Bad year for cucumbers??

All three of my cucumber plants ended up with moldy flowers and crispy fried leaves. I'm pretty sure I watered them enough. One plant was on my deck, the other two in a community garden. I would think that I just didn't know how to take care of cucumber but two of my friends have had the same problem. Nobody has gotten any cucumbers. Is there a trick to keeping them healthy?

Having another great cucumber year over here!!
5 suggestions:
1) Don't plant too soon, hoping to have the earliest cucumber in the neighbourhood. Plants put in too soon almost always mildew and die too young.
2) Look for and plant only "mildew resistant" varieties. If necessary, grow your own from seed. In Maryland, you should be able to start them even on a window sill or even seed directly into the garden in plenty of time to get a good crop.
3) Try 'Lemon' cucumber, which looks weird, gets mildew, but continues to produce anyway; or, try some of the Asian/Korean cucumbers that also look a bit strange if you are used to Straight 8's, but have great cucumber flavour, a lot of crispness, almost no bitterness and don't seem to fall quick victims to mildew.
4) Careful with the watering. Those crisp leaves are just the end stages of mildew death (zucchini does the same thing). If you can, water by the can, or put the hose on the ground and let the water run in little "canals" between your plants. Overhead watering (especially at the end of the working day) is an open invitation to mildew.
5) In a naturally hot-and-humid climate like MD, mildew is likely an endemic problem. If you only have 3 plants, invest in a small hand pressure sprayer and some "Bouillie Bordelaise" [ "Bordeaux Mixture'](allowed even in organic gardening/farming; it's just copper sulfate & lime) and spray every couple of weeks after planting out.

I have just sprouted my 4th or 5th planting and haven't gotten any yet. The bugs and mildew claimed the others before they could even begin thanks to showers almost every day since mid June. It has rained so much that spraying anything is futile.

The only cukes I've gotten were from a volunteer that grew between a rose bush and a brugmansia and did very well. Several years ago I had my best plant ever volunteer under a castor bean that grew to 12'. That tells me that they like at least half shade. What puzzles me is why they don't suffer the mildew and bugs that the others do. I would have thought the shade and restricted air flow would foster the problems.

We had a very wet spring and early summer ... that sounds like what the problem is. Do cukes work like squash with the male/female flower thing? In other words, would having only one plant be an issue?

What male/female flower thing are you referring to? Cucumbers (Cucumis sativa) and squash ( Cucurbita xxx) are all in the family Cucurbitacea. With some exceptions, they are monoecious; they produce both male and female flowers on the same plant. The male flower can fertilize the female flowers on the same plant. One plant is all that is required to produce a normal, useful, edible crop, although perhaps not the best seed for subsequent plantings).

Plant sexuality has nothing to do with susceptibility to mildew.

Plant sexuality has nothing to do with susceptibility to mildew.

I'm aware of that. Only one of the flowers on my single plant plant produced a baby cuke. The two plants produced lots of baby cukes but they mildewed before they amounted to anything.

Thank you for answering my other question. I suspected that my single plant would be more likely to produce in the company of others. It clearly was cabable of producing by itself because I did get one cucumber.

I planted 9 burpless cuke vines. THey grew well over 6 feet blossomed and I got about15 cukes altogether. Some almost 15inches long. But as the summer
was coming on strong (July) they started yellowing from the bottom and crisping up. I eventually lost all the vines. They were getting rain or I'd water everyother day. I was told that they should have stayed real dark green the whole time, but I noticed that they were lightening up as far as color. I mulched with organic compost I made earlier that year. IT was fun while it lasted! I live in way north Texas.

IMO disease in vine crops comes with the territory after the first year or two. I would say that the reason the stray volunteer did well was that the disease pressure in the flower bed or whatever was minimal.

OK. if you know that plant sexuality gas nothing to do with susceptibility to mildew, I just don't know to what "male/female flower thing" you could be referring. Cucumbers are not "social". A single plant, of an appropriate variety, well grown, will produce a crop sufficient to feed you and your neighbours all summer. Planting more plants of the same variety under the came cultural conditions is only going to produce more mildewing baby cukes. Having 1 plant is NOT an issue.

Growing plants susceptible to mildew in mildew-favourable conditions IS an issue. Transplanting in periods of rain or heat + high humidity IS an issue (and it may be this is what happened to Ladybeetle).

