Start controlling wild cucumber now (2024)

FAQs

Start controlling wild cucumber now? ›

The best way to control wild cucumber vines is to hoe or pull the plants as soon as you notice them in spring. If you don't notice them early in the season, you can mow the vines repeatedly to keep them in check. The most important thing is to get rid of the vines before they go to seed.

Managing wild cucumber

It would be best to pull it off and kill the plant before any fruits are produced to reduce the seedbed. However, at this time of the year they have already begun to produce fruits. Since wild cucumber is an annual plant, it can be controlled with a pre-emergence herbicide in the spring.

Unlike a common cucumber, it is perennial and continues to come up from its roots each year. Pull it off the bush and reach down as far as you can along the vine to grab it from the soil. If you are persistent you'll get control by next fall.

Not only does a trellis help prevent this, but it will also help you to save space in the garden. Growing your cucumbers vertically can save you several square feet of garden space, which you could use for growing other vegetables.

I'm especially fond of the native plants in my yard or along the trails, but wild cucumber is something else! It's not invasive, it doesn't starve out other plants, but it is aggressive. It clambers over bushes and low-lying plants, showing off its bright spring green.

The plant contains a bitter substance and all parts of the plant are mildly toxic. However, a young Hispanic man told us that his mother used to slice the very young fruits and cook them in stews.

The secret to getting rid of a manroot is to dig out the root. If you can't do that right away because of time constraints or interference with garden plants, you should at least remove every shoot at ground level as it begins to grow, to keep the root from getting bigger.

Wild Cucumber is not a parasite and does not draw food from a host plant. However, it could "starve" another plant by covering it totally and blocking sunlight to its leaves, thereby inhibiting its ability to produce food.

Look closely and you'll notice the leaves and individual flowers look just like that of cucumber – this is wild cucumber or balsam-apple, Echinocystis lobata. The name Echinocystis comes from the Greek echinos for “hedgehog” and cystis for “bladder”, appropriately describing the spiny fruit.

What does creeping cucumber look like? ›

The leaf shape and size resemble that of English ivy. The bright flowers are tiny, ¼ inch across or smaller, have 5 petals, and are held on long pedicels. Pollinated flowers become small light green fruits often with lighter or white mottling that makes them look like miniscule watermelons.

Persistent pulling and cutting is the most effective way to deplete the seed storage and eventually get rid of the plant in the area. Herbicide use is not recommended as it could negatively impact nearby vegetation.

The Kumeyaay people used the large tuber of the wild cucumber to stun fish so that they would be easy to pick up out of the water. The wild cucumber is native to Southern California.

Wild cucumber isn't highly toxic to dogs, but can cause stomach upset. 🐶 Watch for symptoms like drooling and disorientation after ingestion. Prevention is best: Use barriers, training, and community awareness.

Spinosad sprays can be applied as soil drenches to kill larvae before they pupate in the soil. B. bassiana sprays infect and kill cucumber beetles once they have hatched. They are most effective when targeting non-adult stages.

Planting borage, scarlet runner beans, and other flowers near your cucumbers attracts bumblebees, whose presence helps deter cucumber beetles. Grow repellent plants. Flowers like nasturtium and marigolds, an herb such as catnip, and veggies like radishes and corn help keep cucumber beetles away.