Building a food secured Africa
Cucumber farming especially on a professional scale is one of the most lucrative vegetable businesses you can have. One interesting thing about cucumbers is that they mature in about 5-6weeks, like literally counting 34 to 40days and BOOM! Harvest time, unlike other average vegetables that take about 14weeks to mature. The process of growing cucumbers, harvesting and selling them in a short time can be a very exciting experience, but one thing matters most and that’s buying a good variety of cucumber, because a good variety means good produce.
Now how do you know you have purchased a good variety of cucumber? First of all you have to determine the variety of cucumber you want, there are over 20 different varieties of cucumbers each having their own unique sizes, colour, length and the rest, and all these different cucumbers fall under two groups; the Slicing which are those eaten fresh and the Pickling which are those cultivated to be pickled, knowing the differences helps you know what to expect from the plant, for example, the Cu999 variety can grow to a size 78cm with a “dark green” colour while Cu971 grows to a size 56cm with a “green” colour now you shouldn’t purchase Cu971 and expect to see the features of Cu999, secondly be sure you have taken good care of your cucumber plant, like providing them with sufficient water, sufficient manure/fertilizer, taken appropriate measures in dealing with pests, diseases and weeds, pruned, used the right planting distances and all the GAPs you can think of.
So having taken these two views into consideration, here’s how you can identify a good variety of cucumber:
GERMINATION: A viable cucumber seed germinates 3-5days after sowing provided you watered properly, this goes for all the varieties, so if there is a delay in germination it is an indication that something might just be wrong with the seed you planted, the germination rate gives you a peek into how good the plant is.
Flowering: Just like the germination rate, time of flowering is also a good indicator to tell if the pla\nt is a good one. Flowering should start setting in within 4weeks of sowing, some varieties actually start flowering earlier but 4weeks is the expected time frame for all varieties, so when you start to see those blooming yellow flowers all over your farm within that time, then you have yourself some good variety.
FLOWER QUANTITY: As much as the timely production of flowers is important, the volume or quantity of production is even more important; most cucumber species are monoecious and have both male and female flowers growing on one plant, the male flowers tend to outnumber the female flowers too but a good variety should give you as many as possible female flowers, and we all know that the more the female flowers, the more potential fruits there is.
Fruiting: After flowering comes the fruiting. Provided you are favoured by the pollinators, fruiting should begin 1week after flowers starts to develop i.e. 5weeks after sowing. For some varieties fruiting comes in before the 5th week so depending on the specie you have and the
FRUIT QUANTITY: Like that of the flower quantity, it’s not just about fruit production but abundance of it. So for a good specie of cucumber you should harvest an average of 10 cukes from a vine, cucumber plants produce more fruits when you take good care of them.
Weight: The average cucumber fruit should weigh between 140 – 260g depending on the variety you purchased and also if you are not growing a specie for pickling; those ones weigh less and appear quite thin. Let’s say you planted the cu999 specie and then they begin to fruit, you might not get a 100% 78cm sized fruits from your farm but for a good variety you should have most of them giving you the desired size.
COLOUR: When it comes to cucumbers, colour is not definite or distinctive like many other vegetables, like it was earlier stated, there are different species of cucumbers with their unique colour description so when you are looking out to confirm if you have a good variety based on the colour of the fruits, you should consider the specie as well. There are actually cucumber fruit species that are very light green or white in colour, and this could actually cause a panic for anyone that’s ignorant of this feature. So in the aspect of colour what you need to do is have knowledge of the specie you planted and then know what to expect when it starts bearing fruits.
Resistance to Disease: Good species of cucumber are disease resistant although they can still be susceptible to diseases especially in a case of extreme exposure to the disease, a good one puts up a good fight to survive, this quality helps save any farmer the terror of losing the plant entirely. So you know good species from how well it thrives during and after a disease infestation. Something you should note as well is the type of disease in question, cucumber plant viruses are actually very dangerous and can easily wipe out a whole farm if not spotted on time and managed properly.
HARVEST PERIOD: This is actually where people are most concerned; Harvest. It can be very disappointing when you have done all you have to do and end up harvesting once. Good species of cucumbers keep producing fruits even after a month from the first harvest, although harvest reduces with time and then ends, but it doesn’t abruptly end with the first harvest, again, some varieties last longer than the others and that’s why you should have a good knowledge of the seed so that you know what to expect.
Planting a good specie of cucumber saves you a lot of trouble and gives you a lot of gain, so a good way to start is by buying your seeds from a trusted source, also know your environment and practice your GAPs.