Got me a couple of cu plants going into the greenhouse today.

Do they need to be supported with canes or wire at all, or just left to get on with it? Some gardening sites say give them something to climb up, where as others don't.

Cheers

I use netting Bish.

And I am sure you look a treat in it OT
But what about the Cuc's?

They love me in it to!

EO

How far apart do you plant them ot1?

lmao



The site i found said plant three plants together - & at 3ft intervals That threw me off as i've only two cu plants!

I've planted them about 2ft apart.

OT - would a small trellis (sp?) be ok for them to grow up?

Also - do the fruits grow on the ground or off the ground?

One plant is enough VRG, well unless you have an insatiable fetish for cucumber sandwiches, otherwise your friends and neighbours will get sick of you giving them away.

Are they a proper greenhouse var Bish? Are they all female? Finally do you know the var name?

Ah, I have about 4...

Should I pick the best two? and plant say a foot or two apart? shame to kill em all..

'Brunex' F1 Hybrid - All female. Suitable for the greenhouse was what i was told at the Duchy mate.

I grow two plants outside, not a greenhouse type but what is called a ridge type. It has a beautiful name, "Burpless Tasty Green" I took about 10 cues per plant last year.

With all female greenhouse types you should be able to double that yield or just hack them back. Its important that greenhouse types are not pollinated or else the fruit become bitter.

So with the old greenhouse types you have to remove all male flowers, the more modern greenhouse types have only female flowers.

IMHO netting is best bish they can hang on with their tendrils better. Yep the cues hang down, I’ve seen vigorous vars reach 10 or 12 ft tall in big tunnels.

But personally I like the taste of the ridge outdoor type the best.

Oh yes I grow one gerkin type a year as well, I took about 150 fruits of of one of them last year.

Final thing they are martyrs to spider mite, keep a constant eye for them and introduce preds at the first sighting of the little gits.

They had those on sale too - but they were looking a litle pale & squat so i went for the Brunex instead. I'll remeber the name for next time.



Cheers mate. Here's hoping for a bumper crop!



Not so good! Would Buzz Off keep the Borg at bay, or does it have to be preds in the gh?

Burpless tasty green are for outdoors not a greenhouse, they need to be pollinated as well.

You will be fine with brunex.

All curcubits are spray sensitive, I doubt you could use something like Buzzoff without killing the plant, you could do a test on one leaf to see how its reacts.

Preds work well in a greenhouse up to September. Once the light hrs drop to near 12 the mites go into diapause as the fat body builds up they change from clear to pink then red and the preds won’t eat them any more because of the taste and eat one another instead...

Cheers for that mate

OT1, I am growing Burbless Tasty green this year and will be growing them in the poly tunnel. At what size did you pick yours last year? The packet says to pick them young and engourage more fruit, but do not give any idea at what size this should be done.

And yes, in previous years I have grown two plants of all female cues and the neighbours have gotten sick of em by the end of the summer.

Magpie

Magpie once set, they grow rapidly to about 10 inches long, I pick them soon after that before they get really fat.

The only disadvantage is they are spiny, I just rub them off with a bit of cloth.

Cheers OT1, looking forward to some lovely fresh cues.

Note to self "start warning the neighbours"

Magpie

Cucumber sarnie anyone? Well not quite yet - another 2 weeks tops & i'll be cutting a few

[attachmentid=40688][attachmentid=40689]

Woohoo! they're looking good!

You fed 'em anything mate?

They're being fed BB Grow mate, & loving it.....which reminds me, they could do with another feed today

You feeding with every watering? What strength?

Give them plenty of water, they need little else apart from some N.

Thanks mate.

Will they like a light fishmix? just I already have some of that.

They're getting watered every day & given a feed maybe once/twice a week - about 25ml to 5l water

Mine are quite a bit smaller than yours. I don't think i've been giving them enough water tbh. Will give them a light feed tonight.

Are yours in a green house mate?

Never seen anything grow so quick as these cues!

edit to add: I'll get a better pic laters - one handed ain't the best way to take a pic

Yes mate.
They do look nice n' healthy, just think I should be watering 'em a bit more.
A feed proberbly wouldnt go a miss as I never prepared the soil, just dug it over and added BioMicro.
Will take pics.

BB grow or fish are both high balance K ferts:-

Fish-Mix ANÁLISE MINIMA GARANTIDA

Total Nitrogen (N)…………………………....……2.1%
1.1% Ammoniacal Nitrogen
1% Nitrate Nitrogen
Available Phosphate (P2O5)……………………0.2%
Soluble Potash (K2O)…………………….….6.6%

Derivado de: fish meal and powder, molasses

Bio-Grow ANÁLISE MINIMA GARANTIDA

Nitrogen (N)………………............……………1.8%
0.9% Ammoniacal Nitrogen
0.9% Nitrate Nitrogen
Available Phosphate (P2O5)………………….0.1%
Soluble Potash (K2O)……………………...……6.6%

Derived from: molasses

What you want is a heaped tea spoon of dried blood in a a gallon of water..

Hi.

Thanks for the pic's

My Cues look a little okish, I have 3, well erm....1 not too great, but it is my first try, so I will continue, has the Cue's your growing got prickly leaves? mine has - or is it not a Cue is is some srtange monster I am trying to grow???!!!!!!!

The good 2 are only about 15" tall bless them, the other one lookes like it is not going to do much at all and is only 9". I asked my step dad about growing them as he always used to at his other house, and he got me to fix up this contraption thing, with a strand of wire between sticks at each end, looks something like a torture thing or something!

