With tomatoes the sideshoots are ripped or twisted off as, surprisingly, the scar heals better than a clean cut. How to Remove Cucumber SideshootsĪnother difference to pruning tomatoes when pruning cucumbers is how the sideshoots are removed. A case of not seeing the wood for the trees. This should make it more obvious where the sideshoots are and so make pruning cucumbers easier but because of the speed cucumbers grow and the sheer size and volume of foliage it can be confusing. Unlike tomatoes, the joint where the the sideshoot grows from also produces a tendril and a fruit / flower. The earlier the sideshoots are removed the better and easier as energy is not wasted in producing foliage that will be removed.
The sideshoots both come from the point where the leaf joins the stem. Pruning cucumbers is essentially the same as pruning tomatoes. By pruning back to one or two leading stems, the plant’s energy will go into the fruits. Left alone, this stem will form more stems and those in turn yet more stems.
Just like a tomato, where the leaf joins the stem, the cucumber will start another stem. What we actually want are the fruits and enough leaves to support their production, not monster masses of vegetation. Cucumbers are rather like indeterminate tomatoes, given half a chance they’ll take over, filling the greenhouse with haulm (stems and leaves).
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