Dr. Henry Munger’s classic cucumber for the ages, long the leading slicing variety in the Northeast, still sells nearly 5,000 packets per year for us though it is offered by just about every seed purveyor on the planet. Dark green 8–8½" fruits show good uniformity. Vines vigorous throughout the season. Tolerant to CMV, DM, PM, resistant to scab.
Supplier Transparency:
① Small seed farmers including Fedco staff
| Variety | Product Type | Hybrid Status | Days to Maturity | Lifecycle | Color |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marketmore 76 | seeds | open pollinated | 63 days | annual | dark green |
|
Marketmore 76 Organic |
seeds | open pollinated | 63 days | annual | dark green |
| Shogun 249 | seeds | F-1 hybrid | 65 days | annual | green |
| Generally Cuke | seeds | F-1 hybrid | 66 days | annual | dark green |
| Longfellow | seeds | open pollinated | 70 days | annual | green |
|
South Wind Organic |
seeds | open pollinated | 55 days | annual | medium green |
|
Marketmore 86 ECO |
seeds | open pollinated | 58 days | annual | dark green |
Culture: May be started indoors for early production, or direct-seeded when soil has warmed. Minimum germination soil temperature 65°, optimal range 65–95°. Very tender, will not survive frost. Direct seed 3" apart thinning to 1' apart in rows 4–6' apart or 6 per mound in hills 4' apart thinning to 3 best plants. For transplants: once seedlings have 1–2 true leaves, about 3 weeks old, plant 1' apart in rows 4–6' apart. Cucumbers require good fertility and regular rain or irrigation for abundant yields. Without adequate water, fruits will be misshapen and bitter. Pick cukes frequently for best production, or else the plants shut down. Make sure to remove blimps to the compost pile.
Combat striped cucumber beetles by handpicking early AM when the dew makes them sluggish, or use floating row covers, removing when cukes flower. Cucumber beetles are the vector for BW.
Using compost in conjunction with row covers (rather than either alone) increased cucumber yields at the University of Michigan.
Parthenocarpic varieties can set fruit without being pollinated, an advantage in cold cloudy summers. Gynoecious varieties produce almost exclusively female flowers for uniformity and high yields.
Saving Seed: Saving cucumber seed is easy! Take that big yellow cuke that got away and save it for seed. Scoop out the guts of overripe fruit and ferment it in an uncovered container for a few days. A moldy gross cap to the slurry means the seeds are ready to rinse and dry. To ensure true-to-type seed, grow only one open-pollinated variety per season.
Diseases:
Pest: Striped Cucumber Beetle
Cultural controls: use
tolerant or resistant varieties, rotate crops, till under crop debris soon
after harvest, use
floating row covers until
flowers appear, use
plastic mulch, perimeter
trap cropping (Black Zucchini
and Blue Hubbard make
particularly good trap crops), use
yellow sticky strips,
hand-pick early morning when beetles are very sluggish.
Materials:
Surround, Pyrethrum (PyGanic).
For the latest results of our germination tests, please see the germination page.
All of our seeds are non-GMO, and free of neonicotinoids and fungicides. Fedco is one of the original companies to sign the Safe Seed Pledge.
From early May through mid-December, items shipping from our garden seeds warehouse ship twice a week, usually Tuesday and Thursday. For quickest turnaround time order online by noon Monday or Wednesday.
