Cucumber
With both fall and spring crops, an early harvest must be made before there is enough yield to make it profitable because large fruit left on the vine will inhibit the development of younger fruit. For this reason, plants are picked clean as soon as some fruits are marketable (6 to 7 weeks from seeding) or 6 to 7 days from the first fully open female flower. By 12 days from the first open female flower, some fruit will be too large to be marketable (> 2-inch diameter for picklers, >2 3/8-inch for slicers).
A good yield for pickling cucumbers would be a total of 300 48-pound bushels per acre distributed over 8 harvests. Diameters for the North Carolina grades are Number 1: 1 1/16 inches; Number 2: 1 1/16 to 1. 5 inches; Number 3: 1.5 to 2 inches; Number 4: >2 inches. Number 1 grade goes into a 'whole pack' (gherkins, midgets), Number 2 into whole dill pickles, Number 3 into half or whole dills, chips or strips (sweet and dill), Number 4 are oversize and culls. Cull fruit including crookeds, nubbins, ends (from slice and spear production), and some slightly oversized fruits are mixed with at least 50 percent grade 1 to 3 and made into relishes and salad cubes. Half of the weight of pickling cucumbers is sold as relish and salad cubes.
Field slicers must be at least 5.5 inches long and are picked by hand at 6-to-9-inch lengths. Remains of the stem (peduncle) and petals should be removed for best shipment and storage. They may be waxed. They are very sensitive to chilling injury and require cool, but not cold, storage and shipment. The lowest safe postharvest temperature is 45 degrees F. Pitting and water-soaked spots are often followed by decay at lower temperatures. At optimal holding temperatures of 50 to 55 degrees F, fresh cucumbers can be stored for 10 to 14 days. Greenhouse slicers are picked by length and shrink-wrapped to prevent water loss.
TRELLISED CUCUMBERS
Trellised fresh market cucumbers have an average yield of 850 to 950 bushels per acre. A trellis system offers several advantages. It improves fruit quality, especially color and shape, bringing a higher price on the market; lessens disease and insect severity; extends harvest season, and makes harvesting easier and more thorough. Disadvantages of trellising are: costs for construction, labor for training and pruning, and end of season field cleanup.
The trellis should be 6 feet high with top and bottom wires. Twine should be tied between the wires to support each plant. Baling twine is more difficult to work with, but unlike plastic twine, it does not have to be removed at the end of the season. Posts holding up the trellis should be no more than 15 feet apart.
Three or four trips through the field (or until the main stem reaches the top wire) are required to tie the cucumber stems to the trellis. Removing the first 4 to 6 lateral runners or sideshoots will increase yield. Mulching is effective in controlling weeds. It is possible to plant a fall cucumber crop on tomato trellises after first killing the tomatoes with herbicides. In experiments in Louisiana, researchers found that yields of top quality cucumbers and ease of harvest were not reduced with this system, but total yields were lower compared to trellis systems constructed as described above.