Cucumber Cultivars and Cultural Practices for Patio Gardening

1
Cucumber Cultivars and Cultural Practices for
Patio Gardening
Melisa Crane and Todd C. Wehner Department of
Horticultural Science, North Carolina State
University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7609
NC STATE UNIVERSITY

• Results
• Patio Trial
• - Yield in the spring was 300 higher than the
  summer season
• - Yield was highest at 3 plants/container (Table
  2)
• - Pickling type would be a good choice for the
  thin skin on the fruit
• - Slicing type would be a good choice for longer
  keeping ability
• - No increase in powdery or downy mildew with
  increasing plant density
• - Monoecious type has longer harvest season does
  not require a pollenizer
• - Dwarf type takes less patio space
• Best monoecious dwarf cultivar was 'NC-Danbury'
  (Figure 2)
• Patio vs. Field Trial
• - Strong correlations between patio and field
  (Table 3)
• - For total yield (r0.93), early yield (r0.73)
• - For marketable fruit (r0.68), powdery mildew
  (r0.74)
• - Patio gardeners can get good information from
  field trial publications

Introduction - Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.)
ranks as a major vegetable crop around the
world - Many people in the U.S. have small yards,
with limited vegetable gardening space -
Container gardening is increasing rapidly in the
U.S. - There are limited extension
recommendations for cucumber production in
containers - There are some cultivar
recommendations, but they are not consistent
(Table 1) - Objectives determine best
conditions for container production of
cucumber determine best types of cucumbers for
use in container production recommend some
cultivars suitable for container production
Methods - Location Horticultural Crops Research
Station in Clinton, NC - Design 14 cultigens, 3
plant densities, 2 seasons, 6 replications, 8
harvests - Spring season planted 9 May summer
season planted 11 August - Pickling cucumbers
M 21, NC-74, M 27, 'NC-Danbury', 'NC-Dixon',
'Sumter', 'Vlaspik', 'Picklebush' - Slicing
cucumbers 'Bush Whopper II', 'Spacemaster 80',
'Bush Champion', 'Marketmore 76', 'Dasher II',
and 'Cherokee 7' Patio Trial - Container size 12
L, with 1, 2, or 3 plants - Spacing 1.5 x 1.5 m
on raised beds covered with black plastic (Figure
1) - Irrigation 1 hour per day in the morning
(flow rate of 12 L/hr) Field Trial - Plots were
single 6.1 m rows with 1.5 m alleys at each end -
Rows were 1.5 m apart (center to center)

• References
• 1. Bass, L. 1999. Container vegetable
  gardening. North Carolina Cooperative Extension
  Service. Raleigh, NC. http//www.ces.ncsu.edu/hil/
  hil-8105.html
• 2. Bennett, P.J. Growing cucumbers in the home
  garden. Ohio State University Extension Fact
  Sheet. Columbus, OH. www.ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact
  /1000/1608.html
• Bowman, D.P. 2002 Container gardens everything
  you need to know to plan, plant, and care for a
  beautiful, low-maintenance garden. Michael
  Friedman Publisher Group, Inc. New York, NY.
• 4. Crandall, C. and B. Crandall. 1996. Planters,
  containers, raised beds. Sterling Publishing
  Co., Inc. New York, NY
• 5. Cantliffe, D.J. and Phatak, S.C. 1975. Patio
  cucumbers, p. 10. In A.A. Smith (ed.). All About
  Cucumbers. Harvard Press, New York, NY.
• Demboski K., A. Swanberg, J.C. Martin. 2001.
  Container vegetable gardening. Ohio State
  University Extension Fact Sheet. Columbus, OH.
  www.ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1647.html
• 7. Guerra, M. 2000. The Edible container garden
  growing fresh food in small spaces. Simon
  Schuster. New York, NY
• 8. Gurneys Seed Nursery 2005 catalog.
  Greendale, IN. www.gurneys.com
• 9. Harlan, J.R. 1975. Crops and Man. Amer. Soc.
  Agron., Madison, WI.
• 10. Harrison, H.C. 1996. Container gardening.
  University of Wisconsin-Extension leaflet A3382.
  http//www1.uwex.edu/ces/pubs
• McGee, R.M.N. and M. Stuckey. 2002. The Bountiful
  container. Workman Publishing Company. New York,
  New York.
• SAS Institute. 2005. SAS/STAT User's guide,
  Release 9.1 edition. SAS Institute Inc., Cary,
  NC.
• 13. Sanders, D.C. 1997. Vegetable crop
  irrigation. North Carolina State University
  Cooperative Extension Service. Raleigh, NC
  http//www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-33-e.ht
  ml
• Schultheis, J.R. 2002. Fresh market production
  cucumbers. North Carolina State University
  Cooperative Extension Service. Raleigh, NC
  http//www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-14.html
  
• Southern Exposure Seed Exchange 2005 Catalog
  Garden Guide. www.southernexposeure.com
• 16. U.S. Census Bureau. 2002. Population profile
  of the United States 2002. Ch 7 The places
  people live housing, 1999. http//www.census.gov/
  population/pop-profile/2000/chap07.pdf
• U.S. Department of Agriculture. 2005.
  Agricultural statistics. U.S. Department of Agr.,
  National Agricultural Statistics Service,
  Washington, D.C., http//www.usda.gov/nass/pubs/ag
  r05/05_ch4.PDF
• University of California at Davis. Home vegetable
  gardening. Vegetable and Information Center.
  Davis, CA. http//vric.ucdavis.edu/veginfo/commodi
  ty/garden/crops/cucumber.pdf

Figure 1. Field layout of containers for
cucumber experiment showing black plastic mulch,
drip irrigation, and electric fence, spring 2005,
Clinton, NC.
Figure 2. Fruit and vines of 'NC-Danbury'
(dwarf-determinate pickling type) and 'Dasher II'
(tall-indeterminate slicing type) cucumber
hybrids.