Cucumber question

[noviceveggrower]

Hi,
A bit of a stupid cucumber question but how do you grow yours?
I am wondering do I just plant them out and then let them amble about like a pumpkin?
I saw a programme and I admit it was a commercial grower but they had theirs in a greenhouse area but they had theirs growing up supports. I know it was due to space and keeping bugs off them but does anyone grow theirs up supports in their greenhouses?
Thanks

[Guest]

I grow mine up string the same as my toms in the greenhouse. However my cues really don't seem to like me this year and are being really reluctant to do anything

[Jungle Jane]

I grow my cucumbers in a pot by the kitchen door,I use a 6 ft bamboo support,cut the vine when it reaches the top. I tie it in with string & cut the tendrils off as they grow (the plant uses energy to grow tendrils,now it can concentrate on producing cucumbers). The plant will have about 9 tiny cucumbers growing on it,the ones at the bottom tend to be weaker,I remove all cucumbers except one,then all the plants energy goes into that cucumber. The plant will produce more cucumbers after that,I only let a maximum of 2 cucumbers grow per plant at a time. Harvest those then let more grow. If they're outdoor varieties they don't need support as they're shorter plants. Homegrown cucumbers are great how they don't have a chemical aftertaste.

[muddled]

I always support cucumber plants.
To make it harder for slugs.
To prevent the fruit rotting on the wet soil.
To prevent the plant being damaged by blowing around in the wind.
and to make the fruit easier to see and harvest....cucumber plants are SO prickly!

I use a variety of methods....I let outdoor Qs scramble up that horrible, bright orange netting you get at roadworks.
Or I grow them in threes with physalis in between in a shortish wigwam, tied to canes.

In my greenhouse (first time I've grown them inside) they are currently perfectly happy in plant supports I got from the £ shop....but having read the other replies I'm thinking these won't be tall enough!

I'm growing marketmore and paris pickling varieties

[veggiechicken]

I grow mine up an old blowaway frame in the GH. Canes and strings for the extra plants.

[ancee]

Mine have been in a poly tunnel,one year.. Then last year in the garden, this year in the greenhouse in pots and up canes. Worked every time

[Scarlet]

I grow mine up a bamboo cane and grow the side shoots along wires. I don't grow outside cues now but when I did I grew mine up and over any kind of frame. I don't like them scrambling on the ground as the fruit get damaged.

See diagram in post #32 by Mr TK - works a treat for me.

[cilla]

Not a stupid question as I was thinking the same (noviceveggrower). Just brought some seeds yesterday to do in the next day or two. There is an article about Q's in the magazine, I think June issue if not then May.
Great info Jungle Jane.

[starloc]

I just dump outdoor marketmore cucumbers in the garden and let them grow, all over the place just like butternut squash, putting a bit of broken roof tile under cucumbers to keep them off the floor, works well but it is very dry over here although we do have a lot of slugs and snails around, no cucumbers seem to be eaten

[Potstubsdustbins]

I grow mine in the GH, up a cane to eve level the along a string the length of the gh.

[Valleyman]

I always intend to grow mine up supports, but they seem to get away from me. By the time I see a rambling tendril on the ground it usually has another 3 or so cucumbers growing on it so I let them carry on as they've put so much effort in.

I then spend the next two months hacking them back as they take over everything else.

[Bren In Pots]

I grow mine up canes then once they reach the GH roof they follow a string along the apex, I've tried growing them outdoors but never get a good crop.

[noviceveggrower]

Thanks for the great advice everyone. I am going to try and grow them upwards with plenty of supports in place

[Lumpy]

Yet again the odd numpty out.
Mine are allowed to trail around the flower beds. I tried ones in the porch, which is as large as a big greenhouse and then had no room for toms so something had to brave the elements.
This year it's Crystal Lemon (Ta VC and the seed swap) and Marketmore, which I think is a bush variety.