Imported American Cucumber Seeds (10 Seeds)

The Imported American Cucumber is a vigorous F1 hybrid prized for its long, straight, dark-green slicing fruit. The skin is thin and tender, the flesh stays crisp and firm, and the flavour is clean, mild and refreshing with very little bitterness — exactly what you want for eating fresh, slicing into salads, or serving with cooling summer dishes. As a hybrid, it grows strongly and sets a heavy, even crop, making it one of the most rewarding cucumbers to raise at home.

Planting

Cucumber is a warm-season, frost-tender crop, so sow only after all danger of frost has passed and the soil has truly warmed. The seed needs soil at roughly 18-21 C (65-70 F) to germinate, and it will not sprout in cold ground — seeds rot below about 10-13 C. Under the right warmth, germination follows in about 5-10 days at soil temperatures of roughly 18-29 C (65-85 F). Sow each seed about 1.3 cm deep, with a practical range of 1.3-2.5 cm. In Egypt, open-field cucumber fits two main windows: a spring crop direct-sown from about 20 February to 7 April, and a fall crop sown from about 10 to 20 July; protected plastic-house crops are sown from about 1 September to 7 October. The deep cold of December-January is unsuitable for open-field cucumber. In the milder Nile Delta and Lower Egypt, wait for the late-February-to-March sowing once the soil at 2-3 cm depth holds near 18-21 C and frost has passed; in warmer Upper Egypt the spring window can begin a few weeks earlier. Give plants a full-sun position. Space them about 20-30 cm apart in the row, with rows around 1-1.5 m apart for vining types (Egyptian field practice uses rows about 1 m apart with hills 20-30 cm apart). Sow a little extra seed, then thin after the seedlings emerge — Egyptian open-field practice sows several seeds per hill and thins to two plants about two weeks after sowing. You can also start indoors 3-4 weeks before field planting in cells kept above about 21 C by day and 16 C by night, then transplant about 30 cm apart; transplants mature roughly 10-14 days earlier, but handle the root ball gently because cucumbers dislike root disturbance.

Fertilizing

Feed the soil before planting by incorporating an all-purpose 10-10-10 fertilizer, or use a preplant 5-10-10. After the runners develop and before flowering, give the plants a nitrogen boost. A good split approach is to sidedress with nitrogen about one week after blooming begins and again three weeks later, placing the feed about 15 cm from the base of the plant rather than against the stem. Go easy with nitrogen, though: over-applying it pushes the plant into excessive vine and leaf growth, delays flowering and fruit set, and ultimately cuts your yield. A timed split program — a preplant feed plus well-spaced top-dresses — gives much better results than a single heavy dose.

Care

Cucumbers are thirsty and need about 25 mm of water per week from rain or irrigation, rising to 25-50 mm per week for larger plants. Moisture matters most during flowering and fruiting, so keep watering steady at that stage; drip or soaker irrigation is ideal because it keeps the foliage dry and reduces disease. Watch for the main pests — striped and spotted cucumber beetles (the striped beetle also spreads bacterial wilt), aphids, spider mites in hot dry weather, and pickleworms; floating row covers, pyrethrin or neem (azadirachtin) help with beetles, but remove covers at flowering so pollinators can reach the blooms. Guard against common diseases — bacterial wilt, powdery and downy mildew, anthracnose, angular leaf spot and cucurbit viruses — with crop rotation, resistant varieties, and dry foliage from drip irrigation. Fruit reaches harvest about 50-70 days from planting (about 60-70 days after sowing under Egyptian conditions), and is ready roughly 5-7 days after flowering. Pick young, firm, uniformly green fruit before the seeds harden and the skin yellows — slicing cucumbers at about 15-20 cm long and 4-5 cm across. Harvest every 2-3 days (daily at peak) to keep the plants productive; the Egyptian fresh-market ideal is a fruit 12-15 cm long and 30-35 mm in diameter.