10 Best Types of Cucumbers that Climb on a Trellis

Growing cucumbers vertically is a game-changer for gardeners who want to maximize space, improve yields, and make harvesting easier. Climbing cucumbers, also known as vining cucumbers, naturally grow upward when given proper support. This guide will walk you through the best varieties of cucumbers that climb and essential care tips to ensure a bountiful harvest.

Types of Cucumbers that Climb on a Trellis

Most cucumbers are vining cucumbers, meaning they produce long vines that extend for many feet.

Of course you don’t have to trellis them, but you definitely should. It’s much better for the plants, and we’ll talk about why.

And there are also cucumber varieties that don’t need a trellis, but come on, those are no fun! I love to see the vines sprawling everywhere across my garden.

That being said, let’s get right into the 10 best types of cucumbers that climb on a trellis.

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Why Should Cucumbers that Climb be Trellised?

There are at least 4 main reasons why it’s better to grow these vining cucumber varieties vertically:

1. Space-Saving: Instead of letting your cucumbers grow horizontally across your whole garden, you can save so much space by taking advantage of your vertical area. This allows you to grow more plants in your actual soil.
2. Better Air Circulation: When on the ground, humidity is very high for cucumbers, so it can cause diseases like powdery mildew. Growing cucumbers vertically increases airflow around the leaves, reducing the risk of these diseases.
3. Easier Harvesting: Instead of wandering around your garden looking for every last cucumber, vertically-grown cucumbers have all of their fruit in the air. This makes them easier to see and more accessible to harvest, reducing the chances that they’ll become overripe.
4. Healthier and Straighter Fruits: Since the cucumbers are not touching the ground, they won’t become curved or misshapen. When grown vertically, gravity will help the cucumbers to grow perfectly straight, giving you a better harvest.

How to Grow Climbing Cucumbers

I won’t go too in depth with growing cucumbers, as I already covered it in my article about How to Grow Cucumbers.

So make sure to check it out for all the details!

Basically, cucumbers need a lot of water, fertilizer, and sunlight. If you can give them those 3 things, then they should be happy for the most part.

Make sure you’re planting them in an area that gets at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight every day. This gives them enough light to produce lots of fruit.

Additionally, cucumbers have lots of really big leaves, which need lots of water to thrive. If you don’t give them enough water, then they will start to wilt. So make sure to stay on top of that.

For fertilization, I like to give a dilute solution of liquid organic fertilizer every time I water my cucumbers. You can use granular fertilizers as well, but I prefer liquid for cucumbers.

Creating a Trellis for Cucumbers that Climb

This is the most important part with vining cucumbers: the trellis! If you want all of the benefits that I mentioned earlier, then you have to trellis your vining cucumbers.

Again, I already covered this topic in depth on my article on How to Make a DIY Cucumber Trellis, so check it out for all the details.

But in short, you want a strong, tall, and sturdy trellis that will support the weight of your plants and fruits.

A good height for the trellis is about 6 feet, so use 7 foot wood or metal stakes. You should hammer the stakes about 1 foot into the ground, so the trellis will be 6 feet tall.

Create a row of these stakes as long as your cucumber row. You want to place each stake about 4 feet apart, with a mesh netting connecting them all.

You can even use this trellis for containers or 5 gallon buckets, just make sure they’re all lined up.

This is the trellis that I like using in my garden, but anything works really. You can use a tipi, A-frame, or any other DIY trellis that you like.

Now you can plant your cucumber seedlings at the base of the trellis.

I know, the guidelines say to space them about 12 inches apart, but who does that anyways? I like to put them closer, about 8-10 inches apart is good.

How to Prune Climbing Cucumbers

There are a few different ways to prune cucumbers and nobody really agrees on which one is better.

But what we do agree on is that we should prune off all the lower leaves that are touching the ground. These leaves get moist and dirty quickly, making the plant more susceptible to disease.

Once the plants get larger, I like to prune off at least the bottom 1-2 feet of leaves. This reduces the chances that the plants will get diseases.

Before we talk about the pruning methods, let’s talk about the cucumber growth habit.

Cucumbers will produce one main growing stem that has leaf nodes interspaced across it. These leaf nodes have 4 different things on them: a leaf, a flower, a tendril, and a sucker. This is important to know.

One pruning method that a lot of gardeners like is the single-stem pruning. This is when you prune off all the suckers at every leaf node, leaving just the main stem to grow and produce fruit.

