Bush cucumbers - supports?

[tam91]

I have a little square space left in the garden, and have 8 picklebush cucumber plants I could put there. Supposedly their vines only grow to 2 feet long. What sort of support would work for them? I have some square tomato cages, but those might even be too tall from the sounds of it.

[Worth1]

You might go buy some of those cheap small tomato cages, they should do the trick.
I take it you want them to grow up so you will have room for all of them.
It has been a while since I grew them and forgot if they put out climbing tendrils.

Worth

[Durgan]

Originally Posted by tam91

I have a little square space left in the garden, and have 8 picklebush cucumber plants I could put there. Supposedly their vines only grow to 2 feet long. What sort of support would work for them? I have some square tomato cages, but those might even be too tall from the sounds of it.

Two, four by eight concrete reinforcing support about two feet apart with the eight plants between them does a good job. Supported by fence posts or rebar. You will have to train the vines to climb. I support them with pipe cleaners. The clinger tentacles on cucumbers are not very good locators of support but once found are very strong.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?XOYOL 26 July 2007 Cucumbers

There are two patches. I was away for awhile so did not train them as well as I could have. Some years they are trained perfectly. Tomato cages are useless.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Durgan

Two, four by eight concrete reinforcing support about two feet apart with the eight plants between them does a good job. Supported by fence posts or rebar. You will have to train the vines to climb. I support them with pipe cleaners. The clinger tentacles on cucumbers are not very good locators of support but once found are very strong.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?XOYOL 26 July 2007 Cucumbers

There are two patches. I was away for awhile so did not train them as well as I could have. Some years they are trained perfectly. Tomato cages are useless.

I think you failed to read they were bush cucumbers.
They only get to be about 3 feet long.

BUT since you seem to be the expert on everything (even potatoes) I guess I will step aside and let you take over.

Worth

[Durgan]

I only point out what I do. With documentation. You might do the same. All cucumbers are bush cucumbers as far as I know.

I usually grow Cross Country. http://www.durgan.org/URL/?OTYKE Semi-bush type allows denser plantings resulting in much higher yields than standard types

[tam91]

These supposedly only get two feet long.

Yes, I'd rather they grow up both so I have room, and so they aren't wrapped around my ankles, as I find cucumbers very itchy.

Also, since as I said I have a square area, I don't think I would be able to use the long pieces of CRW, so the tomato cages might be better. I suppose I could buy some, but I guess also if the square cages were taller than the cucumbers, it wouldn't really matter except for aesthetics.

[RebelRidin]

Originally Posted by tam91

These supposedly only get two feet long.

Yes, I'd rather they grow up both so I have room, and so they aren't wrapped around my ankles, as I find cucumbers very itchy.

Also, since as I said I have a square area, I don't think I would be able to use the long pieces of CRW, so the tomato cages might be better. I suppose I could buy some, but I guess also if the square cages were taller than the cucumbers, it wouldn't really matter except for aesthetics.

Having a trellis taller than your plant, IMHO, is a good thing. Certainly better than having one too short! Last year I grew cucumbers around the outside of a square bean tower that was about 6 feet tall. I set two plants per side just outside the edges of the towr. In the end four vines won out. They really produced nicely too. I did not have to do too much training, just to get them started. Shorter vines might need a little more assistance.

This is not the greatest picture for seeing the bean tower but you can see the vines on it right behind the old push plow. These were Sweet Slice hybrid. Thay are not a bush type. By growing them vertically I got lots of cukes in no more than 6 square feet of bed space.

[halleone]

Originally Posted by tam91

These supposedly only get two feet long.

I grow these little guys each year, as they produce earlier than my regular slicers. They really do only grow only a couple of feet, so I don't bother training them up anything. Even if they wander over to visit my slicers, they are done about the time the slicers are ready, and I just pull them out.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by halleone

I grow these little guys each year, as they produce earlier than my regular slicers. They really do only grow only a couple of feet, so I don't bother training them up anything. Even if they wander over to visit my slicers, they are done about the time the slicers are ready, and I just pull them out.

That's about what I got out of them too.

Worth

[nolabelle]

I just bought a four pack of what was labeled as "salad bush" cucumbers. It says to plant 3 per hill. This pack has five total. I'll plant 3 big pots of two each and one by itself. I have several pots and lots of dirt left over waiting for fall plantings.



Stepson has one of the regular variety by the back fence. I'm training it to grow along some wire fencing I put along top of the fence to deter the dog from jumping. The wire "shelves" are perfect for training the cucumbers up rather than sprawling the ground.







The other plants are a creole tomato ravaged by leaf miners and summer squash at the bottom right. This is my stepson's experimental garden. My experimental garden is in containers. Pics if successful, lol.

[raindrops27]

Nola nice idea!

[riceke]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I think you failed to read they were bush cucumbers.
They only get to be about 3 feet long.

BUT since you seem to be the expert on everything (even potatoes) I guess I will step aside and let you take over.

Worth

LMAO Worth did you take your Prozac this morning?

[riceke]

Originally Posted by tam91

These supposedly only get two feet long.

Yes, I'd rather they grow up both so I have room, and so they aren't wrapped around my ankles, as I find cucumbers very itchy.

Also, since as I said I have a square area, I don't think I would be able to use the long pieces of CRW, so the tomato cages might be better. I suppose I could buy some, but I guess also if the square cages were taller than the cucumbers, it wouldn't really matter except for aesthetics.

I grew my " dwf bush cukes" in a 14" pot and didn't use any support other than placing them on a pedestal (upsde down pot) so the vines could hang down without touching the ground. If you plant them in ground one of those small tomato cages should be sufficient as Worth said.