Cucumber growth question

[ddiogyn]

Do growing cucumbers tend to:

- grow fat (gain girth) and then lengthen out;
- grow long and then fatten up; or
- do both at the same rate, as to be unnoticeable to the casual observer...

?

[El Greeno]

Mine grew to about 6 inches in length but skinny as a little finger, then started to grow fatter and longer together. My biggest is around 10 inches long currently and 2 inches diameter at one end but only 1 inch at the other. They are burpless tasty green variety.

[SMT]

I have not grown many but I have just grown a couple for show recently and they grew long and thin initially. Once they were at about 75% of their full size they started to fill out and slowly extend out to their max size.

[ninjajane]

mine start skinny and then get fat. Not that I ever have much luck with cuc's :S

[ddiogyn]

Thanks. My outdoor container cucumbers are loaded with fruit, but i'm not sure of the variety, and so not sure if they're ready for harvest.

They're about 6in long, about the size of jumbo gherkins, with yellow stripes radiating from the blossom end (also a feature of immature fruit) and the skin from the stalk end is beginning to become smooth and dark green. The blossom end to about two-thirds the length to the stalk end is warty and prickly/hairy.

Many baby cukes higher up are aborting, i suspect, because i haven't been harvesting. I've been holding off doing so to see if they become and long and smooth...

[sewer rat]

My cukes are the same as SMT's. They get to about 75% of their length then start to put on a bit of girth. I have 6 hanging from my plants just now that I hope will last til Saturday as I want to test them against the big boys in the County Show.

[solway cropper]

It depends a lot on the variety. I have 3 types growing at the moment and all are showing different growth patterns. I think as long as you end up with eatable cukes it doesn't really matter how they get there.

[binley100]

I've got outdoor cucs and they seem to be growing lengthways as well as widthways unlike my aubs