Choosing the best cucumber seed varieties for greenhouses

Which ones are suitable for greenhouses?

Before choosing what you need, let's find out what kinds of cucumbers are available for greenhouses. You should understand why you need cucumber seeds and cucumbers—for salads or for pickling. Salad cucumbers aren't pickled because they'll lose their crunch, and pickling cucumbers are quite tough when raw. The best salad cucumbers are Armenian, and Dutch cucumbers are also quite popular. Persian cucumbers don't have a crunch. There are also early cucumbers (which bear fruit in 39-44 days), mid-early cucumbers (which bear fruit up to 52 days), mid-season cucumbers (which bear fruit up to 57 days), and late cucumbers (which bear fruit after 57 days).

There are also bee-pollinated and self-pollinating cucumbers. Only the latter option will work for us, so choose cucumber seeds from self-pollinating varieties. One of the best is "Hector." However, some gardeners even go out with a brush and pollinate their own cucumbers to make their cucumbers as natural as possible! However, such brave souls are hard to find, so "Hector" is quite popular. Cucumbers also vary in shade tolerance. If you buy spring-summer cucumbers, they will only produce fruit in full sun. If your plot is shaded by buildings, be prepared for a poor harvest. Winter cucumbers, on the other hand, thrive in the shade and will happily grow in a greenhouse during the winter cold, but sowing them in the spring simply doesn't make sense. Therefore, before buying cucumber seeds, consider which ones are best for you.

Video: "Choosing Cucumber Seeds for a Greenhouse"

This video discusses varieties that are suitable for planting in a greenhouse.

The best varieties for greenhouses

To understand what type of cucumbers you have in front of you, look at the packaging.

Cucumbers with white spikes are salad cucumbers.

Brown cucumbers. They can be eaten as is, of course, but they spoil much faster when raw.

Cucumbers are also classified by cold tolerance. This is a very important parameter for our country. After all, cucumbers grown in Sochi are unlikely to grow in Siberia. Even with good ventilation, southern cucumbers can catch cold, so choose them carefully.

Greenhouse cucumber seed varieties with cluster fruiting have become very popular. These are short-fruited cucumbers with intensive fruiting. Their advantage lies in the countless small cucumbers they produce, which are ideal for pickling.

Cucumbers vary in branching. There are three main groups: those with good, weak, and moderate branching. Those with good, weak, and moderate branching have shoots emerging from almost every node on the main stem; they are very long and need to be pinched. Those with moderate branching have almost no side shoots, with short internodes and a clustered appearance. Those with moderate branching have numerous shoots, but they are all small. In cool, shaded areas, shoots grow more slowly. If you're wondering which cucumbers to plant to get the maximum harvest in less than a month, choose hybrids with weak branching. However, plant 5-6 of them per square meter. If you need a harvest within a month, choose cucumbers with moderate branching. If you're looking for pickling cucumbers, choose the first type.

Varieties also differ in the length of time they take to fruit. If you're growing for sale and want to maximize your yield in the shortest possible time, choose early-ripening hybrids. If you want to regularly harvest a few cucumbers and not be in a rush, choose varieties with an extended fruiting period.

It's impossible to list all the greenhouse cucumbers due to their incredible variety. And their number grows daily. However, there are still some popular varieties.

Courage. This variety is a favorite among gardeners. This is because it's self-pollinating and ripens early. You can enjoy the cucumbers 1.5 months after they sprout. Courage cucumbers have their own unique flavor and are standard-sized. These cucumbers are resistant to many modern cucumber diseases and boast a high yield.

Balagan. This cultivar is considered the most popular self-pollinating hybrid. The "Balagan" group includes Calendar F1, City Cucumber F1, Swallowtail F1, Balcony F1, and Kolibri F1.

The Connie variety is known for its cluster-shaped flowering. The cucumbers have a rather interesting cylindrical shape and excellent flavor. The yield is approximately 15-17 kg per square meter.

Zozulya. It can be grown in any greenhouse, even in the southernmost reaches or beyond the Arctic Circle—it will withstand anything! The fruits are smooth, averaging 30-35 cm in length. They are best eaten fresh. This variety is very productive—up to 50 kg per square meter.

April. These cucumbers produce fairly large fruits (they can reach up to 300 grams). They tolerate cold well and are resistant to most viruses and diseases.

Murashka F1. This is an early-ripening, parthenocarpic, and high-yielding hybrid. The plant is onion-like, medium-sized, with limited lateral shoot growth. The cucumbers themselves are up to 10 cm long and bearded, with small black spines. They are genetically free of bitterness. It is resistant to powdery mildew.

The most fruitful

Self-pollinating cucumbers are chosen for greenhouses because they are ideal for this environment. They are versatile, easy to transport, and disease-resistant.

Alekseich F1. An early-ripening hybrid that ripens 43 days after germination. This versatile variety weighs from 53 to 90 grams. They have a delightful flavor and are resistant to fungus.

Benefit F1. A fairly early-ripening hybrid. Ripens in about 1.5 months. Fruits average 90 to 130 grams. Resistant to powdery mildew and root rot.

Meringue. The earliest variety for canning. It produces fruit a little over a month after germination. The fruits are quite large, dark green, and weigh on average 95-111 grams. It is resistant to mosaic, powdery mildew, and cladosporiosis.

Murashka F1. An unusual variety. Its flowers are clustered and have very few side shoots. This is very convenient, as it requires minimal pruning. It ripens in 1.5 months from germination. The cucumber is large-bumped and thornless. Cucumbers average 97 to 125 grams. An excellent universal hybrid that is resistant to powdery mildew.

The earliest ripening

Emelya F1 is a versatile variety. It ripens very quickly. The bush has many vines. Fruit length is 13-16 cm, and weight 110-160 g.Pasadena is a very good variety. It has short cucumbers and a cylindrical shape. It has excellent flavor. Cucumbers weigh from 65 to 105 grams.

Ceres F1. Fruiting begins in less than 40 days after germination. The cucumbers are elongated, dark green, medium-ribbed, and smooth.

The most delicious hybrids

Raznosol F1. It ripens within a month to a month and a half. These are productive cucumbers suitable for both greenhouses and outdoors. It grows to about 15 cm in length and produces fruit abundantly and for a long time. As you might have guessed from the name, it retains its crunch when pickled.

Hercules is an excellent greenhouse variety. Its vigor is unmatched. Its yield is high, and the fruits are medium-sized. The cucumbers are spindle-shaped with small white cones. The variety itself is closer to late-ripening, as it takes two months from germination to fruiting. It has a mixed flowering pattern, and the ovaries are cluster-shaped. Pollination is required—that's just one small drawback of these cucumbers. However, they have many advantages: enormous yields, resistance to olive spot and cucumber mosaic. They grow best in the Moscow region and temperate latitudes.

Dynamite still has a long way to go in terms of yield compared to the previous variety, but compared to other early varieties (which it is), it lives up to its name – it produces fruit very quickly and in large numbers. It will look like a cucumber explosion! Other greenhouse cucumber seeds will be the envy of it! This cucumber has long vines, constantly growing new stems, so they require quite a bit of space. However, a big advantage is that it doesn't require pollination.

Video: How to Grow Cucumbers in a Greenhouse

In this video, an experienced gardener will tell you how to grow cucumbers in a greenhouse.