Seedman's Cucumber Seeds

Cucumber Seeds

Cucumber is a tender, warm-season vegetable that produces well when given proper care and protection. The vines of standard varieties grow rapidly and require substantial space. Vertical training methods and new dwarf varieties now allow cucumbers to be grown for slicing, salads and pickling, even in small garden plots.

Sowing Instructions

Cucumbers don't do well if roots are disturbed, so it is best to plant seeds directly in the garden or use deep seed starting pots if you must start indoors. Plant your seeds in soil, 2 to 3 weeks after last frost, when soil and air temperature is at least 60 F. Thin so there are 4 plants per hill. Cucumbers can also be grown in rows instead of hills, spacing 24" apart in rows 24 - 36" apart. Trellised plants can be grown as close as 10" apart. Cucumbers only take 55 to 65 days to maturity, so you can have multiple harvest by growing 2 to 3 weeks apart. Plants grow 1 ft tall and vines spread up to 6 ft.

Like other cucurbits, cucumbers don't like to have their roots disturbed and can be tricky to transplant. However, if you want an early start on the season, it's worth the risk to start a few cucumber plants indoors in peat pots about two or three weeks before setting out. Because cucumbers are easily injured by frost, planting should be delayed until the soil temperature reaches 60 degrees and all danger of frost is past. This is often at least two weeks after the last frost date.

Cucumber Flowering Differences

There are three different types of flowering cucumbers, it is very important to know the types you are planting in your garden, if you plant a parthenocarpic alongside a monoecious or gynoecious type, this could lead to mis-shapened fruit and poor quality fruit.

Parthenocarpic Cucumbers
Parthenocarpic cucumbers are hybrid plants that have been bred with emphasis on the incompletely dominant gene Pc, which is responsible for these cucumbers to produce fruit asexually. These cucumbers produce few or no seeds, any seeds that do ripen will not be fertile, so parthenocarpic cucumber seeds must be sourced yearly.
Parthenocarpic cucumbers are best grown indoors. Although they do not produce pollen of their own, they can still be fertilized by other varieties of cucumbers that might be within a reasonable distance for bees to fly. Fruits resulting from pollination will often be deformed. If you can keep bees from your parthenocarpic cucumber flowers with well-sealed row covers, they can be grown outside. Remove any covers as soon as fruit begins to set.

Monoecious Cucumbers
Most heirloom and open pollinated varieties are this type. Plants produce both male and female flowers, and need to be naturally pollinated by bees, other insects, or wind to produce fruit.

Gynoecious Cucumbers
Plants produce predominately female flowers. Bred and grown for higher yields over monoecious. Planting a monoecious variety at a recommended ratio of 9 to 1 will provide adequate pollination to the gynoecious variety.

Informative articles found on the web:

How to Make Pickles
How to Make Cucumber Relish
762 Cucumber Recipes

Seeds

JB201 Burpless Supreme

Monoecious. This is one of our favorite cucumbers and one of the mildest cucumbers on the market. Burpless Supreme is bred for its particularly thin skin for reduced cucurbitacin, the biochemical believed to be responsible for the burps, and to be virtually seedless for sensitive systems. Pick shiny, dark green fruits at a mature 7 to 8 inches. Harvest earlier for bitterless, burp-free munching. Excellent when sliced, even horizontally for salads, and make great pickles when harvested small. Expect heavy yields from Cucumber mosaic virus and Powdery Mildew resistant, medium, vigorous plants. Well suited for winter conditions. 55 days.

LET766 Tasty King Hybrid

Monoecious. Delicious fruits, burpless and a uniform 10" length, are thin-skinned and tender. Exterior is a bright, dark green that is particularly attractive. Vines are vigorous with excellent disease resistance.
Flavor is mild and sweet, with a crisp, crunchy texture, whether grown in the garden or greenhouse. Superb disease resistance. Needs support for optimal results. 62 days.

LET767 Tasty Green Hybrid

The Tasty Green cucumber is a burpless cucumber that is crisp and juicy. This hybrid is a deep green cucumber with long white spines. The Tasty Green is a great cucumber for hot and humid climates. The long 12" inch burpless cucumbers have an excellent, bitter free flavor. This variety is an excellent cucumber for greenhouse growing as it produces high yields. 52 days.

LET768 Quick Snack Edible Potted

Deliciously crisp and sweet, cocktail-sized fruits have the best flavor when they are 1 1/2" to 2 1/2" long. Great for fresh use and pickling. Can be grown inside on a sunny windowsill or outside in containers. Plants benefit from being trellised and should be pinched when plant reaches top of the trellis. A parthenocarpic variety that sets fruit without a pollinator and when grown isolated, fruits will develope seeds. 40 days.

