During a growing season it is necessary to prune or remove parts of cucumber plants to get more growth and yield. If you want to harvest as many cucumbers as possible, you should exhaust the plants. But cutting is not the same as cutting. Why, when and how to use the sharp blade on cucumber plants

Why prune cucumber plants?

  • Pruning the main shoot against limitless growth
  • Pinch out side or cross shoots for a larger harvest
  • Burst out royal blooms to stimulate flowering and fruiting
  • Cut cucumbers to harvest ripe fruit
  • Prune cucumber plants for a second harvest

Greenhouse cucumber plants when and how to cut?

For greenhouse cucumbers, as soon as the main shoot reaches the top of the trellis, it should be trimmed back and guided down or along the roof. Please note that you let the two side shoots at the top of the cucumber plant continue to grow. The side shoot fruits will later form from them.

In addition, pinch out the side shoots up to the 5th leaf. From the 5th leaf, leave one fruit per leaf axil. Remove all fruits under the 5th leaf. If you want to stimulate the formation of flowers and fruit, you can break out the first, the so-called king flower. With concentrated plant power, 10 to 12 fruits then ripen on each cucumber plant.

Outdoor cucumber plants when and how to cut?

With cucumber plants in the open air, neither pruning nor pinching are absolutely necessary apart from cutting ripe cucumbers. BUT instead of ground-covering cucumber plants, you can also let outdoor cucumber plants climb up trellises. The advantage? It tends and harvests more easily because you're saving your back. Provided you snap off the lower cucumber blossoms up to a height of 50 centimeters and remove the side shoots after the first fruit. This allows more light and air to reach the cucumber plants and they dry out faster - this supports plant health.

IMPORTANT: When harvesting and cutting cucumbers, always make sure the blades are clean and sharp! Wear thin gloves or finger guards to protect skin and nails from discoloration when prying, pinching, or clipping with thumb and forefinger.

One pruning - two harvests

Not only professional, but also amateur gardeners confirm that cutting back the cucumber plants after the first harvest promotes better flowering.

Everything done properly? If you have properly tended, pruned and pinched your cucumber plants, then you can enjoy a bountiful organic quality cucumber harvest.

tips and tricks

Test different pruning measures such as squeezing out the same cucumber varieties and gain valuable green-fingered experience - experimentation is wise! 😉

Category:

Vegetable garden