Removing lower cucumber/s

[grannyjanny]

I have searched but can't find anything about this, I seem to remember there was a post about this previously. Can anyone advise please. I can't remember how many to remove. Thanks in advance.

[grannyjanny]

[lottie lou]

Think it was the first 18 inches.  Never heard this before but gave it a bash and my crystal lemon seemed to have liked it as they have suddenly started growing cucs. 

[caroline7758]

None of mine are more than about 12" high and it's the first time I've had baby cumbers. Do I really have to take them off? :(

[davyw1]

You should not let any ccucumbers or side shoots grow for the first 18 inches. this will allow the plant to get established. You will reep the benifits later.

[grannyjanny]

Thank you DW & LL .

[Digeroo]

I have one which is 18 inches tall and it has three tiny cucumbers.   Taking them off will be something of a wrench.  I do normally take courgettes off small plants.

 

[BarriedaleNick]

I have never taken the lower cucs off and don't seem to suffer from poor crops or plants - Well I do take them off but only to eat them.
I do tend to only grow small fruited plants but I cant see the logic in removing perfectly good fruit..

[davyw1]

Here is your choice,
Dont allow anything to grow below 18 inches and allow the plants energy to grow the plant making it strong and vigourous
Or
Leave the lower fruit on and let the plant divert its energy into growing that and have a smaller plant
There is only two ways to grow a cucumber let the the plant grow on one single stem removing the side shoots
Or let the plant grow to the hight you want it nip out the growing tip and allow the side shoots to grow horizontaly.

[BarriedaleNick]

I understand the idea but I am not convinced that allowing early fruit to develop stops the plant from becoming strong or vigorous.  It just seems that one is sacrificing early fruit for later fruit.
I have never removed early fruit and have no problems with the plants growing on but I am open to evidence - have there been any trials conducted on this to your knowledge?
Maybe I will do some tests next year but I only tend to grow the mini varieties like Cucino so maybe any effect is not so obvious..

[Tee Gee]

Interesting thread this particularly as the opinions are varied.

I would have thought variety and whether you are growing them indoors or out would play its part in fruit production, and what to do in this instance!

I can't see the point of removing the lower ones, whats to say (at worst) you might not get anymore?

But being a bit more optimistic I would say grow only one at each 'break' point, rather than two or three, not so much to reduce the fruit but to put less strain on that point of the stem,that a number of fruit create.

The only time I purposelyj remove the lower fruit is if they are in contact with the soil, otherwise they remain on the plant!

I guess like many gardening tasks personal preferences rather than what is supposedly right or wrong is the way to go!

....and that folks is my thoughts on the subject!...Tg

[Duke Ellington]

Even more interesting,*re post as above* removing small courgettes from the plant. I have never done this but still get too many courgettes each season.

[antipodes]

re courgettes - I find that in general the first couple of courgettes are not always the best.  Sometimes they tend to be a little mis-shapen or do not grow as vigorously. I don't remove them in any case but usually try and pick them quite small. It's as if the plant is sort of "in training"!

[Digeroo]

According to the RHS you should remove the tip of outside cues after they produce 7 leaves, no mention of taking off lower cues.

http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardening/Grow-Your-Own/Veg-A-to-Z/Cucumber

So far I have therefore taken the tip out of one plant.    One plant has taken off and it is already more than 2 ft tall.    Looks like opinion varies so I might leave the small cues.  Plant seems big enough to cope.

[tricia]

I have 2 Piccolinos and one Konsa in my small GH. I removed the first cuke and the male flowers on the Konsa forming on each plant then the Piccolinos went mad and are producing a cuke at each leaf node. I have already picked two and will be inundated within the next few weeks! Both plants have almost reached the top of their supports already so they will be trained horizontally and any side shoots removed. The Konsa decided to produce 2 side shoots after the initial removal of the first cuke and the forming cukes are much further behind the Piccolinos. All the plants are robust and healthy - much better than last year.

Being a one person household the 12/13 cm size suits me fine.

Tricia