I’m not convinced that this method is better or produces more fruit, but you can try it if you want.

Another method of pruning, and the one that I use, is to leave the main growing stem but allow at least 3-4 suckers to grow as well. The suckers will produce lateral branches and eventually will grow cucumbers as well.

Basically, this will triple or quadruple your harvest because now there are 4 main growing stems.

The last pruning method is another one that many gardeners use, which is to just leave everything to grow the way it is. No pruning, no training, no removing lower leaves.

There are a few of problems with this method. Firstly, the plants are extremely overcrowded and will not get enough airflow, leading to pest and disease issues.

Secondly, leaving the lower leaves touching the ground increase the chance of disease spreading to the plants, which will reduce your harvest.

And lastly, to have every single branch on the plant produce fruit is kind of too much. The fruits will be smaller, more bitter, and misshapen simply because there are too many for the plant.

So an easy pruning method would be the single-stem pruning. But my favourite for maximum fruit production is to leave 3-4 suckers with the main stem.

10 Best Types of Cucumbers That Climb on a Trellis

Now we’ve reached my list of the 10 best types of climbing cucumbers that you should grow in your garden.

All of these varieties are suited for vertical growing and can be grown on any kind of trellis.

1. Straight Eight

The straight eight cucumber is a popular heirloom variety known for its straight, smooth fruits.

I have grown this variety in my garden before. Let me say, they produce like crazy! I was picking so many cucumbers from my plants every day.

Of course, this variety grows best on a trellis because they can grow up to 6 feet tall. If that was grown horizontally, it would literally take up 6 feet of your garden. What a waste!

It produces 8 inch long fruits (as the name suggests) with a crisp texture and mild flavour.

Keep the soil consistently moist and harvest often to signal to the plants to keep producing.

Days to maturity: 58

2. Merlin Hybrid

As the name suggests, this variety is a hybrid, meaning it’s a cross between two other cucumbers. It has been bred specifically for 3 reasons.

Firstly, it produces heavy early yields of uniform dark green cucumbers that are ideal for both slicing and pickling. Cucumbers are about 5-7 inches long.

Secondly, it is extremely resistant to cucumber mosaic virus, one of the worst cucumber diseases. So if you know you have a problem with this disease, then this variety is right for you.

Thirdly, the plants have all female flowers. What?! Basically, all of the flowers on the plant are female; there are no male flowers.

This means you don’t have to mix the male and female pollen to get fruit; they are self-fertile.

Make sure to give the plants enough water and start trellising them early for support.

Days to maturity: 50-55

3. Burpless Beauty

A smooth-skinned burpless variety with a sweet and crisp texture. In fact, it actually stays crisp longer than any other variety they have tested.

Because they grow to 6 or 7 feet, these cucumbers thrive on trellises. The fruits are about 8 inches long and are quite heavy, so the trellis is important.

For the best flavour, ensure consistent watering and well-draining soil.

Days to maturity: 60

4. Sweet Success Hybrid

This sweet tasting variety is the sweetest one yet out of all burpless cucumber varieties. It’s perfect for slicing and fresh eating because of its natural sweetness.

It’s also highly resistant to most cucumber and watermelon diseases, and scab and leaf spot.

Additionally, it’s also self-pollinating, meaning you don’t have to cross the male and female flowers to produce fruit.

To keep the fruits straight and clean, make sure the plants are trellised early in their lives.

Days to maturity: 58

5. Summer Dance Hybrid

A Japanese hybrid variety bred for better fruit production and disease resistance.

Although the plant only grows to a couple feet tall, it sends out many side branches that produce tons of fruit. The 9 inch long fruit is known for its thin skin and crisp texture.

This variety is also extremely resistant to downy mildew and powdery mildew, meaning you get more fruit longer into the growing season.

Additionally, the plants are very tolerant of heat and water stress, meaning they’ll survive hot summers.

Make sure to prune the vines regularly to increase airflow and prevent overcrowding.

Days to maturity: 55

6. Lunchbox Hybrid

This hybrid variety produces an “avalanche” of cucumbers that can be harvested at the mini stage or regular-sized stage.

Every time you harvest, you’re going to be pulling out about 30 cucumbers! This totals to over 130 by the end of the season! That might be too many!

Additionally, this variety is fairly disease tolerant and easy to grow for beginners.

Make sure to train the vines on the trellis early in the season to maximize fruit production

Days to maturity: 50-53

7. Garden Sweet Burpless Hybrid

Another very sweet burpless hybrid variety growing to about 6-8 feet tall.

