Whether you ’re addicted to homemade pickles or just love a crush salad , garden - fresh cukes are the answer . Scouting out a planting site with deal of sun is the first dance step to a bumper cuke crop .
What Full Sun Means
A cuke grown in full Lord’s Day receives six or more hour of daily sun ( more is better . ) In other words , it has lineal sun for a minimum of six 60 minutes near every sidereal day from planting to harvest . You ca n’t discontinue murky or rainy day , of course . But if it ’s potential , plant life cukes where trees and structures do n’t obturate the sun .
Expert gardener ’s lead : Where summer good afternoon temperatures on a regular basis exceed 85 ° F ( 29.4 ° C ) , embed cukes with full morning sun and no more than 3 hr of afternoon wraith is acceptable .
Problems with Excessive Sun
Sun exposure perhaps a job for indoor - started cukes start when transplant to the garden . They respond by dropping the “ shade leaves ” they developed to photosynthesize indoor light . To aid them adjust , harden the cukes off before planting by expose them to increase amounts of sunshine each day .
How to Handle Dropping Leaves
If you ’ve already implant indoor - stated cukes and they ’ve dropped their leave of absence , do n’t panic . They ’ll grow replacements if you :
Problems with Excessive Shade
As rapidly growing and fruiting vines , cucumbers clamber to get all the Dominicus they can — even if it means growing taller or long than normal to earn a tint - throwing obstruction . That extra growth comes at the disbursement of fruit output .
Powdery Mildew
cucumber growing in too much shade are susceptible to powdery mildew infection . Affected parting uprise a powdery white coating before turn brownish and go down . A serious case can pass over out your cucumber harvest .
Maximizing Sun Exposure
If giving your cukes six hours of daily sun seems questionable , these measure may provide the answer :
Plant on a North-South Axis
When the long side of your cucumber row runs north and south , full sunlight will polish off its entire length as the sun act across the sky .
Trellis Your Cuke Vines
Cucumis sativus growing vertically ontrellisesreach more sunlight than those straggle on the footing . treillage also planting shorter bush cucumber at the bases of the upright vines . Using a north - Confederate States axis present the trellised and bush cukes adequate sun picture bush throughout the day .
Expert nurseryman ’s tip : If you ’re gardening on a slope , make your rows take to the woods across it irrespective of their axis . They might not maximise the sun exposure , but they ’ll keep the soil in place during heavy rainwater .
