Cucumbers...what's your favorite variety?

I'd like to also grow cucumbers this summer. What is your favorite variety? Is there really a difference between varieties? I've never had a bad cucumber....

I'll also be growing pumpkins, green beans, potatoes, and watermelons..... :-)

I grew Dasher last year and had absolutely the best cucumber crop that I've ever had. That also could have been attributed to the field being newly turned sod but I guess we'll find out this coming year because I plan to put them in the same field, just on the other side. I also planted National Pickler and they were great for pickles. People at the markets also liked the pickling cucumbers due to their smaller seed size.

I plant CORINTO cucumbers every year.
It is a parthenocarpic variety (= these varieties develop fruit without pollination) and it produces constantly during our Texas hot days of spring/summer.
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-8483-corinto-f1-og.aspx

I like Muncher. Good, consistent flavor and size.

Small growing area so I've tried Little Leaf, Spacemaster and Alibi.
Alibi was my number one favorite, second Spacemaster and last was Little Leaf.
I did not pickle, these were grown for feasting on while fresh.

Most any of the burpless but specially the Burpee Burpless DW is a cucumber fanatic/gourmet and that is her favorite we have had really good crops the last 5 years so she said last year that she was finally getting burned out on them she can eat a half dozen of the large per day

What is a burpless cucumber??? :-S

It means it supposedly doesn't have the gene that has a bitter tang to it -- but under the wrong conditions you can still get a bitter one.

More than you wanted to know:http://cuke.hort.ncsu.edu/cucurbit/wehner/articles/art090.pdf

i grew diva last yr.. its an all female plant..it did well..
even with the intense heat..and constant watering i needed
to do.. this yr i want to try sweet sucess..?? anyone try this one??
its suppose to be close to seedless.. slender..and thin skin..

I have grown nearly all of the mentioned ones- I liked Diva, Sweet Success, Muncher & General Lee. I find many of the burpless ones are watery, which I don't like at all. Summer Dance did great for me- it was long, slender thin skinned and spineless. Good crunch too.

Try Fanfare. It is a semi-bush so it don't take up much space. Really good cucumber. We have used it for years at our market & outsell all other offerings from other vendors.
When customers find something they like, they return all the time.
For pickles we use Alibi. Very good production, must be picked every other day!

Another vote for Diva; here's the description:
Diva Cucumber
58 days. Another All America winner (2002) from our good neighbors to the North Johnnys Selected Seeds, Diva is a nearly seedless parthenocarpic variety. It produces exclusively female flowers which do not require pollination to set fruit. The result is a very prolific set of nearly seedless fruit at every node and a very sweet, never bitter flavor. Diva is considered a Beit Alpha type, the smooth skinned class of fruits that originated in the Middle East. Fruits are very crisp with an attractive medium green color. Diva is resistant to scab and mildews.

and I also really like this one:
Tanja Cucumber
56 days. This is a premium European open-pollinated slicing cucumber. Beautiful, long, firm & bitter-free fruits. This variety picks over an unusually long period. A cucumber for both greenhouse and open air cultivation in your garden. This delicious cucumber can be harvested all summer long.

All of my cukes are grown off the ground on a trellis ,I started this because I grew some Armenians and they would curl badly if not grown where they could hang..The other reason is I do not like picking cukes any place a snake is likely to hide...I grew up in the swamp country and we would find many Copperheads cooling off hiding under the cucumber vines..Not FUN

After reading the post from Greenhouse and others I will surely give DIVA a shot..seems to me Johnny's is on top of things for new varities ,I tried the Zephyr squash from them a good while back and now would not think of not having the Zephyr in my garden we love it ..

Hmmm... Grits apparently you've not seen the copperheads lazing away the day up in the vines (off the ground) in the shade of the vines, waiting for an unsuspecting butterfly or bee or... lol

I've found a couple and since, I am oh, so careful when I reach in for a cucumber.

Christi we have not had many snakes the last few years and I surveyed my garden class about and they all agreed that the snakes are becoming fewer ,i kinda think it may have been you that suggested it had some relationship with the wild hogs Hey I am all for more hogs less snakes

Divas are Wonderful!!! Cukes do fine, here, as long as I use row covers to protect from the beetles that lead to wilt.

Cucina is a small, very prolific, great tasting cucumber, but I also love Straight Eight. Didn't do as well with Eurika, but maybe it was the heat here.