This variety produces green, sweet, cylindrical, smooth, 10-12 inch long fruits. Plants are very vigorous and put out many side shoots that produce more fruit.

It’s also fairly disease-resistant and easy to grow for beginners.

Keep the soil evenly moist and fertilize often to keep the cucumber production going all season.

Days to maturity: 55

8. Dragon Suhyo Hybrid

Although you may not be able to pronounce the name of this hybrid variety, it’s definitely worth growing.

It produces so many 14 inch long fruits that are narrow and thin-skinned. You don’t need to peel or deseed for them to taste great.

The 4-5 foot long vines are easy to grow and train up a trellis, making it easy to produce at least 25 cucumbers in a growing season.

This variety also has excellent resistance to many diseases and mildews.

To prevent the long cucumbers from curling, make sure you have a sturdy trellis.

Days to maturity: 50-60

9. Burpee Pickler

This classic pickling cucumber is short and crisp, perfect for making pickles.

The full-sized vines (about 5-6 feet) are easy to grow and train up a trellis. This helps them produce more small fruits.

Fruits are about 3-5 inches, which is perfect for stuffing in a pickle jar.

This variety also produces well into the summer months, as it can tolerate heat stress and various cucumber diseases.

Harvest the fruits frequently and your plants will keep producing.

Days to maturity: 53

10. Lemon Cucumber

Another heirloom cucumber variety, lemon has a weird shape and colour. They call it lemon because it actually does kind of look like a lemon, as it’s a round yellow ball.

The vines grow a little bit taller than other varieties, usually around 8 feet tall.

The fruits are clean, crisp, and basically never bitter. Harvest them often, right when they’re about the size of a lemon.

And the fruits will keep coming and coming, so stay on top of harvesting!

Make sure to use a strong and large trellis to allow all the vines to climb.

Days to maturity: 65

Harvesting Climbing Cucumbers

Check your cucumber plants every day during the summer to see if you have any ripe fruits. You don’t want to leave them on the plant too long, or else the plant will stop producing.

So pick them before they get too ripe. They should still be their green colour, not yellow. If they’re kind of yellow, then you left them on too long (unless it’s a yellow variety).

The skin of the fruit should still be thin and the seeds should be small.

A lot of people say that you need to use pruning shears to take the fruits off the vine, but let’s be honest, nobody’s doing that. Just pull the fruit off, the plant will be fine.

Common Cucumber Growing Problems

There are 2 main issues when growing cucumbers:

1. Powdery Mildew: You’ll know when your plants have powdery mildew because of the white powdery-looking stuff on the leaves. It’s a fungal disease that loves the humidity and darkness. So make sure your plants are pruned and spaced correctly, and they’re getting lots of light.
2. Cucumber Beetles: I’m not aware of a fool-proof way to get rid of cucumber beetles, but you can mostly prevent them. Cucumber beetles like to attack the plants when they are young, so by using a floating row cover to protect your young seedlings, they won’t be able to get in. I’ve noticed that once the plants get large enough, the cucumber beetles can’t even cause enough damage to be noticeable, so you should be fine.

Common Cucumber Trellising Mistakes

One of the biggest problems with trellising cucumbers, especially the single-stem pruning method, is that the plants get so tall that it becomes harder for pollinators to pollinate the fruits.

This leads to less fruits overall during the growing season.

But there is a way to go around this: just hand-pollinate all of your cucumbers.

To do this, first identify the male and female flowers. No, they’re not actually male and female in the human sense, that’s just to differentiate between them.

The female flowers have a tiny fruit behind them, while the male flowers have no fruit. That being said, the fruits only develop from the female flowers, not the male flowers.

However, the pollen from the male flowers needs to touch the pollen on the female flowers for it to produce fruit. Or else, the fruits will shrivel up and never size up.

Some people like to use a tiny paintbrush to gather some male pollen and put it in the female flower, but that never worked for me.

Instead, pluck off the male flower and remove the yellow petals to expose the centre part with all the pollen. Rub that centre into the centre of the female flower. Make sure to get all that pollen in there; if there isn’t enough, then the fruits won’t set.

This should pollinate the female flowers and they will produce tons of fruit for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Even More Gardening Ideas

Here are a few more posts to get the ball rolling in your garden!

• 9 Warm-Season Vegetables to Grow in Containers
• Planting Bare Root Raspberries in Spring
• Easily Start a 5 Gallon Bucket Garden

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