pickling cukes question

This year I decided to grow some pickling cucumbers and a neighbor and I are going to make pickles together. I said I would grow the cucumbers and so I have 5 plants. They are growing very well but taste a little bitter, they have just started producing and I wondered if that is normal.I know they aren't like the regular kind but I've never tasted a pickling variety before they were pickled. Would love to know if they are doing what they're supposed to do.

Water more. Watering has an effect on the bitterness. On melons, watering has an effect on sweetness.

Thanks feldon30, we've had such a heat wave going on here, I've been watering like crazy but will do more. It's 100 already this morning.

dguimo, the heat sure plays a mighty big role as well. Certain varieties suffer worse than others. The good part is that the bitterness is usually concentrated on the ends so if you cut the ends off each cuke that will help out quite a bit! Do a test, bite into the center of the cuke and see if it is non-bitter. (If it is a thick skinned cuke you may want to peel it as the bitterness will sometimes lurk there as well!)

Hope you get some good pickles this year!

Best,
Shoe

Picklers have a bit bitter skin, it's part of what helps them stay crisp. Watering more will help some, but they just have bitter skins. To eat fresh, if you don't like the taste, just peel them. I plant only picklers and peel them for fresh eating.

How many pickles are you and your neighbor planning on putting up? 5 plants won't give you many at one time. They'll produce a nice harvest, but it will be over several weeks. I have between 25 and 30 plants, and I picked 22 cukes today. Enough for a very small batch of pickles.

What variety did you plant? This makes a big difference.

We grow "Homemade Pickles" variety - it has two great advantages - no bitterness and they all come in at once - good if you're going to pickle.

Mine are the old OP variety, National Pickling. Not a hybrid.

I have had pickling cukes that were a little bitter when I ate them too small or when they get that weird shape from having uneven watering (the little pointy end will be bitter), but otherwise they aren't bitter at all and I prefer them to regular cukes for fresh eating and don't peel them. I grow Pioneer, which is a sixties gynoecious hybrid. I'm waiting on them now. I planted a ridiculous amount this year because I wanted to do some serious pickling.

I've grown Nat'l Pickling too - on a trellis. They got a little bitter which is why I switched. I do try to grow mostly OP, but there's a whole discussion about OPs poor quality due to lack of proper selection (and possibly genetic diversity).

I've recently had a lot of bad experiences with OPs (like in corn, for example). A terrible shame. Some vendors are probably better than others. This is another thread I guess. Also, saving OP seed - I've found this to be a bit more difficult for some things (butternut squash the exception). OK, going too OT...

I too try to stick to OP, but with cukes, I have had no luck with OPs. Three years I've tried to grow Lemon and some version of White Wonder along with the Pioneer, and three years I've had plenty of cukes from the hybrid and almost none from the OPs. Same bed right next to each other. Last year when the Whites were all debilitated from mildew, the Pioneer, which also had it, lost some leaves but kept on pumping out the cukes, and they were good, so that was the clincher.

I too have heard the discussion about OP lines not being kept up by suppliers. I am more open to hybrids nowadays.