Growing cucumber
Cucumis sativus · also called Khira, KheeraA fast-growing warm-season vine producing crisp, hydrating fruits.
North-west plains: Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, western Uttar Pradesh
At a glance
Cucumber in the North-west plains
February to March in the open; September and January in a polynet house; mid-November under a low tunnel2
About 90 to 110 days from sowing to the last picking.
No published guide covers this for the North-west plains, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.68 days after sowing2
Across India
When to sow it
Twelve growing regions, January to December. Your region comes first.
Wait until February
The next sowing here is February to March.
Under cover, from Mid-November.
- Sow
- Nursery
- Transplant
- Harvest
- Under cover
- Today
Compare all 12 regionsShow fewer regions
See the dates as a table
| Region | Sow | Nursery | Transplant | Harvest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North-west plains | February to MarchJune to JulyUnder cover: Mid-November | Under cover: Mid-SeptemberUnder cover: January | Under cover: First week of OctoberUnder cover: First half of February | |
| Temperate Himalaya | April to May | Mid-June to July | ||
| Cold desertUnder cover only | Under cover: April to mid-May | Under cover: Mid-June to mid-September | ||
| Sub-tropical foothills | February to MarchJune to JulyUnder cover: JanuaryUnder cover: First half of January | Under cover: Last week of December to first week of January | Under cover: By the first half of February | |
| Gangetic plains | Mid to late FebruaryLate June | |||
| North-east hills and valleys | February to mid-April | |||
| Arid west | February to mid-MarchLate June to July | |||
| Central plateau | Mid-January to FebruaryJune to mid-July | |||
| Deccan plateau | June to July | |||
| South interior | JuneJanuary to April | |||
| West coast | January to MarchSeptember to December | |||
| East coast | JuneJanuary to April |
From seed to harvest
One season, day by day
Days from sowing
Before sowing
At field preparation
Well-rotted farmyard manure (FYM)
20 t per hectare
Work into the soil
No published guide covers this for the North-west plains, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
Day 0
Sow
Day 30
When the vines start to run
Vermicompost
100 g per plant
Scatter round the plant and water in
No published guide covers this for the North-west plains, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
Day 90 to 110
Last picking
No published guide covers this for the North-west plains, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
Before sowing
Well-rotted farmyard manure (FYM)No published guide covers this for the North-west plains, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
20 t per hectare · Work into the soil · At field preparation
Day 0
Sow
Day 5 to 7
Seeds come up1,2,3,8Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.
Day 30
Vermicompost
100 g per plant · Scatter round the plant and water in · When the vines start to run
Day 68
First picking2
Pick young and tender fruit regularly.
Day 90 to 110
Last pickingNo published guide covers this for the North-west plains, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
Sow on pre-watered furrows, water again on the second or third day, then every 4 to 6 days. About 10 to 12 waterings in all.2
What it needs
Soil, sun and warmth
Soil pH1,2,3
6.5 to 7.5
Well-drained loam or sandy loam, rich in organic matter
SunlightNo published guide covers this for the North-west plains, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
At least 6 hours a day
Full sun, at least 6 hours a day.
Temperature2,8
Grows best at 18 to 24 °C
Frost: none tolerated.
Monthly temperatures for the North-west plains aren't in the library yet.
Water and feeding
Watering2
Sow on pre-watered furrows, water again on the second or third day, then every 4 to 6 days. About 10 to 12 waterings in all.
WeedingNo published guide covers this for the North-west plains, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
Hoe and hand weed two or three times in the first month, before the vines spread.
| When | What | How much | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| At field preparation | Well-rotted farmyard manure (FYM) | 20 t per hectare | Work into the soil |
| When the vines start to run | Vermicompost | 100 g per plant | Scatter round the plant and water in |
Varieties and yield
12 to 18 tonnes a hectare
Yields vary with the plot, the seed and the season.
Punjab Naveen
PAU, 2008. Open field; crisp, light green, bitter-free fruit.
Punjab Kheera 1
PAU, 2018. Poly-net house only; seedless, parthenocarpic fruit that needs no peeling.
Japanese Long Green
GBPUAT, Uttarakhand plains
Pant Kheera 1
GBPUAT, Uttarakhand plains
Good neighboursNo published guide covers this for the North-west plains, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
Grows well with
Keep it away from
Pests and diseases2
Organic and cultural controls only.
Red pumpkin beetle
Signs
Eats seedlings soon after they come up; a bad attack can wipe out the crop.
