercially grown cucurbits are susceptible to CMV, although in yellow summer squash varieties that also carry a "precocious yellow gene," this gene serves to mask the color breaking common with cucurbit viruses (see discussion under WMV-2)."
This message was edited Jan 7, 2010 6:16 PM
Amour is the pickle that's in the jar in the picture.
They produced extremely well here.
Bernie
Thank you gardadore, lets just hope we don't get that nasty virus. I ended up having to pull one of my broccolies because it was getting yellow in the leaves and they were looking droopy and turning brown and since all my other broccolies seemed healthy I did not want any virus or sickness to transfer to the other plants.
Carmin, CMV is one of the most prevalent viruses. It has the widest range of hosts of any virus, both weeds and perennial plants in flowerbeds are commonly infected. Many times it is seed borne, I bought squash seeds from a well known company that had CMV right from the time they came up. Aphids spread it and maybe leafhoppers too.
I read somewhere that 99% of ajuga plants sold have it. Commelina (a weed that has blue flowers like wandering jew) is a very common weed host.
Since this discussion of CMV has really piqued my curiosity I have been doing more searching. This article refers to Hawaii but seems to be a very good description of what plants are affected and what they look like when affected. It's a scary thought, Calalily, when seeds from a reliable company have it. So far I guess I have been lucky or just didn't recognize it if I had it on any plants. http://www.extento.hawaii.edu/kbase/crop/type/cucvir.htm
Here are excerpts which may be helpful to some of you!!
HOSTS
CMV has a wide range of hosts and attacks a great variety of vegetables, ornamentals, and other plants (as many as 191 host species in 40 families). Among the most important vegetables affected by cucumber mosaic are peppers (Capsicum annuum L.), cucurbits, tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.), and bananas (Musa L. spp.). In Hawaii, CMV occurs on honohono grass (Comellina spp.) - a weed, but apparently is not a local problem.
Other vegetable hosts include: cucumber, muskmelon, squash, tomato, spinach, celery, peppers, water cress, beet, sweet potato, turnip, chayote, gherkin, watermelon, pumpkin, citron, gourd, lima bean, broad bean, onion, ground-cherry, eggplant, potato, rhubarb, carrot, dill, fennel, parsnip, parsley (Chupp and Sherf, 1960), loofah (Huang et al., 1987), artichoke (Chabbouh and Cherif, 1990).
Ornamental hosts include: China aster, chrysanthemum, delphinium, salvia, geranium, gilia, gladiolus, heliotrope, hyacinth, larkspur, lily, marigold, morning glory, nasturtium, periwinkle, petunia, phlox, snapdragon, tulip, and zinnia (Chupp and Sherf, 1960; Agrios, 1978).
DISTRIBUTION
World-wide, especially in temperate regions.
SYMPTOMS
Many variants of the virus occur, making it difficult to identify the CMV from symptoms alone. In addition, it is often difficult to distinguish CMV isolates from other cucumoviruses (i.e., alfalfa mosaic virus, tomato aspermy virus, peanut stunt virus). Described below are symptoms of common CMV hosts, and luffa, though it has not been reported to be a CMV host in Hawaii.
Cucumber:
Seedlings are seldom attacked during the first few weeks, but symptoms occur when the plants are about six weeks old and growing vigorously. Four or five days after infection, the leaves become mottled, distorted, and wrinkled, and their edges begin to curl downward. All subsequent growth is reduced, leaving the plants with a dwarfed appearance: shorter stem internodes and petioles, and underdeveloped leaves. Infected plants produce few runners and also few flowers and fruit. Older leaves develop chlorotic and then necrotic areas along the margins which later spread over the entire leaf. Dead leaves hang limp on the petiole or fall off, leaving part or most of the older vine bare (Agrios, 1978).
Cucumbers produced after infection have pale green or white areas intermingled with dark green, bumpy areas. Fruit produced by the plants in the later stages of the disease are somewhat mis-shapen but have a smooth gray-white color with some irregular green areas; these are often called "white pickle." Cucumbers with cucumber mosaic may have a bitter taste and make soggy
List of slicing cucumbers which are resistant to CMV (Diva is not one of them)
http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/Tables/CucSlicersTable.html
List of Pickling cucumbers resistant to CMV - seems to be most of them.
http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/Tables/CucPicklesTable.html
This message was edited Jan 8, 2010 1:24 PM