Pruning cucumber vine plant can avail you grow good for you vines and more yield .
Pruning cucumber plants at the right clock time can make all the difference between a poor harvest and a bumper crop ofhomegrown cucumber . If you have n’t pruned cucumbers before , you might not have it off where to start . This elementary guide on how to prune cucumber plants will answer all your questions .
VlarVix / Getty Images
Credit:VlarVix / Getty Images
Why You Should Prune Cucumbers
One of the principal reasons grower prune cucumbers is that it take a shit vineseasier to treillage on support organisation . However , other benefits of pruning cucumber plants let in :
When to Prune Cucumbers
Pruning cucumbers is n’t a one - prison term action . Instead , prune the works regularly throughout the growing season for the most benefits . How often you need to prune vining cucumbers depends on how tight your plants grow , but project on doing so at least once every one to two calendar week .
Cucumber Pruning Tips
These tips turn well ontrellised vining cucumbersbut also apply to vining cucumbers on the ground .
1. Don’t Prune Too Early
While you might be tempted to start snip your cucumber vine industrial plant properly away , bear that thought . Pruning cucumbers too early limits the size of the vine and reduces fruit production . alternatively , hold back to prune cucumber vine until they are about three to five weeks old and measure 1 to 2 feet eminent .
2. Disinfect Your Tools
To avoidspreading plant diseaseswhen pruning , disinfect your pruning tools between plants with isopropyl alcohol .
3. Find the Plant’s Main Stem
When you ’re ready to rationalize the plants , inspect the vines cautiously . You should notice that cucumber plant consist of one master fore and multiple forking stems or clusters of leave of absence that extend aside from the chief vine . Do n’t rationalize the main stem of Cucumis sativus vine , as this can halt the plant ’s ontogeny .
4. Remove the Lower Lateral Stems and Leaves
Clip off the low-pitched four to six sidelong stems around the basis of the cucumber vine . These lateral radical , also have it off as suckers , suck up muscularity aside from the plant ’s main stem . remove the humble root helps the cucumber vine exert a vertical growth habit on your trellis system .
5. Remove Damaged or Diseased Leaves
After removing the lowest mark from the vines , inspect your cucumber plant for any damaged , yellow , or morbid leaves and cut them out . disease , like powdery mildew , can rapidly spread throughout a plant , but you may specify this by removing any morbid plant life tissue . It ’s also a undecomposed estimation to snip off any leaves near the soil business as they are more probable to develop diseases due to poor airflow and rain slop grease - bear pathogens onto them .
6. Snip Away Extra Suckers
Next , visit the plant for additional sucker , which often appear in the crook between the flora ’s main vine and some leave-taking . patsy are unremarkably recognized by their shaggy appearance and little leaves . If you ’re growing field cuke that are n’t self - fecund , you do n’t desire to remove all the suckers , but cut back off some suckers can redirect your plant ’s energy toward fruit development .
twinge away young suckers with your fingers , but cut erstwhile brancheswith sharp prunersat a 45 - arcdegree angle to annul damage the plant . You ’ll require to remove the suckers around the bottom of the plant , but allow at least two to three patsy at the top section of the vine . These suckers can branch and yield and are normally productive because the top of the plant get lot of sunshine .
7. Stay on Top of Pruning and Harvesting
After the initial pruning , check the cucumber vine at least once a calendar week for additional suckers , and snip away new sidelong stems as they come out . Cucumbers grow rapidly in outpouring and summertime , and they can create many suckers in a brusk time period . continue on top of pruning and snarf off suckers when they ’re still modest keep the plants tidy and productive throughout the time of year .
As the cucumbers grow , stay on to remove any damaged plant leafage , and be sure to harvest cucumbers as soon as they mature . Leaving cucumbers on the plant life too long can sap the vines of energy and reduce your crop .
8. Top Your Plant at the End of the Season
You may want to “ top ” your cucumber vine at the end of the growing time of year to encourage the remaining fruit to mature faster . Thispruning technique is also useful for tomatoes , and it ’s peculiarly effective if there ’s moth-eaten weather condition in the prognosis and you want your cucumbers to ripenbefore frost arrives .
To top the plant , trim down off the top of the main stem with your pruners . This encourages the plant to focus its energy on the fruit remain on the vine .
Frequently Asked Questions
All cucumbers can profit from light pruning , but pruning is most utilitarian for vining cucumbers spring up vertically on trellises . Bush - type cucumbersnaturally asseverate a compact growth use , so pruning is n’t as necessary with these plants . However , removing the downcast leave and any damaged stems from bush - type Cucumis sativus is still a just theme .
Pruning too many leave at once can reduce the vine ’s ability to photosynthesize , and it can endanger cucumbers to sunscald . To ward off this , never prune away more than a third of the plant at one meter , and consideradding mulchto the base of the vines to even off for removing the works ’s humble leave-taking .
The cucumber vine plant uses those tendrils to support itself as it grows . you’re able to cut off the tendrils if your plant is already the size you require . They are not essential , and removing the tendrils celebrate them from intertwining with nearby plant . However , if you leave them on and the cucumber plant grows larger , you will belike reap more cucumbers .
