My stalk of my cucumber plant will not stay upright at the bottom
By Jensen
Oxfordshire,
United Kingdom 
The stalk of my cucumber plant (Delta Star F1) will not stay upright at the bottom. I tried to prop it up with a bit of cane, and cloth on top, but it has sunk again since growing cucumbers.
I am intending to drill small holes into the long cane, put matchsticks/hooks in them, and then tie the branches/stalk with twine to these, to stop it sinking down. Does anyone have a better method? Does it matter?
In the photos, you can see the stalk to the left of the canes, and to the right of two cucumbers, in a sort of 'c' shape. The stem on the other side of the cane is not part of the stalk (although it looks as if it is). The stalk continues up behind the cane, and goes outwards again, but not as much as the first time.
I have just been reminded about pruning offshoots, so I will be doing that later.
28 Jun, 2012
Answers
Thanks for your reply. Don't you find that the stalk sinks down, especially when the cucumbers get heavy? I know that one of the two plants that I bought (when they were small) did not have a straight stalk at the bottom.
I have been looking at photos in Goypedia, and have seen some cucumbers being grown horizontally.
The bending does seem to effect the stalk. I have solved the problem using the method I described, though I hope the twine does not press into the stems and stalk too much.
The cucumbers in the photo look a bit bigger than they are; the big one is 5.5 inches. I am intending to stick a thin piece of short cane in the top of the long cane, when it gets higher.
30 Jun, 2012
Mine are in a greenhouse and when the stalks get high enough I put canes across the top and the stalks then go horizontally. Don't use anything other than soft string as anything else will cut into them. I pick cucumbers daily as I prefer them small and then you get more developing quicker. Might take a photo today and put it on my page.
30 Jun, 2012
Interesting to hear all that - I was wondering if picking the cucumbers encourages new growth. It would be interesting to see a photo.
2 Jul, 2012
Yes it seems to encourage more fruit if you pick them regularly - was going to take a photo today but rain stopped play!!
2 Jul, 2012
Previous question
« Beetroot, but not gardening ! I've grown too much beetroot, but if I pickle...
Next question
Can you tell me where I can purchase Bamboo fencing on line »
I've got mine tied on to canes and it works quite well. I have had a couple of ones which went curly due to them resting on the bottom of the container but I just cut them off and they don't taste any different! Yours are looking really good. They willl grow a huge amount taller though so you might need to put a longer cane in.
28 Jun, 2012