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Vegetables · Vine

Growing cucumber

Cucumis sativus · also called Khira, KheeraA fast-growing warm-season vine producing crisp, hydrating fruits.

West coast: Kerala, Goa, Konkan, coastal Karnataka, south Gujarat

Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.Includes AI suggestions where no published guide covers a detail
Green cucumbers lying on the soil among the vines, with yellow flowers
Photo: Stephen Ausmus, USDA ARS · PDM

At a glance

Cucumber in the West coast

  • Season

    January to March and September to December6

  • Sowing to last picking

    About 75 to 90 days from sowing to the last picking.

    No published guide covers this for the West coast, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

  • Sow

    January to March6

Across India

When to sow it

Twelve growing regions, January to December. Your region comes first.

Sow now

The window here is September to December.

  • Sow
  • Nursery
  • Transplant
  • Harvest
  • Under cover
  • Today
West coastKerala, Goa, KonkanSouth interiorBengaluru, Mysuru, interior Tamil NaduEast coastcoastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal Andhra
Compare all 12 regions
Temperate HimalayaKashmir valley, Shimla, KulluCold desertLadakh, Lahaul and Spiti · Under cover onlySub-tropical foothillsJammu, Kangra, DehradunNorth-west plainsPunjab, Haryana, DelhiGangetic plainseastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal plainsNorth-east hills and valleysAssam, Meghalaya, SikkimArid westRajasthan, Kutch, north GujaratCentral plateauMadhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, VidarbhaDeccan plateauinterior Maharashtra, Telangana, north KarnatakaSouth interiorBengaluru, Mysuru, interior Tamil NaduEast coastcoastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal Andhra
Today
See the dates as a table
RegionSowNurseryTransplantHarvest
West coastJanuary to MarchSeptember to December
Temperate HimalayaApril to MayMid-June to July
Cold desertUnder cover onlyUnder cover: April to mid-MayUnder cover: Mid-June to mid-September
Sub-tropical foothillsFebruary to MarchJune to JulyUnder cover: JanuaryUnder cover: First half of JanuaryUnder cover: Last week of December to first week of JanuaryUnder cover: By the first half of February
North-west plainsFebruary to MarchJune to JulyUnder cover: Mid-NovemberUnder cover: Mid-SeptemberUnder cover: JanuaryUnder cover: First week of OctoberUnder cover: First half of February
Gangetic plainsMid to late FebruaryLate June
North-east hills and valleysFebruary to mid-April
Arid westFebruary to mid-MarchLate June to July
Central plateauMid-January to FebruaryJune to mid-July
Deccan plateauJune to July
South interiorJuneJanuary to April
East coastJuneJanuary to April

From seed to harvest

One season, day by day

Days from sowing

  1. Before sowing

    Well-rotted farmyard manure (FYM)6

    20 to 25 t per hectare · Basal, mixed into the pit soil

  2. Day 0

    Sow

  3. Day 5 to 7

    Seeds come up1,2,3,8Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.

  4. Day 75 to 90

    Last pickingNo published guide covers this for the West coast, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Water every 2 to 4 days, more at germination, flowering and fruiting.6

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 West coast, 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 West coast aren't in the library yet.

Water and feeding

Watering6

Water the field 3 to 4 days before sowing. Water daily with a rose can until the seed comes up, every 3 to 4 days while young, and every other day at flowering and fruiting. Furrows suit it; use drip where water is short.

Weeding6

Weed and rake the soil each time manure goes in. Earth up in the rainy season and hand weed or hoe as needed.

WhenWhatHow muchHow
Basal, mixed into the pit soilWell-rotted farmyard manure (FYM)20 to 25 t per hectare

Sources6

Varieties and yield

Typical range6

10 to 15 tonnes a hectare

Yields vary with the plot, the seed and the season.

Varieties grown here6

  • Pusa Sheetal

    Salad cucumber (KAU spells it Pusa Seethal)

  • Poinsette

    Salad cucumber

  • Poona Khira

    Salad cucumber

Good neighboursNo published guide covers this for the West coast, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Keep it away from

Pests and diseases6

Organic and cultural controls only.

  • Pest

    Fruit fly

    What to do

    • Bury stung fruit.
    • In home gardens, wrap young fruit in polythene or paper.
    • Break up the soil to bring the pupae up, and burn dry leaves in the pit.
    • Set banana fruit traps.

  • Pest

    Epilachna beetle

    What to do

    • Pick off and destroy egg masses, grubs and adults.

  • Pest

    Aphid

    What to do

    • Spray fish oil soap at 1.5%, first dissolved in hot water.

  • Disease

    Downy mildew

    What to do

    • Remove and destroy affected leaves.
    • Spray a 10% neem preparation.

  • Disease

    Mosaic virus

    Signs

    Spread by whitefly.

    What to do

    • Pull out and destroy infected plants and nearby weed hosts.

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 West coast, 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, and do not follow with another cucurbit.

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.

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.

  1. 1Cucumber: crop production guide (Horticulture, vegetables)TNAU Agritech Portal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source
  2. 3Pusa 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
  3. 4Advisory for Kharif Season in Uttarakhand (2 May 2020)G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Directorate of Extension EducationRead the source
  4. 6Cucumber and oriental pickling melon (Crops, Vegetables)Kerala Agricultural University, Centre for e-Learning (CELKAU) information gatewayRead the source
  5. 8Package 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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