What variety of cucumbers do you like?

Meadowlark

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I'm growing several varieties this year and offer a review of them starting with the cucumber in the far right of the photo below:

1) Sir Crunch a Lot is definitely a favorite here and is a hybrid from Park's seed that continues to produce when all the other varieties have stopped bearing. It just goes and goes and goes. Sir Crunch a Lot is also rich and free of bitter taste, with a small seed cavity and extra-long fruit size.

2) Straight Eight is an old-time variety that was the All-America winner back in 1935. It is smooth, straight, and deep green 8-inch fruits but is good even at 9 or 10 inches if you forget to pick them as the one pictured below second from the right. It is vigorous and prolific and tolerates mosaic virus. I grow it every year and it never fails to please.

3) Honey plus is a hybrid from Burpee that has a "smooth pale green to white skin and crispy-crunchy, sweet-as-honey, golden-fleshed fruit." It has proven to be very tasty if not as sweet as honey. Shown below as third from the far right.

4) Thunder is a heat-resistant, early-yielding cucumber that has great flavor. Resistant to all the dieseases this one caught my eye because of its heat tolerance. It is supposed to produce even in the hottest summer. We will see. Shown as the fourth from the right.

5) Persian is a small, tender cucumber with a smooth exterior, thin skin, and very few seeds. They're narrower than regular cucumbers and have a mild flavor. My first year to try them and they are just ok but not as good as 1 and 2 above IMO.


Curious what other growers here like in cucumbers.



cucumbers.JPG

 
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For early season I like the Parthenocarpic cucumber called Biet Alpha. For regular slicing cucs I like Straight 8 and for pickling I like Triple Crop.
 
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I don't do cucumbers but pickles. The way I see it, pickles substitute well for cucumbers in salads and recipes. Cucumbers don't pickle well, they get mushy.

Burpee and Boston are my typical ones, trying white spine this year.
 

Meadowlark

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Sorry but White spine is a cucumber. It is a classic slicing variety of cucumber. Likewise, Boston is a cucumber and is often used for making pickles. Burpee offers over 15 different varieties of cucumbers, none of which are called just "Burpee" that I am aware of.

So, if "Cucumbers don't pickle well" what do you use to make pickles, if not cucumbers?
 
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I grow Straight 8. Never grown anything else. I've done pickles with them and they are ok but I don't usually bother as I eat them raw for a little bit then get tired of eating cucumbers until I realize I don't have them any more because I pulled them. Same with yellow straighneck squash.
 
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Sorry but White spine is a cucumber. It is a classic slicing variety of cucumber. Likewise, Boston is a cucumber and is often used for making pickles. Burpee offers over 15 different varieties of cucumbers, none of which are called just "Burpee" that I am aware of.

So, if "Cucumbers don't pickle well" what do you use to make pickles, if not cucumbers?
Yes, pickles are a variety of cucumber. But they have characteristics that make them better for processing than salad or slicing varieties.
 
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Usually I plant national pickling and straight 8's but this year I changed to try something new so I planted some kind of Russian cucumbers.. forget the full name off hand. Also some lemon cucumbers. I still might plant some national pickling.
 
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I have grown Biet Alpha too, & that is a nice cuke, but I prefer "Carmen" & "Socrates".
All parthenocarpic cucumbers, Carmen is 12-14 inches long; Socrates 6-8 innches long.
I grow them indoors, & their skins are thin & easily digestible.
For those needing really thin-skinned cucumbers I don't think you can beat "Delistar".
All are F1s
 
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I have grown Biet Alpha too, & that is a nice cuke, but I prefer "Carmen" & "Socrates".
All parthenocarpic cucumbers, Carmen is 12-14 inches long; Socrates 6-8 innches long.
I grow them indoors, & their skins are thin & easily digestible.
For those needing really thin-skinned cucumbers I don't think you can beat "Delistar".
All are F1s
I grow these outside early in the season because of the scarcity of insect pollinators. I will try to find some of the two you mentioned. The only reason I know of Biet Alfa is that a seed company gave away a packet free and I have been buying them ever since.
 
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I grow these outside early in the season because of the scarcity of insect pollinators. I will try to find some of the two you mentioned. The only reason I know of Biet Alfa is that a seed company gave away a packet free and I have been buying them ever since.
Would you prefer the long or short ones?
I'll send you a pack (same address as previously?)
I would warn you, you don't get many seeds in a UK pack.
When is your fall season?
 
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Would you prefer the long or short ones?
I'll send you a pack (same address as previously?)
I would warn you, you don't get many seeds in a UK pack.
When is your fall season?
We never really know about a fall season as the weather is so unpredictable. But, in any case, for something like you sending seeds, winter is the time. The last freeze date is a little more accurate than the first freeze date. For plants like cucs I start seeds about 15 February depending on what the long range weather looks like. Is the date to maturity the same on both the long and short varities? I think I would prefer the short variety if so.
 

Meadowlark

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FYI, the Beit Alpha seeds are available on Amazon for $5.

1685715156679.png
 
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I found the skins a bit thick on them.
AFAIK they are an Israeli hybrid.
I don't know what to think about them. Some sites say they are a F1 hybrid and others say they are open pollinated and an heirloom and the seeds can be saved. I grow them because they do not require pollination and I can start eating cucs a lot sooner
 

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