Cucumbers are not your simple "plant and forget" crop. They are picky little plants, susceptible to numerous fungi.

If you don't want to plant varieties that have been proven to resist mildew, or to spray, the only other choice is to plant, re-plant, and re-plant. As one generation dies from mildew, the next will be coming on.

That's just life in "cucumber land".

Well, Indy, disease in vine crops only "comes with the territory" if you keep planting crops of the same family in the same place year after year! Oh, I know: "Commercial farmers grow cucumbers.[name your crop] in the same fields every year". Yeah, and they (and we) pay a huge price in applications of toxic pesticides. That's one reason we grow our own.

Rotation, rotation, rotation! Or, as any good real estate agent will tell you: "Location, location, location".

Having 1 plant is NOT an issue

Technically, yes. I had a zucchinin on the deck, it would blossom and then the blossoms died. I did get one to fertilize. I moved the zucchini into the garden with two other plants and I have zucchini coming out the wazoo. I'm guessing that the more blossoms flowering the more bees or whatever come around and the chance of getting fertilized was greater than only having a few blossoms. My reference to the male/female flower had NOTHING to do with my mildew question. Whatever, I have my answer ...

Believe what you will, Takela.
having 1 plant is NOT an issue
technically or even in reality.
Guess all you want, but the number of blossoms just factually does not matter.

I STILL have no idea what you meant/mean by "the male/female flower thing".

Takela,

I had the same problem with cukes this year. Only got 2 before the mildew got to them. The same thing happened to my butternut squash. Very much mildew, probably due to the wet spring and early summer. I'm in the same general area that you are in (eastern panhandle of WV), so our growing conditions have been similar.

It would have helped if I had been better able to control the cucumber beetles and squash bugs. They spread diseases.

Here in the NW hills of CT I usually have good cukes but this year was a disaster. I sowed and planted three different varieties and got a few good ones early and then all of the plants gave up the ghost. We had an awful lot of rain this year. My butternut squash vines have taken over the cuke trellis.

Here we had a bad attack of bacterial wilt on the cukes and cucumis melons. Had to pull out several vines.

I think it very much depends on the season and the type. I have had good crops and awful crops - usually coinciding with an awful growing season. And as Pot says, cukes are picky plants and need a lot of attention. I'm trying other varieties outside next year as growing them in a greenhouse has so many probems. First their too hot, then their too cold, then they get too much humidity, then too little ...blah, blah, blah. Bugger F1 hybrids!

The kind I tried this year was advertised as so disease-resistant. Ha!

My son, about 15 miles away, was having just the same problems with his.

I don't think you can rule out seasonal conditions Ltilton. 20 years ago when I was a young mum and growing for the family I had really good outside crops of cukes year after year - only problem was I had to hand pollinate them and they took up so much space. Now my garden is smaller but even with F1's in the greenhouse I've had good crops up until these last two years. These years have been notable for the fact that we've had no summers to speak of. OK so we had a few good days in April but since then it's done nothing but rain - and I mean rain! Can't go anywhere, have to make a mad dash for the greenhouse, (or anywhere else) can't decide whether to wear a raincoat or a jumper (with a raincoat)
I know we in this area have the reputation of talking weather on a grand scale but really - can you blame us?

This was my first year growing cucumbers. I'll try again next year. Fresh picked garden cucumbers are so much better than anything you can get in the store ... I suppose they are worth the trouble.

Now that's what gardening is all about Takela - never giving up. LOL
I'm sure you'll make it happen too.

Typical! Just as the days start to get cooler, I get cucumbers. At least half a dozen of them almost ready. My advice - just ignore them, that'll teach them to play ball!

How's everyone's cukes doing this year? Just planted 2 varieties of ourdoor types. Restina and Crystal Lemon. Both are going great guns and have many mini fruits on them but then we ARE having a summer this year. Yipee!!! I'm the bronze one who looks like I've just come back from The MED.

Sitting and shivering.

Me, too, LTilton - it's cold here!

My cukes are doing well. I have National Pickling cukes in hanging baskets. It's the first time I have grown this variety and the first time to grow them in hanging baskets. I am pleased at this point.

Never heard of National Picling cukes Cajun - are they a smaller variety?

I guess so. It's the first time I have heard of them too.

National Pickling is an old variety, I remember my mom growing those (grow the Straight 8 for slicers and the NP for pickles)

I figured the NPs would be good for hanging baskets.