My husband and I fancied a career change and after doing a little research decided on Growing lebanese cucumbers in hothouses. We already owned a property and the idea of running a home business was appealing.
We set up our hothouses and all the irrigation, plumbing, electrics etc. and were ready to Plant our first crop. EXCITING!!!!!!!!!!!
The seeds were planted two to a bag in 10litre plastic bags filled with pine sawdust and dripper fed, one dripper per seed. Initially only water is used for irrigation and after a few days the first little heads start popping through.
At about 10 days nutrients are fed into the irrigation lines via venturis which suck up the nutrient from 2 different tanks (1 containing calcium nitrate and the other containing potassium nitrate and trace elements). By changing the jet size in the venturi, the strength of the nutrient can be varied and this is known as the EC or electroconductivity and is measured by a probe. We were looking for an EC of 17.
As the plants grow they are trained up strings suspended from wires 2 metres from the ground.
Remove the bottom leaves and all the laterals and tendrils.
When flowering starts the EC should be gradually raised to around 25 and maintained at this level for the duration. The amount of irrigation depends on the time of year, weather conditions and temperature.
With a happy, healthy crop, all the flowers should be females in this variety of cucumber and if any males are found (you can tell them as you will see just a flower on a stalk as opposed to a flower at the end of a fruit) they should be removed as the females don't require pollination and in fact can result in misshapen fruits. Occasionally you may find a whole plant is male and should be removed from the house.
When the plants reach the wire at the top of the string they are clipped or trained over the wire and will grow back down to the ground. Harvesting can last for around 10 weeks in a good crop. In the summer the plants grow rampantly, often we would find they grew a foot over night and it is a very labour intensive pastime. The fruits need to be picked daily as they quickly become too large. However in the cooler months the growth is much slower and more manageable. The fruit yield is also a lot lower with cool weather plants only producing one fruit per node compared to multi fruiting varieties in the warmer months.
There were several problems we encountered along the way. Firstly the venturis that suck up the nutrients from the two tanks are meant to suck at an equal rate. However, often and for no apparent reason, one will start sucking less than the other. In this case the jets need to be checked for blockages. If nothing found, then the lines may need cleaning. The filter may need cleaning. The venturi may need cleaning and if all this fails then a larger jet may have to used. Close monitoring is essential to make sure that equal amounts of nutrient are being sucked or nutrient deficiencies in the plants will result. We found the easiest way to do this was to decant the solution from the large 200litre tanks into a 20 litre bucket for each tank on a daily basis as it is much easier to pick up a discrepancy in the amount being sucked from a small bucket rather than a 200 litre tank where it may take days before a difference is apparent.
Problem 2: INSECTS. There is always something after a free feed. Check under the leaves for aphids and spray at the first sign. They are very hard to control once they get a hold. We tend to use pyrethrum mainly as we do not like using the nastier chemicals. However as this only kills what it hits good coverage is needed on a regular basis. Caterpillars are another problem and by the time the plant reaches the wire you may find spider mites which appear as little red dots on the leaves and leave a tell-tale web where the leaf joins the stalk. These are hard to get rid of and can devastate a crop. There are biological controls available but as we haven't tried these I cannot comment on their effectiveness.
Problem 3: MOULD. Powdery mildew is a problem in cucumbers. A milk spray at a dilution of 1 part milk to 9 parts water can be effective. Prevention is better than cure. Make sure there is good ventilation in the house. Removal of some leaves around the centre of the plant can help, but do not remove too many at any one time as this can shock the plant. Botrytis is also a problem and appears as a grey fluffy mould on developing fruit. This is caused by to much humidity and is hard to control. We had problems with this with every crop. Spraying with copper oxychloride was a little help. I am sure there are more hardcore chemicals out there but again we are reluctant to use these.
Problem 4: NUTRIENT DEFICIENCIES. There is good information on this on the NSW Department of Primary Industries website http://www.agric.nsw.gov.au/ . It is very difficult to identify deficiencies as many signs are similar and also can be caused by a variety of factors. The only sure way to detect a deficiency is to have a leaf analysis done.
IS IT ALL WORTH IT ???????????????????????
The million dollar question. In the past year the cost of fertiliser has tripled. Transport costs have risen dramatically. For the amount of labour - we are talking a 7 day a week job here - our opinion is a definite NO. Many more growers have joined the market as leb cucumbers were fetching a good price, and this has resulted in a glut, forcing prices down. We are currently not growing any crop. We have trialled a couple of other things but that is another story.
This article is aimed primarily at anyone considering taking the plunge into growing on a commercial basis and I hope it may be of use. However I would say to the hobby grower that growing your own vegetables, whether hydroponic or soil grown, is a very rewarding and enjoyable experience!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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