Gherkins

[Mike Le Pelley]

I'm a newcomer to this food-growing lark, so please forgive any inane questions. I'm trying to grow gherkin plants in a very limited amount of space - I've got 3 plants per 25-cm diameter pot, and they seem to be doing OK, despite warnings on the seed packet that they need 10 square feet per plant. Does anyone else have any experience with growing gherkins in pots, and if so do they have any useful advice? Also, they've been growing for about a month and a half now, and I was wondering if I should be pruning. I found a website saying I should just cut off the very tip of the growing plant - is this sensible advice? Or should I just leave them to grow?

Any help would be gratefully received - I've become obsessively attached to my little gherkins and want to see them grow big and strong.

Best wishes,

Mike

[Laura Stanley]

I've never grown gherkins, but I do grow other other types of cucumbers in pots.

I currently have three 3-gallon pots, each with 3 young cucumber plants (about 18" tall) in them.

This is actually my second round of cukes this year. The first ones got big, produced like crazy, then got diseased and died. I can never seem to keep cucumbers alive all season, so I just plan on planting more at midsummer. I'll plant one more crop (of parthenocarpic cukes) in September and see how long I can keep them going in my greenhouse this fall/winter.

Cucumbers don't seem to have a very extensive root system. The reason they need lots of room is so their vines can climb and spread. I *think* that if you keep them fed and watered (which may be require twice-daily waterings in such a small pot), they will get big enough to produce. But I don't think they will get as big or produce as much as they would in the ground or in a larger container.

Good luck, Laura NW FL, USDA Zone 8b

[V_coerulea]

3 gherkins in a 10" pot is way too much! One in a 10" pot is pushing the limit. Gherkins produce many small fruit (larger if you forget to pick) but the plants are not small. More appropriate would be a 5 gal tub/plant. With proper fertilization and watering, they will grow big and strong and productive. Gary

[Mike Le Pelley]

Thanks very much for this info. I realize I've probably overdone it with 3 per pot, but thought I might get away with it. When you say it's "way too much" is that because the roots will interfere with one another, or because the plants will shade each other (the post above favours this second idea)? They don't really seem to be competing for sunlight too much at the moment, and they've started flowering, so I was wondering if it might be OK to leave them.

The thing I was really after advice on was pruning. Given that they've started flowering, should I be cutting the growing tips off each plant? And when people say "pinching out" do they mean "cutting off"?

Thanks again for your help,

Mike