What to do
- Dust dung ash on the plants three or four times, a week apart, while the crop is young.
Aphid
Signs
Sucks sap from leaves in February and March and spreads viruses.
What to do
- Clear weeds from bunds, waste land, roadsides and channels, where aphids build up.
Prevention
- Go easy on nitrogen: heavily fed plants carry more aphids.
Whitefly
Signs
Nymphs and adults suck sap and cut the yield.
What to do
- When whitefly first shows, spray PAU neem extract once or twice, 1200 ml per acre in 100 to 125 litres of water. To make it, boil 4 kg of neem shoot tips with leaves and fruit in 10 litres of water for 30 minutes and strain through muslin.
- Pick ripe fruit before spraying.
Prevention
- Watch the crop and nearby host crops from the start of the season.
- Clear weeds from bunds, roadsides and channels.
Fruit fly
Signs
Lays eggs in tender fruit, which then rots.
What to do
- Collect fallen and stung fruit and bury it deep.
Root knot nematode
Signs
Patchy, yellow, stunted vines with knots on the roots; they wilt by day and die early.
What to do
- Turn the soil often in May and June to bake it in the sun.
- In infested poly or net houses, mix mustard cake (1 t/ha) and neem cake (1 t/ha) with FYM (2.5 t/ha) and apply ten days before sowing.
Prevention
- Rotate with rice, oats, wheat or taramira.
Downy mildew
Signs
Small water-soaked spots that turn yellow on top, with grey down underneath; spots go brown.
What to do
- Destroy overwintering cucurbit vines.
- Avoid flood irrigation.
Collar rot
Signs
Brown to dark brown patches on the stem at soil level; seedlings damp off.
Prevention
- Sow clean seed from a healthy crop.
Pythium rot
Signs
Water-soaked patches girdle the stem and the plant collapses; fruit can rot too.
What to do
- Avoid flood irrigation.
Mosaic virus
Signs
Light and dark green patches; leaves yellow, shrink and twist.
What to do
- Pull out infected plants.
Prevention
- Save seed only from healthy plants.
Seed and the season's end
Saving seed2
Keep at least 1000 m between cucumber varieties so the seed stays true to type. Pull out off-type and sick plants.
When the seed is ready
Leave seed fruit on the vine until it turns brown.
Cleaning the seed
Scoop the pulp into fresh water and leave it one to two days. Rub the seed free by hand and keep the heavy seed that sinks.
After the last pickingNo published guide covers this for the North-west plains, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
Pull out the vines after the last picking. Compost healthy vines and destroy diseased ones.
Destroy old cucurbit vines so downy mildew has nowhere to overwinter.
Rotation
Where root knot nematode is a problem, rotate with rice, oats, wheat or taramira.
Growing under cover2
Low tunnel: in December make beds 2.5 m wide, sow both sides 45 cm apart, set 2 m wire hoops every 2 m so the tunnel stands 45 to 60 cm high and cover with clear 100-gauge plastic, buried along both edges. Take it off when the weather warms in February. Polyhouse: grow parthenocarpic cultivars such as Punjab Kheera 1. About 1500 seeds (15 g) are enough for 500 m². Raise seedlings in 50-cell trays, one seed per cell, 1 to 1.5 cm deep. A mid-September sowing is ready to plant in 15 to 20 days (first week of October); a January sowing takes 30 to 35 days (plant in the first half of February).
From the shop
Linked from this guide by our team.
Sources
Where this comes from
Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.Reviewed by our team on 13 November 2026.
These published guides are the sources. Where none of them covers a detail for this region, the page shows an AI suggestion and labels it.
- Cucumber: crop production guide (Horticulture, vegetables)TNAU Agritech Portal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source
- Package of Practices for Cultivation of Vegetables 2021 (chapter 10, Cucumber; cucurbit table and plant protection; protected cultivation)Punjab Agricultural University, LudhianaRead the source
- Pusa Gynoecious Cucumber Hybrid-18 (Indian Horticulture, May to June 2021, pages 40 to 43)ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Division of Vegetable Science (Munshi, Behera, Sureja, Tomar, Singh and Dey)Read the source
- Advisory for Kharif Season in Uttarakhand (2 May 2020)G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Directorate of Extension EducationRead the source
- Package of Practices for Vegetable Crops 2020 (chapter 6, Cucumber; cucurbit pest and disease management; hybrids; cropping systems; protected and river bed cultivation)Directorate of Extension, SKUAST-JammuRead the source
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