Here’s a story about cucumber plant pruning that actually happened to me about a week ago.
I’ve always had trouble growing cucumbers. My plants produce, at best, one cucumber each, sometimes two, and… that’s all. That’s their meagre contribution for the year. So much so that I’ve come to believe that cucumber plants can only bear one fruit at a time. Yet, when I look at my family and friends’ production, I figure that they can certainly do better. Unfortunately, this year’s production didn’t look much better. I had lots of flowers, but I only had a few tiny, yellow, stunted cucumbers that didn’t seem to want to grow to size.
Maybe it is because of the way I prune my cucumber plants. I have always cut them like tomato plants, religiously removing suckers to make the plants climb along a twine. That way, there is better aeration and the plants are not lying on the ground. It prevents diseases like mildew. And it’s good when you don’t have much space.
While searching on the Internet, I came across a video called How to Prune Your Cucumber Plants for Best Production. It explained that there are far fewer female flowers than male flowers on the main stem.
Side note: A cucumber plant carries both male and female flowers. You can identify female flowers by the mini cucumber they have at the base. Male flowers only have the flower. Female flowers are the ones that produce cucumbers, but they must be fertilized with pollen from the male flowers. This is why pollinators such as bees—which carry pollen from flower to flower while foraging—are so important. Without insects, have your paint brushes ready! You will have to hand pollinate the flowers if you want cucumbers.
Again according to the video, second generation branches (main stem suckers) would have a ratio of 50:50 male to female flowers. And third generation branches (secondary stem suckers) would carry only female flowers. It therefore recommends cutting the head of the plant after six pairs of leaves to promote the growth of secondary and tertiary branches. I came to a realization: “If I always pinch off all suckers, that must be why I don’t have lots of cucumbers!” Without thinking twice, I took my scissors and I beheaded my six cucumber plants. Clip, clip, clip, clip, clip, clip! It only takes a few seconds, but it’s pretty irreversible… Once the head is cut, the main stem stops growing. 😢 But you can always let a secondary branch take over if you want to maximize the height. 😊
Then, I had some doubts. What will I do with the side branches? I don’t really have any room to let them climb. Will I let them lie on the ground and foster disease? So, I went back to my computer and came across many videos that said the opposite: to pinch off all the suckers to increase production, because the lateral branches, especially at the base, drain the energy from the plant. I mean, make up your mind! Then, I watched a video called Prune and Grow Cucumbers Vertically – Mittleider Gardening Method (2019), which recommended to let the suckers grow but cut them right after the first cucumber. Ah! That seemed like a good compromise for my situation: it increased production while allowing vertical growth.
In short, to answer the original question of whether to prune your cucumber plants, I would say: absolutely! But how to prune them? It depends. Apparently, you get better production by beheading the plant to foster lateral branch development, but, in that case, you need enough space to let them sprawl. If you grow your cucumbers vertically, like I do, you have to prune your plants accordingly, keeping a single stem. In the future, maybe I will set aside more space and twines for each plant to let climb several lateral branches rather than only the main stem. In theory, I would have more female flowers… and more cucumbers.
Finally, maybe it has nothing to do with it, but, since I beheaded my plants, the cucumbers have started to grow bigger. Yeh!
They won’t grow huge and my little twine will be able to support them.
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