Iznik cucumbers (round two)

[scarfguy]

Hi kids!   I thought I'd show you my latest cucumber effort.  My first one, last spring, was a wholehearted success.  This variety is parthenocarpic which means it produces fruit without the need of pollination.

This time I'm using the bowl of my farm 12.  I have mounted an aquarium pump inside and added two oxygenating air stones. Both the pump and the air stones are on 15 minutes every 2 hours.

For light, I'm using the aerogarden 45W light panel.  The light panel is mounted on lines so that it can be raised or lowered as appropriate.  If I raise it to the full height, the frame will have a growing distance of 40 inches from the top of the bowl to the top of the frame.

There is also a small fan for air circulation.  I turn that on when the sunlight coming in the window raises the temperature too much.

I have a netting trellis running around the sides and back for it to climb. As it grows, I'm "building" some netting trellis with loom cord across the front as necessary.

It's been growing for about a month and is already producing flowers!

[blueridgegardener]

Looks great! Do you use aerogarden nutrients for these?

[lynnee]

I'll be following this project, scarfguy!

I'm curious to know (1) whether the cuke will attach to the net trellis at all, and (2) whether the airstones will operate to keep the leaves so beautifully green. My cukes' leaves always look horrible after the plant matures. I guess that you're going with 4 vines?

[scarfguy]

Nov 27, 2022 14:55:55 GMT -5 blueridgegardener said:

Looks great! Do you use aerogarden nutrients for these?

I've been struggling with nukes for cucumbers as the leaves always turn yellow and look bad.  This time I'm starting with IONIC GROW.  We'll see if that is any better. I'll add their IONIC BLOOM product as it matures. I've also tried the General Hydroponics Flora series. Although a lot more work, it seems to be working great on my peppers and tomatoes.

[scarfguy]

Nov 27, 2022 15:04:33 GMT -5 lynnee said:

I'll be following this project, scarfguy !

I'm curious to know (1) whether the cuke will attach to the net trellis at all, and (2) whether the airstones will operate to keep the leaves so beautifully green. My cukes' leaves always look horrible after the plant matures. I guess that you're going with 4 vines?

Yes!  the cuke attaches to the netting just fine.  In fact, I've still got little bits of the last one still stuck in the netting.  

Yes!  I can't keep the leaves green either no matter what nukes I use.  Although everything I read says that cukes need a lot of light, I think I'm burning them when the sun shines in.

I am growing one plant but, this time, I am not going to cut off the suckers and side branches.  The theory is that having only one growing tip results in larger yields but I think that only applies when you have unlimited space.  I want to maximize my yield within a compact area, so I'm gonna let the branches grow for awhile and see what happens.

[blueridgegardener]

Got it. I haven’t experimented with anything other than AG nutrients. I’ll be interested to see how these do!

[lynnee]

Indeed, scarfguy! The leaves on my cuke in the Bounty look like they're burned from too much light. I'm afraid to change anything, though, because the plant is still producing a daily cuke on average.

Also, the production goes down when I take off the horrible leaves. The plant seems to want to decide for itself which leaves to keep. It's always okay to remove a leaf or undeveloped cuke once the stem turns yellow.

[maskedsonnet]

Lol seems like everyone who’s grown cucumbers in AG (including me!) agrees that the plants are absolute eyesores, in spite of being healthy and producing well. Love the tasty treats they grow though!!

[scarfguy]

SO.... I'm at a decision point with my cucumbers.  I am soliciting suggestions and comments...

As you can see, my cucumber is growing around my light panel.  I was just going to raise my light panel BUT if I do that, the dense foliage and budding flowers and fruit at the bottom will get less and less light. 

The other idea is to leave the light panel alone.  I have an additional light panel above the one in the picture so the new growth will get lots of light from above.

I can't find any information as to whether a multi-tiered lighting design has ever been used for vine-type plants.  It makes sense to me as all areas of the plant with get more light.

Your comments are appreciated.. Thanks!

[lynnee]

scarfguy, my suggestion is just to try the multi-tier lighting, and see what happens! If the vines get too unruly--like covering your first light with dense jungle overgrowth--you can disentangle them and wind them around the trellis.

It's my understanding that commercial tomato growers suspend a single vine upwards from the ceiling, but I don't know what commercial cucumber growers do. I think that tomato growers have ceiling lights that are stronger than any AG light.

Here is a link to a post containing a photo of my first Mini-Munch cucumber, when I decided to disentangle the branching vines. The procedure didn't harm the plant.

aerogardenaddicts.com/post/51916/thread

[scarfguy]

Wow, this cuke is a beast!  I'm really happy with it so far. The leaves are big and still green. They are rapping around the netting nicely and sucking up all that light from the bottom light.  I have 3 (actually 4) growing tips that are growing above the bottom light and, hopefully, will spiral around the netting above the bottom light and reach for the top light.  It was planted on halloween so it's only about 6 weeks old. I've already got some 3" cucumbers at the bottom.  If no disasters happen (and we all know how easily AG disasters can happen) this should be a success!

===

[lynnee]

The plant looks happy as a clam, scarfguy!

[darais211]

looks good! basically got a little 2x2 grow tent going there nice little set up

[Shawn]

Looks great

[scarfguy]

This is such a cool image of my cucumber hugging the light,  I just had to share.

[lynnee]

Those green leaves are amazing! How many days, scarfguy?

[scarfguy]

Dec 14, 2022 21:38:39 GMT -5 lynnee said:

Those green leaves are amazing! How many days, scarfguy ?

45 days!   Cucumbers are by far the fastest germinating and fastest growing plant I've ever AGed.

[scarfguy]

CUKE UPDATE:

I have 3 growth tips that are now happily winding their way around the netting above the lower light.  I'm going to allow them to go around a little longer and then I think I will cut them off and let it turn it's attention to ripening fruit.  If I let them go, it will get too dense I think.

I've already got more cucumbers than I can possibly eat. 

All of my relatives are going to get a gifted wrapped cucumber for Christmas! 

[lynnee]

I wonder what your relatives would make of a gift tag saying "Refrigerate until Christmas"!

[scarfguy]

I think this will be my last post on my cucumber experiment.   There just isn't much information to add at this point.  The three growth tips have grown nicely around the netting above the bottom light.  I've terminated the growth tips. The bottom of the plant has exhausted its energy and has produced about 15 cucumbers. The leaves have turned to crap as all cucumbers seem to do and they are all drying up. The leaves are really green at the top and I expect it will produce another 10-15 cucumbers before exhausted. Should be another month of production before I terminate the plant. On the right beside the bottom light you can see 3 more cucumbers ready for harvest.

This plant was planted on halloween. So start to harvest is less than 60 days.  The cucumbers were harvested when they are about 6 inches long and 1.5 inches across. All-in-all, I'm quite happy with this run.

I hope this has been of interest to our other members.