Crop guide

Cucumber

1. Land Preparation Fine beds with farmyard manure, 4–5 ft apart. Tunnel cucumber in Sindh and southern Punjab reaches the market weeks earlier and earns far more. 2. Sowing Time & Method Spring: February. Summer: June–July.

Both Sowing Feb–Jun Harvest Oct–Nov 100–180 maund per acre

Land Preparation

Fine beds with farmyard manure, 4–5 ft apart. Tunnel cucumber in Sindh and southern Punjab reaches the market weeks earlier and earns far more.

Sowing Time & Method

Spring: February. Summer: June–July. Under plastic tunnel: December–January. Hills 1.5 ft apart, two seeds per hill.

Seed Rate & Treatment

1–1.5 kg per acre, or 300–400 g of hybrid seed.

Fertilizer

One bag DAP at sowing; urea and SOP split through the picking season.

Irrigation

Every 5–7 days in summer. Cucumber is over 95% water and shows stress immediately as bitter, misshapen fruit.

Weed Control

Weed Damage Control Product
Horse Purslane (Itsit) Covers the beds within a week of every irrigation and smothers the young vines before they run, cutting the first pickings. Hoe twice early, then mulch the beds
Purple Nutsedge (Deela) Its sharp shoots come straight up through the mulch and take water and nitrogen from the shallow vine roots all season. Fork the patch out with its tubers at land preparation, then pull every regrowth on sight; on a deela patch pull rather than hoe
Common Purslane (Kulfa) Its fleshy mat holds damp against the crown and against the fruit lying on it, so the early pickings start rotting. Hoe early and carry the uprooted plants off the field, or they re-root
Bermuda Grass (Khabbal) Its runners take water and nitrogen out of the furrow and the bed all season, so the vines stay short and set less fruit. Dig the runners and roots out of the furrows before sowing
Crowfoot Grass (Madhana) Carpets the bed and furrow after the first rains and out-roots the young vines for moisture on light soil. Hoe between the rows, then mulch

Hoe twice early, then mulch.