What is pruning
Pruning is a horticultural practice involving the selective removal of parts of a plant, such as branches, buds, or roots. Reasons to prune plants include deadwood removal, shaping (by controlling or directing growth), improving or maintaining health, reducing risk from falling branches, preparing nursery specimens for transplanting, and both harvesting and increasing the yield or quality of flowers and fruits.
How to prune cucumber
Generally, in a cucumber plant, at each node, there is a leaf, a flower, a fruit, a tendril and a growth point. All you have to do is just cut the growth point so that the fruit gets all the nutrients that is required. Growth points needs to be taken off as soon as you notice them or else, it will grow bigger and would become hard to cut it from the stem.
Also it takes a lot of plants energy and the fruit ends up with very little nutrients. You need to cut the growth point either with scissor or just with your finger nails. They are very tender and are very easy to just snap with fingers.
When is the best time to prune cucumbers?
Once the cucumber plant has grown a few feet above the ground, and it starts flowering, it’s about the right time you start pruning.
It might sound a little bit off, but it is advisable to start pruning early and removing the first flowers with the vision of better yields in the long-term. All you should be keen at is letting the vine produce seven leaves then you can start production.
Pruning should be done early so that the cucumbers will be able to support fruits later on. It is also prudent to keenly check on new shoots and get each of them off early enough. Pinching all the fuzzy growing tips will allow for the lateral spreading of plants.
It is not advisable to start pruning cucumbers when they are too young. It might weaken vines while some may end up getting damaged.