JB168 Saladmore Bush

Monoecious. 2014 AAS Edible Vegetable Winner. Vines spread only 24 inches, yet produce an average of 10 to 12 fruits per plant. Harvest small, dark green fruits for pickles or allow them to fully mature, 7 to 8", for fresh use. Crisp flesh has a mild, sweet flavor. Keep fruits picked to extend the harvest season. Perfect for growing in containers or smaller gardens where space is limited. Resistant to CMV, Scab, Anthracnose and Powdery Mildew.
Matures in 55 days from sowing. This semi-bush vine sets sweet crisp cucumbers as long as you keep them picked. Good garden performance due to the multiple disease resistances. Has duel use, pick small for processing as pickles and harvest larger for fresh slices or spears.

TPF263 Straight Eight

Monoecious. This heirloom is one of the most popular cukes grown in gardens each year for generations. All-America Winner. A cucumber superstar, this classic has excellent flavor and is widely adapted. It's a cuke for all seasons. Pick when 8" long for top flavor. For perfect cukes, grow them on a fence or trellis netting. Sow seeds 6" apart in rows, or plant 5 or 6 seeds in groups (hills) 4-5 ft apart.

TPF282 Muncher

Monoecious. The Muncher cucumber is a favorite low acid slicer that is very prolific and tender. This cucumber plant variety produces a smooth nearly spineless, medium green cucumber that is crisp and delicious. Muncher can be pickled when young or eaten fresh when it reach 8-10" long and 2-3" wide. This cucumber's skin is thin and tasty, as it is easily eaten. The Muncher is non-bitter burpless cucumber that produces heavy yields and definitely a favorite!
Muncher is aptly named because these non-bitter cucumbers can be eaten like an apple straight from the garden! They are also well suited to pickling if they are picked at 4"-6" long.

JB077 Japanese Long

Gynoecious. Burpless Japanese heirloom, up to 12-18" long, curled (or trellis to straighten), sweet, crisp, small seeds, heat tolerant, 65 days.
Open Pollinated. The plant produces high yields of long dark green burpless cucumbers. They are very mild, very crisp, and easy to digest. One of the best Japanese burpless cucumbers on the market. Best when harvested when 12" long. Excellent pickling variety with very small seeds! An excellent choice for home gardens.

TPF247 National Pickling

Monoecious. A cucumber for all your needs. National produces short thick cukes with blunt ends that are perfect for pickles and also delicious for slicing in salads. Cucumbers average 6" and are slightly tapered to fit nicely in a pickle jar. Skin is medium green with some striping. A heavy producer. Black spines. Developed by the National Pickle Packers Association, this is the pickling cuke that pickle growers grow!
The National Pickling cucumber seed works well for pickling because the thin, tender skin allows it to be easily flavored with spices. The fruits are short, thick, and blunt-ended when small, becoming smooth and cylindrical when larger. The medium-large vines produce heavy yields of 6" cucumbers in 50-58 days.

SF374 Fanfare Hybrid

1994 AAS Edible Vegetable Winner. Fanfare is a monoecious hybrid. Hybrids which are generally more vigorous, produce over a longer period and yield better shaped, better quality fruit later into the growing season. Vigorous semi-dwarf plant habit.
Plants produce high yields of crisp, delicious 9-inch slicing cucumbers with less bitterness. With its compact 2-3-foot vines it can be used for containers or to fill in small garden spaces. It offers good disease resistance. 60 days.

SF279 Double Yield

Monoecious. This variety was introduced in 1924 by Joseph Harris Company of Coldwater, New York, with the claim that "the remarkable thing about this new cucumber is its wonderful productiveness. For every pickle that is cut off, two or three more are produced." Gardeners today love not only its productivity but also its crisp and juicy texture and melon-like taste. A very early pickling type, this variety bears fruits that are best for canning or fresh eating when 4-5" long. Early- to mid-season maturity. 50-60 days

SF305 Persian No Peel

Monoecious. 7" long burpless, non bitter, thin skin needs no peeling, 55 days.

SF142 Bush Pickle

Monoecious. Plants Spread Just 2-1/2 to 3 Feet
Compact choice for small gardens or containers! Bears early, white-spined, 5-in. cukes in half the space needed by most vines. Cool, mild flavor. Scab and mosaic-tolerant plants. 45 days.

IP085 Pick A Bushel Hybrid

Plant your own pickle factories.
Be prepared to be pick lots of cukes from these compact plants. The medium green, white-spined fruits are sweet, firm and crisp, ready to pick only 50 days from sowing at 3 inch gherkin size for great pickles or left to grow to 6 inch length for slicing fresh in salads.
The semi-bush vines grow only 24 inches long, so they are well-suited for growing in patio containers as well as the garden. Plants have excellent heat tolerance and disease resistances to CMV, Scab and MMV. 50 days. Gynoecious.

3597 Gherkin

Excellent pickling cucumber. Early, large yields, bitter free, strong disease package, parthenocarpic (self pollinating).
50 days.

IP362 Calypso Hybrid

Gynoecious. Very early, high yielding and uniform cucumbers. Calypso is a dependable, heavy yielding cucumber. Produces firm, 1” diameter cukes that are excellent for pickling or eating fresh. Offers strong disease-resistance. If you are doing a lot of pickles, or for fresh slicing, this is the one for you. 51 days.

