Cucumis sativus • Open-Pollinated

JOY MAX SCALE ✦✦✦✦✦

The classic slicing cuke! In just 70 days, you’ll have the perfect crisp discs to place on refreshing garden party sandwiches or over your sweet, tired eyes at the end of a long day.

✦ This was THE cucumber in 1980’s-1990s. Then hybrids took over for a while. It’s time to revisit the garden classic. The flesh is tender and mild, never-bitter.

✦ Fast-growing vines grow straight, dark-green fruits 7–8” long with a 2–2½” diameter. Big and beautiful!

✦ Resistant to many common diseases that plague cucumber plants, including powdery & downy mildew, anthracnose, angular leaf spot, and scab. If you’ve struggled with cukes in the past, this one makes it easy on you.

✦ Especially heat-resistant, but grows well in all climates. Perfect for Southeast and Mid-Atlantic coastal areas.

✦ Developed by Dr. Henry M. Munger, one of the great public plant breeders of the 20th century. It was cooperatively released in 1976 by the Clemson, Virginia, Agriculture Experiment Station and Cornell University.

How to Grow Cucumbers

Cucumbers perform and taste best in cooler temps (less than 85°F) and require a temperature of at least 68°F to germinate. so I like to start just a few seeds indoors in February or March. Plant out starting 1-2 weeks after the last frost. Seedlings can be very small just harden them off for a few days. You’ll get tons of cucumbers before the heat really hits. When the plants start to mature and do not look their best, you can replace them with new plants by direct sowing seeds.

As with all cucurbits, cucumbers do not like their roots disturbed when planted out, so if you do start seeds indoors, use biodegradable pots. Seeds can be started inside or direct sown. The ideal temperature for germination is 85-95° (use a heating mat unless it’s hot outside, in which case direct sow). Cucumber seedlings are sensitive to damping off fungus so keep soil lightly moist but not too wet and use a fan (set to low) to provide air circulation. Days to germination: 4-10. Transplant outdoors when all danger of frost has passed. They like fertile soil with lots of compost or decomposed manure. Space plants 1 foot apart. Give them foliar feedings with fish fertilizer or seaweed for best results.

Harvesting

Harvest cucumbers when they begin to fill out but before they completely lose their ridges. They should still be dark green and firm but not hard. Cukes can always be harvested smaller when they are young and tender, especially for pickling.

Seed-Saving

Cucumbers are insect-pollinated and cross-pollinated. They will easily cross with any cucumber varieties within ½ mile. You can always save seed and see what you will get! Select only the best plants to save seed from. Allow cucumber fruit to mature fully (past what you would harvest to eat- they will be large, hard, and yellow). Scoop out the seeds, rinse, and dry on a screen or something similar.

• Tips for Growing Cucumber

• Be careful not to overwater germinating seeds or they may rot. It’s best to soak the ground or the potting soil heavily when first planting, then avoid watering again if possible until seedlings emerge. (For seeds in potting soil, keep them warm but out of direct sunlight so that they don’t dry out so fast.) Cucumber seeds emerge in 5+ days; very lightly water ground or potting soil around day 3 or 4 to keep soil from crusting so that seeds can emerge more easily.

• Pick, and pick some more! Overly mature cucumbers on the vine will slow production of new cucumbers.

• Cut the stem rather than pulling at the fruit, as stems are fragile. To increase the quality and storage time, once picked, immediately immerse in cold water to disperse "field heat".

Companion Planting

Cucumbers do take up a lot of space and this variety requires trellising, so placement is key. You do not want them to shade other crops unless done thoughtfully so that they are on the west or southern side of plants that like some shade in the afternoon. They also require at least an inch of water a week, so don’t plant them next to another melon, potatoes, or thirsty crop. Sunflowers are nice for this reason. Peas, corn, beans, radishes, carrots, calendula, chives, nasturtiums, and onions are all great companions. Herbs like oregano and dill also do well.