When and How to Harvest Cucumbers

Are you wondering how to determine when your cucumbers are ready to harvest? Join farmer Briana Yablonski to learn when and how to pick your cucumbers for optimum flavor and texture.

A gardener harvests elongated cucumbers with dark green, slightly bumpy skin, growing among large, lobed green leaves.

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After months of caring for cucumber plants, the day you’ve been waiting for has arrived: it’s time to harvest! But exactly how do you pick these crunchy fruits? While harvesting cucumbers isn’t difficult, learning how to pick them the right way will lead to delicious and crunchy cukes and healthy plants.

I’ll cover when you can expect to see mature fruits on your plants and how to determine when they’re ready to pick. Then, I’ll share some insider tips on how to harvest and store your cucumbers for optimal enjoyment.

How Long Do Cucumber Plants Take to Mature?

A blooming cucumber plant showcases bright yellow star-shaped flowers and a young, green fruit forming at the base of one flower.
Plan your cucumber harvest by understanding their days to maturity.

While cucumber seeds can grow into foot-tall plants in a few weeks, the plants take longer to begin producing flowers and fruits. The exact time between the seeding date and your first mature cucumber depends on the cucumber variety you’re growing as well as environmental conditions.

You can figure out when to expect your first ripe cucumber by looking at the plant’s days to maturity (DTM). This term refers to the number of days it takes a seed to germinate and grow into a mature crop. You can find the DTM on the seed packet.

Most cucumbers have a DTM between 50 and 70 days. Since these are warm-weather plants, you should sow cucumber seeds sometime in late spring or summer, depending on where you live. This means the plants will mature sometime in the summer.

For example, if you plant cucumber seeds on May 15, you can expect to begin picking sometime in July. However, if you sow your seeds on July 1, don’t expect to harvest until sometime between mid-August and mid-September.

When Are Cucumbers Ready to Harvest?

A plant features sprawling vines with large, lobed leaves and produces elongated, smooth-skinned green fruits.
Pick when fruits reach their variety’s ideal size and texture.

Once your plants start producing fruits, it’s time to determine when they’re ready to harvest. Since each cucumber variety has a unique mature size, I can’t tell you to pick your cukes when they’re five or ten inches long. Instead, you should look at your seed packet and take note of the variety’s mature size.

For example, ‘Tasty Green’ cukes have the best taste and texture when they’re between seven and nine inches long. However, ‘Homemade Pickles’ are best when they’re one-and-a-half to six inches long.

Along with looking at the variety’s mature size, you can use a few factors to determine if the fruits are ready to harvest. First, look at the fruit’s rigidity. If the cucumber easily bends in your hand, it’s not quite ready to pick. However, a firm cucumber doesn’t necessarily equate with a mature cucumber! Many start out small and hard, then transition to a flexible stage before becoming rigid around harvest time.

You can also use the fruit’s shape to determine maturity. Immature fruits often have distinct ridges and/or bumps. As they grow, these bumps and ridges flatten out and fade into the background. Many mature cukes still have some texture, but it isn’t as pronounced as it is on immature fruits.

How to Harvest

Close-up of a gardener's hand picking a ripe cucumber, oval oblong in shape with dark green skin covered in small pimples.
Cut the stem carefully to avoid damage.

Once you’ve found a mature cucumber, it’s time to harvest! The most important thing to keep in mind when picking your cucumber is to cut the stem rather than the fruit. Each cucumber is attached to the plant with a short, fleshy stem that’s a few inches long. Harvesting involves cutting or pinching the stem so you can separate the cucumber from the rest of the plant.

Many people harvest by holding the base of the plant and then pulling the fruit until the stem breaks. While this method is fine, you should make sure you don’t rip the cucumber off of the stem. If you do this, the cucumber’s interior will be exposed to the air and susceptible to rot.

If you want to limit the risk of pulling the stem off of the cucumber, you can cut the stem with a knife or pair of pruning shears. Cut the stem about half an inch above where it attaches to the cucumber.

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How Often Should You Harvest?

A close-up of a farmer's hands holding about eight ripe, freshly picked cukes with bumpy skin and dried, faded flowers at the ends.
Pick frequently to ensure fruits stay tender and flavorful.

Cucumbers grow quickly, especially in warm and sunny conditions. In the heat of summer, you should harvest at least every other day.  This ensures you harvest your cukes before they pass the point of maturity. You may be able to get away with harvesting the fruits every three or four days during cool and cloudy periods.

When you’re harvesting, make sure to thoroughly examine all parts of the plant. Cukes are masters of camouflage and readily hide under or behind leaves. If you miss a cucumber for just a few days, it can quickly turn into an inedible balloon!

Cucumber plants left to sprawl across the ground are especially likely to hide their fruits. I recommend gently moving the leaves on one side of your plant to check for ripe fruits and then repeating the same process on the other side.

As long as they remain healthy, cucumber plants can continue producing new flowers and fruits for multiple months. However, most plants typically succumb to disease, insect pressure, or environmental stress after about a month of fruit production. Therefore, it’s a good idea to plant multiple successions if you want to harvest these crunchy fruits all summer long.

How to Store

Close-up of elongated, smooth, shiny, dark green skinned cukes in a plastic bag on a wooden surface.
Store your fresh harvest in the fridge.

Cucumbers won’t ripen off the vine, so you should pick them at exactly the stage you want to eat them. Although they won’t grow any larger once picked, they are susceptible to rot and other types of decay. You can slow this process by storing your fresh harvest in the refrigerator. Not only will keeping them in the fridge help them last longer, but it also makes it easy to enjoy a cool and crunchy snack!

Although cukes will keep longer in the fridge than they will on the counter, take note that their ideal storage temperature is 55°F (13°C). Since these fruits are susceptible to damage at temperatures below 35°F (2°C), check your refrigerator’s temperature before placing them inside.

Moisture can lead to rot, so dry fruits thoroughly before storing them. You can also wrap them in plastic wrap or place them in an airtight plastic bag to conserve moisture and prevent them from drying out. When picked at the right time and stored properly, they should last for at least ten days.

What Happens to Overripe Cucumbers?

An overripe cucumber appears bulbous and yellowish in color, with smooth skin.
Fruits left unpicked grow oversized with smooth, pale skins.

If you miss a cucumber on a harvest day or skip harvesting altogether, your cucumbers will likely grow past the ideal harvest stage. They become bulbous with discolored skins. Many change from deep green to light green or yellow as they mature.

While these cucumbers are safe to eat, they’re not delicious. Overripe fruits have a soft rather than crunchy texture and often come with a bitter aftertaste. They also have larger seeds that make eating them unpleasant. If you spot one of these on your plant, pick it and place it in your compost pile.

Closing Thoughts

If you want to enjoy crunchy and sweet cucumbers, remember to harvest the fruits every few days. Look for firm yet full fruits and harvest them by cutting their stems.

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