There are 5 reasons to cut cucumbers:
- Pruning the cucumber plants
- Cut back for a 2nd harvest
- Pruning the side shoots
- Pinching out the first flowers
- Cutting off ripe cucumbers
If you want to harvest as many cucumbers as possible, you can only leave one main shoot. The first flowers can also be removed. This stimulates the plant to produce more flowers and fruits.
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Cut back once - harvest twice
Cutting back after the first harvest has also proven its worth with cucumbers. In good climatic years, the fruits of these varieties ripen until the end of June. After pruning, they quickly form new flowers again. You can easily harvest delicious cucumbers twice a year.
Pricking out the side shoots useful or not?
It is not necessary to prune the side shoots on the leaf axils of cucumber plants. You can remove the side shoots up to a height of 60 centimeters and only keep up to 6 fruit sets from the others. In the case of the side shoots, the shoot is cut after the first leaf and fruit set. As soon as the main shoot reaches the greenhouse roof, it is pulled over the last tension wire, tied and only peeled off after about 30 centimeters.
If there is a good supply of nutrients, there will be more side shoots with more fruits. Later, cut cucumber to occasionally shortening the tip of the shoots, limiting thinning out too many shoots and removing yellow leaves. It is controversial whether the pricking out brings a higher yield overall. Many organic gardeners stand on end when preening them!
Cut ripe cucumber pods correctly
Whether cucumbers, snake cucumbers, pickles or mustard pickles - always use a sharp and clean knife to harvest cucumbers. The fruits cannot simply be torn off by hand without damaging the entire tendril. Those who harvest in the morning get cucumbers with the highest vitamin content. In addition, the plant has a longer time to dry the cut.
Tips & Tricks
If cucumber plants don't branch out but only want to go high, there may be a lack of sun. Don't just cap the tip, but move the plants to a sunnier spot.
