How to Remove Suckers from a Cucumber Plant

With their delicious, refreshing fruits and beautiful vining ways, cucumbers are some of the best garden plants to grow. These plants tend to grow very quickly, so they need regular pruning to keep thriving and producing lots of cucumbers. If you’re not sure how to start pruning your cucumber plant, you’ve come to the right place! In this article, we’ll tell you when to start cutting back your plant and how to easily remove new growth, called suckers. If you want to grow your plant vertically, we’ll provide you with instructions on how to train your cucumber to grow on a trellis, too. Read on to get pruning!

Things You Should Know

Start pruning your cucumber plant once it’s about 1–2 ft (0.30–0.61 m) tall.
Look for suckers growing between the nodes of your plant. Suckers typically look like small, green, spikey offshoots.
Cut off 4 to 6 suckers growing at the bottom of the vine to improve its growth. Prune your plant every 1-2 weeks, removing suckers and dead leaves along the vine.
Train your plant to grow upwards after it flowers. Use a trellis and attach your plant to the posts with garden clips. Add more garden clips as the plant grows.

Part 1

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When to Prune

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Prune your cucumbers when they grow 1–2 ft (0.30–0.61 m) tall. Wait for your cucumber plant to grow to a decent size before pruning it. Luckily, it’s easy to grow cucumbers. They’ll typically sprout 1 to 2 feet (0.30-0.61 m) tall in just 3 to 5 weeks.^{[1]
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- If you prune a cucumber when it’s still small, you might damage the vine and cause it to not develop properly.
- Pruning ensures that the plant can support cucumbers later in the growing season.
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Prune your cucumbers every 1-2 weeks. Regular pruning conserves your plants’ nutrients and keeps them disease-free. While you don’t have to prune them on a particular schedule, it is best to prune them at least every 1 to 2 weeks.^{[2]
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- During your cucumber’s growing season, lots of suckers typically form. So, you might need to prune more during the spring and summer.
- Prune during the morning or on less humid days. Cutting your plant creates a wound that bacteria can infect. Working in drier conditions helps the wound scab over quicker and reduces the risk of infection.^{[3]
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Remove damaged leaves, vines, and flowers when you see them. To keep your plant in optimal health, inspect it in between your regular prunings. If you find any brown or wilted areas, cut them off using sharp cutting shears or a knife.^{[4]
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- Damaged leaves, flowers, and vines take away vital nutrients from the rest of your plant.

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Removing the Suckers

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Follow the main vine up the plant to find the suckers. Cucumber plants grow several long, skinny vines early in their blooming season. Typically, these vines offshoot from your plant’s main vine, which runs down the center of the plant. Locate your main vine so you can find the suckers, which grow laterally off of it.^{[5]
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- Look for suckers between your plant’s nodes. The node is like a joint on your plant’s main stem where a leaf, flower, and cucumber grow. Suckers, or new stems, also grow from the node.
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Get rid of 4-6 suckers growing from the bottom of the cucumber plant. Suckers are the small lateral stems that grow off the main vine. Either pinch them off with your fingers or cut them off with clean pruning shears. Prune them away at the base of the stem, and make your cut at a 45-degree angle.^{[6]
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- To identify a sucker, look for a green, fuzzy, and floral-like end coming off of the main plant’s stem at a node.
- Leaving suckers on the plant can lower your overall yield and grow smaller cucumbers. Suckers grow into new stems that produce leaves, flowers, and cucumbers. This takes away energy from your main vine.
- Clean your cutting shears or knife between each pruning session to prevent diseases or bacteria from spreading.
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Cut off any damaged or unhealthy cucumbers using pruning shears. Get rid of any yellowing, browning, or rotting cucumbers as soon as you notice them. Cut at a 45-degree angle where the cucumber grows from the main vine.^{[7]
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- This keeps your plants healthy by distributing the nutrients to the growing cucumbers rather than the damaged ones.
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Avoid removing too many leaves or flowers from your plant. When you prune, simply cut off the suckers. The main stem of the cucumber grows leaves and flowers as part of its natural growth cycle. The leaves capture sunlight for energy and the flowers form cucumbers. If you cut off too many of either, your plant will not grow cucumbers.^{[8]
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- If a bunch of leaves are growing bushy along the vine, snip 1 or 2 off. This improves air circulation, which can reduce the risk of mildew or other diseases infecting your plant.^{[9]
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Training the Vines

