18 SIMPLE THINGS ABOUT CUCUMBER PLANT YOU MUST KNOW WHEN AND HOW TO DO.
Cucumber farming is so easy, but how do you know when fruits from your cucumber plant are ready to harvest? When do I apply fertilizer and to what part of the cucumber plant? These are some of the questions that can turn this easy journey into a nightmare. Join the Brilliant Tech farmer to learn when and how to do a lot of things to ensure an optimal results and yield from your cucumber plant.
MY EXPERIENCE WITH CUCUMBER PLANT
A few weeks after my first cucumber seed germinated in 2020, I was faced with the challenge of when and how. I had thought that all I needed to do was get a seed, prepare my bed, and sow the seed into the soil. And so I did. But as time went by, I realized that there was still a lot to be done to ensure your cucumber plant live and thrive. So, I began to ask “how” and “when”. I know you are at that stage right now and I am writing this to serve as a guide to you.
How long do cucumber plant take to germinate?
Cucumber takes a few weeks after planting to germinate. After planting you should expect germination in 3 to 4 days if you used our African Giant F1 Hybrid seed. While other varieties might take a few days longer, the germination period should not exceed 7 days in total. Note that for fast germination, you must have enriched your soil with everything cucumber plant needs to help the cucumber seed grow. I will talk more about that.
How long do cucumber plant take to mature?
Cucumber plant take a few weeks to grow into maturity. But before that, your cucumber seeds will have to first; grow into foot-tall plants, then it moves into producing flowers before it start thinking of fruits. So plus or minus, you should expect maturity and harvest in 39 to 42 days after sowing. However, it is important to note that the exact time between your planting date and your first harvest or maturity depends on the variety of the cucumber you planted and other environmental and land fertility conditions.
Remember, you can always find your cucumber plant maturity date on your seed pack. For our African Giant variety, we added all planting instructions at the back of our seed pack. Note just that, we added when you should do your first harvest too. So with that, you can tell the number of days it takes for your seed to germinate and grow into a green, matured, and crunchy cucumber fruit.
How do I know that cucumbers from my cucumber plant are ready for harvest?
It is so easy to tell when cucumbers are ready for harvest. However, many don’t find it easy. So, let’s see how to know it. Here we go. Once your cucumber plant produces fruits, you have to pay attention to them because it is from this stage that you will determine when they will be ready for harvest.
Watch the size. Every cucumber variety has its maturity size. For instance, there is a reason why we call the cucumber variety we sell “Africa Giant”. This is because it produces a unique size of cucumber which is bigger than the normal size of cucumber you see out there.
So, once it has attained its giant size, you are expected to harvest. However, those who are not familiar with this variety might not even know what it looks like. So, here is my advice, harvest your cucumber once they become 5 to 10 inches long.
Another way to know when your cucumber is ready for harvest is to check the packet of your seed and see what your variety maturity size looks like. Another thing to use as a determinate is the rigidity of your cucumber. If it looks like your cucumber easily bends when you handle it, then it is not ready for harvest. You have to wait a few days or a week more.
But here is also a rule of thumb: A hard or rigid cucumber doesn’t still mean that it is matured and ready for harvest because some varieties of cucumbers are hard at first, then become easy to bend along the way, and finally become rigid towards maturity and harvest.
Colors are another factor in determining maturity and harvest duration. For instance, once the African giant approaches maturity, the bottom part starts turning milky white with few stripe lines while the topmost part remains greenish.
How do I harvest my cucumber from cucumber plant?
Now that we have figured out how to know if our cucumber fruit is matured and ready for harvest. How do we harvest our cucumber? In 2020 when I started growing cucumber, I would always cut off the fruit from my cucumber plant whenever I wanted to harvest the cucumber fruit. But with time, I learned that wasn’t the right way. I believe that is what you do too, right? But that’s wrong.
So, what is the right way? The right way is: Instead of cutting off the fruit from the cucumber plant, cut the plant on which the fruit is instead. But my cucumber plant will die. Yes, of course, it will die. Cucumber plants always die off once their fruit is harvested. So, why keep it? When you can get it off and give those who are yet to bear fruit a chance to blossom.
How often should you harvest?
With our African Giant Variety, you harvest 21 days after the first harvest. Remember we said you make your first harvest 39 to 42 days after planting. So the second harvest in 21 days. However, this is for our African Giant variety. Other varieties might differ.
There is an exception though. As the above works very well on a big farm where planting was spaced out by weeks. If this is not the case, you should harvest cucumber every other day. Why? Because a cucumber might not be ready for harvest today but might get ready the next day or a few days after that first harvest. Always visit your farm and inspect your cucumbers to ensure that they don’t get too ripped and start decaying.
Here are some extra tips on how to harvest cucumber:
- Visit and examine all parts of your cucumber farm
- Cucumbers hide behind leaves so inspect them well
- Cucumber skipped during harvest might decay
- Cucumber allowed to crawl on the ground can easily blend with the leave
- Cucumber plants dies off after harvest, don’t cry. Plant more.
How often should you harvest?
Cucumbers decay very fast. How do I store my cucumber after harvest? This is one question I get often. Well, the best way to store cucumbers is to harvest and eat them. Funny right? Well, at least they are stored in your stomach. Smile. Besides this method, the next is to store cucumber fruits in a refrigerator.
It is important to note that keeping them in a refrigerator will only make them last longer, remain cool, and make them so enjoyable. It won’t stop them from decaying if it over stay in the refrigerator. So, a well-stored cucumber fruit can last not more than 11 days in a refrigerator.
