Anyone know of a good cucumber variety to grow in a subtropical climate?

I haven't tried Spacemaster or muncher personally but I'm going to now Yes, I can also vouch for Mary Sheehan. Plus, the Giant Russian has good disease resistance, grows big and fat, and tastes crisp without the slightest hint of bitterness so give that one a go too.

 

I also just bought some Suyo Long from Green Harvest but will probably wait until next spring to plant... Yeah the Giant Russians are great and they keep well in the crisper too.

Our guys who service our enviro-cycle (nice couple - own business) left me a cucumber, for the seed, whilst I was away on holidays (last few weeks) with a note on our invoice saying "it was handed down to me and now I give to you." I'm not exactly sure what type of cucumber it is but I'm looking forward to trying it. I will try and catch them next time they are out here and get the name but the fruit is big (like a Giant) and the skin looks/feels "orangey" and firm.

 

Have got hold of a variety of cucumber I've been hunting for ages called West Indian Cucumber. This is a small variety which is supposed to prolific and tasty; however, I'll have to wait for spring to try them out (too cold to start from seed ATM). Apparently, has really good disease resistance too.



Image from Beautanicals Herbs and Seeds (which is where I got my seeds from).

 

OK, I have been able to get a few West Indian Cucumber plants growing nicely and they are starting to fruit so here's a few observations so far:

• Leaves - leaf structure is very different to other cucumber varieties with more of a jigsaw or frog feet leaf pattern (similar to a rockmelon plant - same family) instead of the large heart shaped leaf of a conventional cucumber.
• Growth - likes the heat and grew poorly through early spring until the cool changes ceased and now that summer is here in 1 days time it seems to be thriving which is unusual as other cucumber varieties start to suffer in the subtropical summer. Also, this cucumber variety has a natural spreading habit with lots of branches from the main stem whereas most other cucumber varieties tend to need a little help to branch out by "dead heading" the young vine to encourage growth.
• Fruit - the plant/s seem to be flowering profusely with lots of fruit starting. We've had several early fruit already and they look like tiny watermelons with lots of spikes which are easy to rub off to leave a smooth oval cucumber with a faint light green stripe going lengthwise. I'm beginning to think this is a variety best picked small (at about 4 cm and definitely not over 6 cm) because it does have lots of seeds. However, at this young stage the seeds are not a problem and are soft and easy to eat. This small cucumber fruit would be excellent pickled and once I have enough to gather all at once, I'll pickle a jar full and see if I'm right. I'll post the results here... Taste-wise, I would call the West Indian Cucumber very mild and pleasant.

I've still got some evaluation to go but so far this cucumber looks promising - I like that it likes the heat - and could turn out to be one of the best finds for my sub-tropical climate in a long time. I may have solved my cucumber summer growing problem with this variety and also found a great pickle! We'll see Here's a few pics below:

 

Funny you should say that because I'm growing a Suyo Long cucumber under a gum at the moment and it seems to be doing pretty well - still only young about a metre long but flowering now.

Think I'm going to have to use your shade cloth idea for a whole range of veggies I want to grow this summer as I only have three beds which are part shaded by gums and one is a permanent with ginger and asparagus so that leaves me with two.

 

If you have any trouble growing your cucumber at this time of year then consider the West Indian as detailed above. Mine are looking great and producing heaps of good fruit whilst some other varieties in my garden are starting to wither in our summer heat.

 

I got them online at Beautanicals see my post above here.

Happy to send you some seed if you want... Here's my harvest from a few days ago with some ginger and oregano (made pickled cucumbers/gherkins out of them).

 

Yeah - that sounds like a good idea. Some people might take advantage of it... we could create a seed swap forum? It can't hurt I guess.

If you send me a private conversation with your details I'll send you some seed or since you are in my local area I'm happy to meet up sometime if you like?

 

I'm going to copy and past that reply post idea into the seed forum itself as a suggestion.

OK, I'll let some of my cucumbers mature and let you know when I have some seeds so we can organise a meet somewhere, have a brew and a chat, swap a few seeds, anyone else who wants to come can - sounds good. Might discuss this in the seeds forum later in a new thread...

 

Magnificent! These are one of my favourites also and yours are looking pretty good in spite of the hot weather we've had in our part of the world lately.