Where to find the seeds for Fanfare??

Totally Tomatoes has them for one.
http://www.totallytomato.com/

Okay thanks will go there right away

Not only did i look at TT I bought some seeds for Fanfare also some for diva it said FanFare needs a polinator what would you recomend

I forgot to send this earlier (due to an interruption) which notated a couple of other Fanfare sites. Glad you found the seeds. I used to grow Fanfare but switched to Sweet Success and then when I ran out of those tried Diva last summer which I really liked!

It needs a pollinator simply means the flowers need to be pollinated by bees rather than self pollinating. It is not all female like Diva. So you must plant it outside. Diva can be grown in a greenhouse and does not require bees or other insects to pollinate the flowers. I grew mine outside but was going to try to experiment with growing it in a special tent to keep away the cucumber beetles.

This message was edited Feb 6, 2013 11:43 PM

I have some leftover seeds from an ill advised exp that turned out to be all male it bloomed profusely but never ever had even one cuke ...That should make it a prime canidate as a pollinator or public office for that matter LOL

LOL ~ Grits you won't do... 8 )

While not suited for a main crop, the lemon cucumbers, like Boothbay Blonde, are cute and just the right size for a two-person serving.

I forgot I ordered more of the lemon ones as well since they may be small, but delicious!!

My DW loves the lemon variety I like cukes but my DW is addicted to them

I like Diva too - but if you plan on making pickles, you might want a pickling-type cucumber. They are only okay as fresh sliced cucumbers, but have a better texture after pickling. For both Picklers and Slicers, I look for Powdery Mildew resistance, because it is a problem here (& every where else I have gardened, too). Also FYI, cucumbers are something you want to pick young & green, before the seeds develop.

I have grown the Lemon variety for about 40 yrs off and on the last couple it has become badly infected with an Aphid like insect so I think that if I plant the Lemon this year it will be someplace away from the rest of the garden which will be easy as I am shrinking my veggy garden ...

should have edited that to read that the pic is a mutation according to a Genectist (SP?) it is a common mutation in the lemon variety This pic is just to show the size of the fleciated vine

I was just wondering what was that elongated leaf ...
grits74571 are you saying that that leaf is from the lemon cucumber plant? huh?

No that is not a leaf that is the vine it is a mutant due to a ressesive gene it is called fleciating meaning flattened I discovered this and spent about a month talking with genetisist from the Oklahoma State U. all the way to Minn. a lady from the exp. station at Lane Oklahoma Dr. Angela Davis Phd. was most helpfull we taked several times via phone and e mail

wow,copperheads in the garden.. i have garter snakes..they make their
dens in rock gardens.. and im happy to have them... im sure they eat bugs
i dont want around..they do scare me when im pulling weeds..and i dont expect
them..
would be a whole different situation if i ran into rattlesnake.. :(
u all be careful..
go in to snap a cuc off vine..and get bitten.. wow..

Many years ago I decided to let the snake alone in my garden and I did so until I found a garter snake swallowing a toad ,after that I started watching and found that many snakes would eat toads ,by the time the light bulb went on in my thick head I was out of toads but I did have a lot of unwanted snakes so at that point I decided that I peferred toads over snakes

When we were building our house, one of they guys working found a 6 foot rattlesnake with 12 rattles and a button! He had been around a while. It still scares me that one of the dogs will find another one of those around here, but we have been here 2 years, and all I have seen are black snakes. But I wouldn't want them eating my frogs or toads either.

Cucumbers & snakes related ?

This thread is Favorite Cucumbers.

LOL! I guess so.....when you find them both together! ;) lol
Up in Michigan, I haven't had any problems with snakes in my garden; thank goodness!! Of course, my garden is "paved" with an Earth Mat-like product so there is not undergrowth to hide in.

I think I had a relative that lived in the South say that some poisonous snakes have a distinctive smell - I don't remember which type of snake (cotton-mouth or water moccasin), but I think the smell might have been "like cucumbers"

RE flattened vine - Saw a Gerbera daisy like that at the nursery, and my daughter (grade school age) insisted on buying it. Once the weird flower and stem were spent and dead-headed off, the next ones grew in normal. My daughter was disappointed, I was relieved.

Snakes and cukes are related.. but it depends on which state you are in. In the south you cant have gardens without snakes- Mn doesn't have that problem with cukes that grow snakes... The gene isn't as predominant in the colder north...