If you choose to refrigerate your cucumber fruit, there is an ideal temperature for storing cucumber. You must maintain these temperatures of 13 degrees Celsius. Remember that cucumber is filled with moisture (water), so excessive exposure to moisture will lead to decay. Put your cucumber fruit in a plastic bag when refrigerating. Keep it airtight.
My cucumber is overripe, what happens to overripe cucumbers?
Cucumber fruit mostly gets overripe when you skip or miss harvesting them on time. So, if you don’t want your cucumber plant to get overripe, pay more attention to your farm. When cucumbers are overripe, they change color from green to yellow down to brown in most cases, and boom, they start decaying.
I noticed recently that local cucumber (that is cucumber grown from local cucumber seeds) changes color faster. They are very small in size. So, while you think that they are still small for harvest and skip them, what you might not know is that they are already mature and ready for harvest. So, when you come the next day, they must have changed color. This doesn’t mean that you can’t eat them. But they might not be as tasty, greenish, and crunchy as the others.
Extra tips on what you can do with overripe cucumber fruit:
- Turn them into manure or compost
- Feed them to your livestock
When should I apply fertilizer before or after planting?
At Brilliant Tech Farmers, we are promoters of organic farming or gardening. Thus, we always recommend the use of organic manure and compost for farming. However, if tend to use more chemical fertilizers, then it is advisable you fertilize the soil before you begin planting cucumbers just as you will do with organic manure. Apply placid liquid fertilizer (preferably, organic fertilizers) every two weeks.
Note that the wrong application of fertilizers can make leaves turn yellow. Organic manure can help you stop this but if it doesn’t, apply high nitrogen fertilizer (do not over-fertilize the plants).
Cucumbers need moderate nitrogen and high phosphorus and potassium, so an organic plant food with the first number lower than the last two (like 3-4-6) is good. Keep plants well-watered to avoid bitter-tasting cucumbers.
Fertilizers are best applied a few inches away from the stem of the cucumber plant. The root is the target and not the leaves or stem.For a plot, you will need 1 bag of NPK Fertilizer, 1 bag each of Potassium and Calcium Nitrate fertilizers, and 1 bottle each of Grand Humus and DI Grow Fertilizers.
For an acre, you will need 4 bags of NPK fertilizer, 1 bag each of Potassium and Calcium Nitrate fertilizers, 2 bottles of Grand Humus, and 6 bottles of DI Grow Fertilizers.
For a hectare, you will need 10 bags of NPK fertilizer, 3 bags of Potassium Nitrate (You will need only 2 and a half bags), 1 bag of Calcium Nitrate, 5 bottles of Grand Humus/King Humus, and 15 bottles of DI Grow/Tecamin/Super Grow (Ltr).
Please act on this at your discretion. We always advise that you consult an expert to guide you and tailor solutions to your farm needs.
Should I spray pesticide on the leaves or the root?
Generally, pesticides are best sprayed on the farm or garden. For a plot of land, you can use 1 bottle (500ml) of pesticide with Lambda-cyhalothrin 5% + Imidacloprid 15% SC as the active ingredient. For example, Laraforce Gold has Lambda-cyhalothrin 5% + Imidacloprid 15% SC as its active ingredient. Note: that the type of pest attacking your farm will determine what pesticide to use. Please consult with an expert on this.
You also need 1 bottle of pesticide with Spirotretamat 75g/l + Flubendiamide 100g/l as its active ingredient – Tihan (100ml) is a good example. For Fungicide, use the one with Pyraclostrobin – eg Cabrio Duo (200ml), Metalaxyl-M 40g/kg and Mancozeb 640g/kg – eg Ridomil Gold Mz (250g) and Mancozeb 80% WP – eg Zforce (50g).
For an acre, you will need 5 bottles of pesticide that have Lambda-cyhalothrin 5% + Imidacloprid 15% SC as the active ingredient. And 5 bottles of pesticide that have Spirotretamat 75g/l + Flubendiamide 100g/l as its active ingredient. Also, you’ll need 2 bottles of fungicide with Pyraclostrobin, 3 bottles of fungicide with Metalaxyl-M 40g/kg & Mancozeb 640g/kg, and 5 sachets of fungicide with Mancozeb 80% WP as the active ingredient.
Please consult an expert as soil needs, volume of input, and environment differ.
What is the difference between plant food and fertilizer?
While the terms “plant food” and “fertilizer” are often used interchangeably, they have distinct differences in their composition, purpose, and application methods.
While plant food gives a balanced blend of nutrients to support overall plant health, fertilizers target specific nutrient deficiencies in the soil.
You have to understand these differences so you can make informed decisions when it comes to nourishing your plants. Study your plant, study your soil, and consider the specific needs of your plants and the environment before you choose between plant food and fertilizer.
Final Thought:
Now that you have learn a lot about the “when and how” to do a lot of things in cucumber farming for optimal results and yield. I would love you to join our fast-growing farmer’s community Brilliant Tech Farmers Hub. Check out more articles below and tell a friend about us.
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In 2018, I made a whole lot of mistake trying to grow bell peppers in containers from my home. This mistakes, led to the lost of many of my seeds and caused my seedling to die. Why did this happened? Very simple; it was because i had little knowlegde in growing pepper. I did not only lost money, I also lost time and effort. However, after experimenting for years, I have come to learn what works and what doesnt. These tips which I use, are what I will be sharing with you today.
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