Cucumber Varieties for Southern California's Inland Areas
GardenZeus recommends heat-tolerant cucumber varieties for Southern California’s inland areas for both late-winter/spring-to-summer and fall planting windows.
Slicing cucumbers:
Poinsett 76 is a favorite open-pollinated, heat-tolerant, flavorful variety that is also disease-resistant (including mildews). Marketmore and Marketmore 76 are classic favorites for their long harvest period and reliable fruit production under moderate environmental stress. Straight Eight is a reliable and much beloved heirloom that produces consistently attractive, deep-green fruits with a rich cucumber flavor.
For an outdoor parthenocarpic English cucumber that performs well in your climate without pollination, try Telegraph. It should be grown outdoors on a trellis beginning late winter or early spring only. Early Pride is a vigorous, productive hybrid English cucumber.
The Chinese heirloom Suyo Long is mild-flavored, burpless, early, and heat-tolerant. Fruits grow up to 15 inches and tend to curl if not grown vertically. Summer Dance is a prolific and heat-tolerant Japanese-type hybrid.
Beit Alpha is a Middle Eastern heat-tolerant heirloom. If you’ve had trouble with heirloom cucumbers producing during hot spring weather, try the hybrid Olympic.
Pickling cucumbers:
Homemade Pickles is a compact, vining, highly productive variety that can also be eaten fresh. Spacemaster is a heat-tolerant, prolific producer of full-sized slicing cucumbers on a compact plant with vines to 3 feet; fruits can be pickled when harvested small.
For a vigorous, productive, full-sized vining pickler, try Burpee Pickler hybrid.
Harvest starts early at 48 days for Persian Baby, a compact, prolific, parthenocarpic variety that is harvested small for fresh eating or pickling.
Novelty Cucumbers:
Lemon is a round, ball-shaped yellow heirloom that is delicious both for slicing and pickling, and is easy to digest. It tolerates less-frequent watering during cool weather and stores longer than most varieties. White Wonder is a heat-tolerant 1893 heirloom that produces unique, ivory-colored fruits for slicing or pickling.
For additional information on getting started with cucumbers, see Getting Started With Cucumbers in Southern California’s Inland Areas.