Seedlings are very sensitive to chilling injury and will be stunted and leaves will become brittle and turn white under cold growing conditions. Weed Control Shallow mechanical cultivation and hand hoeing are needed to control weeds before plants have vined. Pruning roots and vines with cultivating equipment slows cucumber development and reduces yield. Cucumber roots often spread horizontally faster than the vines and many roots are very shallow. A limited number of pre-emergence herbicides are available that will control germinating broadleaf weeds and grasses in seeded and transplanted cucumbers if used properly.
Chemicals are economical when used in narrow band applications over the planted row.
Other chemicals can be used as a layby application between the rows before vines begin to run. As runners are being formed, cultivate each row in the direction that vines are to be trained. Always cultivating in the same direction keeps the vines in the row, produces a narrow row, and reduces vine injury when workers harvest the crop. Results of surveys will be needed to make decisions regarding projection of harvest date, need to bring in honeybees for pollination, and pest control inputs. If known, scout for diseases in areas of a field in which diseases tend to appear first.