It’s not uncommon to see cucumbers growing in gardens across the country. You may not know that it’s possible to train cucumbers to climb!
This can be a great way to save space in your garden, and it also looks really cool.
So, how do you train a cucumber to climb? Attach the cucumber vines to the trellis or string, ensuring you regularly monitor the growth and persist with weaving the cucumber vines upwards through the trellis or string, cutting off any vines that don’t behave.
In this article, we will discuss how to train your cucumber plants to grow vertically instead of horizontally.
How To Train Your Cucumbers To Climb
Just like training anything, you’ll need to be patient while your cucumbers get used to their new routine.
You must start this process early in the cucumber growth cycle. When the cucumber vines are relatively young, they’re much easier to manipulate to encourage them to grow vertically; you’re also dealing with a lot smaller of a plant, instead of changing your mind mid-season and trying to bend strong vines into the small trellis.
Be careful with the vines; they’re delicate and have been known to snap if too much pressure is applied.
Here are the things you’ll need to do:
1. Provide support for the cucumbers to climb on. This can be in the form of a trellis, netting, or even some pieces of string.
2. Once the cucumbers have started to climb, you’ll need to tie them loosely to the support structure. This will help them to grow in the right direction and not fall off.
3. Be sure to water the cucumbers regularly, and make sure they’re in a spot with plenty of sunlight.
4. It’s vital now to progressively check on your cucumbers; this isn’t a one-time task. The vines will attempt to go off in all directions, and it’s up to you to weave them back into the trellis or string and encourage upward growth.
5. After a few weeks, you should start to see the cucumbers growing vertically. Once they reach their full height, you can cut off the support structures and enjoy your home-grown cucumbers!
Tieing Your Cucumbers To Trellis
For your cucumbers to grow correctly, you’ll need to provide support for them to climb. This can take the form of a trellis, netting, or some string.
Once the cucumbers have started to climb, you’ll need to tie them loosely to the support structure. This will help them to grow in the right direction and not fall off.
You can use any string for this, but we recommend using something like jute twine, which is biodegradable and won’t damage the cucumber plants.
To tie the cucumbers to the trellis, take the end of the string and wrap it around the base of the cucumber plant. Then, tie a knot so that the string is secure.
Do this for each cucumber plant, and be sure to leave enough slack in the string so that the plant can grow without being constricted.
As the plants grow, you can adjust the string so that it stays tight against the stem.
One extra trick I like to use is to use the tiny tentacles on the cucumber vine and tie that around the trellis or string. It’s a natural way to train your cucumber to climb and makes for a fantastic plant once it’s matured.
How Tall Should Your Cucumber Trellis Be
The height of your cucumber trellis will depend on how tall you want your cucumbers to grow.
For most varieties of cucumbers, you’ll want the trellis to be at least 6 feet tall. This will give the plants plenty of room to grow vertically.
Whatever height you choose for your trellis, be sure that it’s tall enough so that the cucumbers have plenty of room to grow. Cucumbers are renowned for needing a fair amount of space, and the last thing you want is to starve them of nutrients.
Is Cucumber a Creeper or Climber?
Cucumbers are technically classified as creepers. This means that they have a natural tendency to grow horizontally along the ground.
However, with a little bit of training, you can encourage your cucumbers to grow vertically. This is done by providing support for them to climb on, such as a trellis or some netting.
By training your cucumbers to climb, you’ll be able to maximize the space in your garden and get a bigger yield of cucumbers at the end of the season!
Ground Growing vs. Trellis Growing
There’s no right or wrong way to grow cucumbers; it’s great that you’re looking into growing them!
Is it better to grow cucumbers on a trellis or on the ground? The answer to this question boils down to how much space you’ve got available.
If you’re dealing with a small area, I’d recommend using a trellis and encouraging your cucumbers to grow vertically. Purely from a space-saving point of view, they also make for a great garden feature.
However, if you’re lucky enough to have a relatively large plot, the world is your oyster! Experimenting with ground growth and trellis growth would be my recommendation, that way, you can decide which route you prefer and which one you have the most success with.
Frequently Asked Questions:
How many cucumbers grow on a trellis?
This answer will depend on the size of your cucumber plants and trellis. Generally, each plant can produce about 10-15 cucumbers.
Can I use a tomato cage as a cucumber trellis?
Yes, you can use a tomato cage as a cucumber trellis. However, keep in mind that cucumbers can grow to be quite large, so you may need to secure the cage to the ground, so it doesn’t fall over.
Will cucumber climb a pole?
Cucumbers can climb a pole if it’s the right size and has something for the cucumber to grip onto. A smooth metal pole probably won’t work as well as one made of wood or plastic.
Conclusion
Growing your very own produce is such a fun thing to do, not to mention the benefit of your very own organic food and also saving a bit of money.
Training cucumbers to climb is a simple thing to do; you need to have a bit of patience. Please make sure you regularly monitor the vines, re-weaving them through your trellis every few days; once you’ve done this long enough, the cucumber plant will learn to climb up the trellis.
Thank you for reading, and enjoy those cucumbers!
