Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-202
Cucumber
Cucumis sativus
Cucumber is a hot-weather vine grown for fruit best picked young and often, since overgrown fruit turns pithy and bitter. It needs 15 to 20 inches of water over a season, ruling out dryland growing, and two crops a year are normal in a long warm season. Bacterial wilt, spread by cucumber beetles, is the main threat, and only one widely available variety resists it - buying time under beetle pressure rather than removing the risk. Most varieties carry separate male and female flowers on the same plant, so fruit set depends entirely on honeybee visits, one of the few crops here where pollinators are a hard requirement rather than a bonus.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 2–11
- Soil
- Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Well-Drained · Moderate · Moist
Vertical layer
Vine- Soil pH
- 6–8
- Plant type
- Annual
- Mature height
- 8–18 in
- Mature spread
- 3–8 ft
- Plant spacing
- 4–6 ft
- Root type
- Tap
- Spread pattern
- None
Keep exploring
Similar plants
Discover more plants with shared forest layers or growing conditions.
Achocha
Cyclanthera pedata
Achocha is a fast climbing vine that gives three edible parts off one plant - young fruit eaten raw or cooked with a cucumber flavor, mature…
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African Walnut
Plukenetia conophora
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Vine · USDA 10–12
Air Potato
Dioscorea bulbifera
Air Potato is a true perennial vine that produces edible bulbils in its leaf axils along with an underground tuber - unlike frost-killed…
Vine · USDA 7–11
Akebia
Akebia quinata
Akebia is a fast-growing twining vine from East Asian mountain woodland that tolerates full shade better than almost any other fruiting…
Vine · USDA 5–8
Amur Grape
Vitis amurensis
Amur Grape is a cold-hardy climbing vine, native to the woodlands of Russia, China, Korea and Japan, that survives temperatures down to about…
Vine · USDA 4–8
Arctic Kiwi
Actinidia kolomikta
Arctic Kiwi is the hardiest of the edible kiwi vines, a twining climber from cold parts of eastern Asia that survives dormant winters to…
Vine · USDA 4–8
The deeper layer
Plan what comes next.
- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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