The Wisconsin SMR 58 Cucumber

Of all the pickling cucumber varieties that I grew in 2020, I believe that the Wisconsin SMR 58 is one of the most underrated picklers around.

Besides being resistant to scab and cucumber mosaic, the vines of this cucumber were both vigorous and produced a good crop of good-looking pickling cucumbers.

There is some variation as the dark cucumbers sometimes have bands of lighter color coming from the flower end of the fruit. The fruit was pretty consistent in production and was good for pickling purposes. 

Along with the Arkansas Little Leaf, I would say that the Wisconsin SMR 58 is one of the most consistent pickling cucumbers I have ever grown.

The Tendergreen Cucumber

The Tendergreen cucumber is a very early-producing Beit-Alpha cucumber variety. In fact, based on how well it grew seemingly with minimal pollination, this is a cucumber variety I would like to include in my parthenocarpic cucumber variety trail.

While the male flowers appear soon after the vines are a foot or so in length, the female flowers bear shortly thereafter. I would not be surprised to see that this variety does very well in smaller areas and is even tolerant of container gardening.

The fruit has relatively thin skin and is generally tender, yet crisp and juicy. The flesh is mildly sweet and is of a somewhat pleasing taste. Generally speaking, the Tendergreen cucumber is ideal for an early slicing Beit-Alpha (Lebanese) type cucumber.

The Sumter Cucumber

The Sumter Cucumber is a blocky white-spined dual-purpose (pickling and fresh-eating) cucumber that was bread and released by WC Barnes of the Clemson Agricultural Experimental station in 1973. The main reason I decided to grow this variety was to learn more about it through a variety grow-out.

Sumter is generally resistant to many common cucumber diseases including powdery and downy mildew. I had no problems with disease of any kind while growing it.

Sumter stood out in my 2020 cucumber trials as a reliable straight attractive cucumber variety with no noticeable disease issues. Due to the very nice color and look of the fruit, I was able to have a very nice and fun photo session with this variety. To see a video with this variety, click on the YouTube link below:

Overall, if I were in an area with lots of heat, humidity and disease and I wanted a workhorse cucumber variety, I would definitely consider the Sumter Cucumber. It was well worth my time to grow out and I believe it will be a great cucumber variety for anyone else who is willing to give it a try.

The Spacemaster Cucumber

My experience with the Spacemaster cucumber was somewhat interesting. It grew rather well and normal, generally speaking. The Spacemaster cucumber variety put on fruit a little early and the fruit did mostly grow near the center of the plant – meaning that it was a little more “bushy” than your average cucumber variety. However, this is about where the space efficiency stops.

If I were wanting something that was much more space-efficient I would grow something like a Light Carosello Leccese for fresh eating or Arkansas Little Leaf for pickling. But I suppose if I had a bucket that was large enough, then this would be a fine variety to grow there.

The productivity of this variety was good and the color of the cucumbers was interesting with some of them having stripes coming from the flower tip in a star-shaped lighter color that spreads across the length of the fruit. As a dual purpose (fresh-eating and pickling) cucumber variety, I am sure that Spacemaster would do fine.

 

The Muncher Cucumber

Other than a few of my bushy Carosello varieties, I have yet to grow any cucumber vines that I would consider to be “bushy”. However, the Beit Alpha variety Muncher seems to be as close to bushy as any regular Cucumis Sativus cucumber variety that I have grown. Muncher is a very thin-skinned cucumber with female flowers that begin to form soon after the male flowers appear.

 

 

The taste of these is generally bitter-free and the taste is not offensive. This is considered a compliment to the variety given that I do not care for the Beit Alpha class generally speaking.

 

Though some people may love Lebanese cucumber varieties, I would dare anyone to even attempt to have a blind taste competition between any Beit Alpha cucumber compared to something like a Meloncella Fasciata (Striped Carosello Leccese) or a Tondo Barese.

In any case, if you are looking for a fast-maturing, smooth thin-skinned cucumber variety with decent texture and tolerable taste, this is definitely the one for you.