I have 2 in the green house and one out side in a pot (it says on the lable that they are for outside or green house so me thinks I am safe!) the type is F1 all female.

My Canna babbies have been less trouble than the Cues!!!!!!!

Take care

ttfn

P

Toms would really benefit from that feed too woudn't they?

I'll grab some blood from the garden centre tomorrow.

You think they'll have that at the allotment shop?

and is it just called dry blood?

Better pics i hope.

[attachmentid=40690][attachmentid=40691]

They've grown since yesterday!

Hi pinks,

I haven't grow cucumber myself yet, but my dad always does, and you will find the cucumbers more spiny/prickly than shop bought ones too. But they more than make up for it with a great taste.

I hope all you cue growers are growing nice straight european regulation ones

There is even a tube thing you can grow them in to make them straight.


Nice pics bish, your gonna love the taste of em.... even if they are a little bendy
EO

They were using the netting at one point to cling onto, but now they've just exploded all over the shop, so i'm letting them get on with it!

I thought courgettes grew quickly, but these take the biscuit

Bish and VRG dried blood is great for things with a high nitrogen need, so cues like it it, helps the fast growth. Also teaspoon sprinkled round any of the brassica family that seem to be lagging behind will perk them up no end after watering it in.

Toms on the other hand will thrive on either bb grow or fish once the first truss has set, not before though. This is because their demand for K rises rapidly once fruit is being made. This holds true for all the family, ie peppers chilli, aubergines etc.

pinks cucumbers can be very spiny especially ridge vars [outdoor types], the fruit can be spiny as well, just rub the spines off with a cloth after you pick the fruit.

Thanks for your help guys.

Isn't it great that we can get help on all sorts of thing here!

Off to re pot my carrotts and spring onions - spring onions? it's nearly summer! Hey ho, yummy onions for autum!

Take care and thanks again

P

Cheers for that OT



It sure is pinks!

The first fruits

After all the years i've eaten supermaket cues, this comes close to the best i've ever tasted

So sweet, refreshing & so crunchy!

Ey Up Bish - I hope some of them there are gonna be on the table in August.
The General's Daughter - she's rather keen ya know
Is that a threat? Moi? Threaten?

Oh yes - & the Gardeners Delight toms will be bountiful too

Super grow stuff or what!!!!!!!!

Boy was I shocked..............

Got some dried blood yesterday, missed the bit about putting it in water, so read the box, and it said to sprinkle on the compost round the stem and then water in well, so when it had cooled down last night, out I went with the box of dried blood and a little cup thingi to put it in. Duly fed and watered the cues, and man what a pong..............

phew......blumin heck, you guys could have warned me, it smelt like the slaughter house on a summers day (we used to live near one when I was growing up ) Horrible...................................

Anyway, out I went to the greenhouse this morning and one of the plants went into overdrive during the night it has grown up about 4" and is at the top of the cane now...........amazing............

I think I can put up with the stink if my plants are going to like it so much!

Reading back to where OT1 said.......



My tom plants have now got little baby toms where some of the flowers were, so tonight I am going to give them some BB Grow tonight, was going to do the fish, but that might smell even worse than the blood so I'll just go with the grow for now!!!!!!

Does it? - smell horrible by the way?

ttfn

P

Bish I told you you only had a day or so to wait, looking good.

pinks you are so funny, you can sprinkle dried blood on the compost/soil or wet feed, a teaspoon on the soil is a big dose, a teaspoon in a gallon/5 litres will do 5 plants ie low dose but can be used more often.

I prefer the fish mix as a fertiliser, as long as the compost/soil is live, the smell should only last a short time, the micro heard take it to bits in no time converting the nutrients into plant food.

Organic ferts will not work anyway near as well in semi inert/dead compost such as peat based ones unless you add some micro heard, so far soil secrets is the best I have found.

I think the dried blood smells quite nice

Would half a teaspoon in a gallon be ok for two cue plants OT?

Hey Bish....

My cues don't look anything like yours do...............

here is the bigest plant the one that jumped up about 4" after I gave it that blood stuff (ugh still makes me go funny thinking about that smell)

[attachmentid=40986]

this next one is at the other end of the grow bag, and is only 1/4 of the size of the other one, I think I am going to pull it!

[attachmentid=40987]


ttfn

P

Bish sorry for not getting back before mate, I've been working on my lotty to after ten untill I could not see for the last few days. Yep half a tspn will be fine between two.

Pinks they will both be fine you just have to wait for the flower clusters to form, once fruiting starts I bet you won't be able to eat all they produce. Thats really when they need feeding most.

Mine look a bit like Bish's, but maybe a couple of weeks behind, and half the size.... just starting to put flowers out now. They have yellowing on the leaf edges, any idea what this could be ot? Still not managed to get any blood, was away at the w/e. Will try and get some asap.

On a brighter note, I picked my first strwaberry yesterday, and delicious it was!

VRG Is the yelowing moveing from the leaf edges between the veins, if so its our old friend Mg, a picture would help.

No mate, closest thing I can liken it to in terms of MJ is nute burn. Its like yellow chrispy bits on the leaf edge, working its way inwards. I will take some pics later, thanks.

VRG...did you spray the leaves with anything?

I did mine, and they went like that, someone told me you don't need to spray them..don't know if this is right or not!

Thanks OT1 I will watch for the flowers, I have a few peeps who are looking forward to them, but if I get too many, I'll ermm make cuecumber jam and live on cuecumber sarnies!!!!!!!

ttfn

P