BM61 Spacemaster 80 Cucumber

Monoecious. A great container grown cucumber and good for small garden spaces. 60 days. 7 1/2 to 9 inch blocky fruits on dwarf 18 to 24 inch vines. Good flavor. Never bitter. Adapted to a wide range of climates. CMV, Sc. The Spacemaster 80 cucumber is a large variety of cucumber that is sweet and tender. The Spacemaster 80 is green and smooth, and grows to be seven to nine inches long. Since this variety is mature in sixty days, a steady harvest can be achieved by planting regularly throughout the season

NB05 Diva Hybrid

Gynoecious. 2002 AAS Edible Vegetable Winner Sweet flavor and high yield describe the improved qualities of Diva. The fruit will be sweet, non-bitter with a crisp texture when harvested at 6-8 inches. Normally seedless, a few seeds may grow if pollinated by other cuke plants. Diva produces all female flowers (gynoecious, parthenocarphic) and does not require pollen to set fruit. These traits result in high yields. Expect mature cukes in about 58 days from sowing seed in the warm soil. Plants are resistant to scab and tolerant to powdery and downy mildews. Diva is the only slicing cucumber you need to grow in your garden.

TPF206 Armenian Yard Long

Amazing 2-3 ft. long cucumbers with crisp white flesh and a mild sweet flavor.

IP187 Little Potato

Monoecious. Originally from India, this heirloom cucumber is a real treat. Produces nearly round 3" fruits with brown russetted skin (looking like a potato).
It has a delicious lemon flavor and stays crisp in storage. Matures in about 70 days

IP047 Natsu Suzumi

Japanese type, 12-14" long, 1-1/2" dia., burpless, small seeds, very sweet, highly disease resistant, heat tolerant, monoecious, 59 days.

SF194 Beit Alpha F1

Gynoecious.Developed in Florida, the Beit Alpha (Cucumis sativus 'Beit Alpha') cucumber looks a lot like Dutch seedless cucumbers. They require no pollination to fruit and tolerate temperatures of up to 100 degrees F. If you have a small garden space, you can grow these in pots or growing bags. When mature, these are most flavorful when no larger than 1.5 inches in diameter. 65 days.

SF193 Patio Snacker

F1 hybrid, "Fast food from your patio" and healthier than a burger, 8 x 1½", great flavor, high yield, short 4' vine, 39 days. Gynoecious.

IP173 Early Spring Burpless Cucumber

Excellent choice for container gardening and small gardens as they take up little space and grow in just about any enviroment. These long, slender cukes offer a crisp, mild, bitter-free and burpless bite all season long. Firm and easy to peel, they should become your cucumber of choice.
Expect Early Spring Burpless to reach 8 to 12 inches long in no time. For straight fruit, stake them on a cucumber support. Or, if you like the look of curly cukes, let them grow on the ground, where they'll twist up.
These burpless cucumbers are known for their tasty, non-astringent flesh, small seed cavity, and crisp, thin skin that never needs peeling. 52 days. Gynoecious.

W170 Boothby Blonde

Unique stubby, oval, plump, yellow Maine heirloom, delicate sweet flavor, useful in patio pots, 63 days. Monoecious.

2752 Suyo Long Chinese Cucumber

Remarkable Chinese variety produces large quantities of long, curvaceous fruits. Spiny skin protects the delicious, crispy, non-bitter flesh. Always a favorites in our taste tests. Almost seedless, the fruits are burpless, crisp, and tender. (60-70 days) Gynoecious.

2019 Lemon Apple

60 days The shape size and color of a lemon! But the flavor is crisp like an apple, sweet and mild! This heirloom was introduced in 1894, and is still a favorite today! Monoecious.

IP169 Cucamelon ( Melothria scabra )

Tiny 1½" light green, dark striped, crispy white flesh has cucumber-like flavor with lemony tartness and a touch of lime, this is a fascinating little novelty plant for any gardener.
Cucamelons can be grown the same way as regular cucumbers, only they are far easier. They only need some type of support to climb on and suffer from very few pests. Sow the seed from April to May indoors and plant out when all risk of frost is over. Give them a support the scramble over, keep well watered and that is pretty much all you will need to do to enjoy a large harvest.
This plant is native to Mexico and Central America, where it is called sandiita (little watermelon). It is believed to have been a domesticated crop before western contact began.

IP122 Caigua Exploding Cucumber ( Cyclanthera pedata )

This is one of the most interesting plants we have found. It is a climbing member of the cucumber family that can be used as a vegetable in salads, or steamed, it has a nice sweet flavor. It is also an herbal plant, the fruit has anti-inflammatory, weight reducing ( it is often sold in capsule form as a natural weight loss product ), lipid-absorbing, cholesterol and blood sugar regulating affects.
Can easily be grown in the garden, on a fence or trellis. It is an annual plant. One of the most interesting aspects of the plants is that when ripe, the fruits become spring-loaded missile devices, splitting and turning themselves inside-out to launch their seeds up to 5-6 feet away into the garden. This is quite the conversation plant.