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Train your plants as soon as the flowers first appear. When you first see flowers, your plants are mature enough to begin training. A trellis is a good idea if you don’t have a ton of room in your garden or want to keep your plants off the ground.^{[10]
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- Cucumber plants aren’t picky and grow well on any type of trellis. Latticed, arched, and A-frame trellises are great options. These plants grow quickly, so choose one that’s between 4 to 6 feet (1-1.8 m) long.
- If you train your plants before they flower, their stems may grow unevenly.
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Secure the main vine to the trellis with gardening clips. To train your plants to grow on a trellis, attach the vines to the sides as they grow. Open up 1 gardening clip, place it around the vine of your plant, and clip the vine to the trellis. Then, attach another clip about 4–6 in (10–15 cm) above the first clip.^{[11]
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- Growing cucumbers on vines saves space in your garden and keeps them off the ground, which can minimize diseases.
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Continue adding clips as your cucumber vines grow. When you first train your cucumber plant, 1-3 clips are typically enough to hold the main vine in place. As the vines continue to grow, add more clips to reinforce the structure and keep the vines vertical.^{[12]
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- If your cucumber plant grows past the trellis, just snip off the top of the main vine. New growth won’t form at the top of the main vine anymore. If you have the space to grow your plant horizontally, allow several suckers to grow into new vines along the main vine.^{[13]
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Lateral suckers grow off the main vine in between the flowering shoots. As you clip up your vine, keep an eye out for any sprouting suckers. Then, use your pruning shears to snip them off.^{[14]
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Avoid trimming away the thin, vine-line tendrils. Your cucumber plant will also grow thin, light green shoots that help the vines grasp onto a surface and grow vertically. These tendrils grow immediately next to the suckers. When pruning, keep these tendrils in place so your plant has extra support.^{[15]
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- If you accidentally cut off the tendrils, use extra clips to support your main vine on the trellis.

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Question

What should I do when my cucumber grows an extra stem?

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This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

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If you're growing your cucumber plant vertically, like on a trellis, it's typically best to remove all other stems besides the main one. This helps ensure that all of the plant's energy is going to the main stem and growing lots of healthy cucumbers. If you have the space, you can let additional stems grow. Just know that your cucumber production might slow down.

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My cucumber has outgrown the trellis. Should I stop trimming the suckers to encourage lateral growth?

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If you have the space, let 1 to 2 suckers grow horizontally towards the top of your main vine; gardeners commonly call this the umbrella system. These suckers will grow into vines that produce more cucumbers. You can either let the main vine drape to the side, or snip off the top so it stops growing.

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I had a problem where every time I pruned (i.e. cut a leaf or a ripe cucumber off) the stem rotted back into the vines, killing the entire plant. Why? Can I avoid this from happening?

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Pruning and harvesting your cucumber plant when it's wet can increase its susceptibility to bacteria and diseases. When you cut into your plant (whether pruning or harvesting) you create a wound that your plant needs to heal. If your plant is wet, it can't dry and create a scab over its wound as quickly. So, it's easier for pathogens to enter the plant's system. To avoid this, only prune and harvest your plant when it and the weather is dry.

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Things You’ll Need

Pruning shears
Gardening clips

Tips

1 cucumber plant can grow about 7-10 cucumbers.

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Cucumber plants are ready for harvest around 48-68 days.

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Once you harvest your first cucumbers, the amount of future pruning drops down significantly.

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Warnings

Avoid bending the vines when you clip the plant to a trellis. This can break or crush the blossoms, causing them to wilt and die.

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Avoid over-pruning your cucumber plants. If you cut off too much of your cucumber plant, it may not withstand the weight of the cucumbers.

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Harvest your cucumbers when the vines are dry. Picking them when the vines are wet can spread bacteria or diseases into the open wound on your plant.^{[16]
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