Straight Eight
What's special about Straight Eight
AAS heirloom slicer — uniform 8 in green cukes on a vigorous vine. Reliable classic.
Growing this variety
Straight Eight follows the same growing basics as Cucumber. Variety-specific maturity above; everything else below applies to the whole Cucumber family.
Germination
Spacing & depth
How to plant
Plant 2–3 seeds per hole, thin to strongest. Trellis vertically — saves space, keeps fruit clean, dramatically fewer diseases.
Grower's tip
Pick daily at peak — one overgrown cuke tells the plant to stop.
Soil preferences
Deep, rich, well-drained loam.
6.0–6.8
2–3 in of compost worked into the bed each spring; side-dress heavy feeders (tomato, squash, brassica) monthly with balanced organic fertilizer.
Watering
1–2 in per week — steady is more important than heavy.
Drip or soaker at the base. Mulch 2–3 in to hold moisture and suppress weeds.
Overwatered: yellowing lower leaves, cracked fruit, blossom-end rot from calcium disruption. Underwatered: wilting mid-day, bitter or misshapen fruit, blossom drop.
Prefers top-watering — Top-water at the soil line — wet foliage is the #1 trigger for downy and powdery mildew on cukes.
Temperature tolerance
70–85°F (21–29°C) for warm-season; 60–75°F (15–24°C) for cool-season
55–65°F (13–18°C)
Warm-season crops (tomato, pepper, squash, cucumber, bean) are frost-tender. Cool-season (brassica, pea, spinach, radish) tolerate light frost, some (kale, spinach) sweeten after one.
Container growing
Yes — great in containers
5+ gal (19 L) with a 5-ft trellis
Bush varieties ('Spacemaster', 'Salad Bush') stay compact. Train vining types up strings for clean fruit.
Succession planting
Two sowings 4 weeks apart — the first crop wanes just as the second peaks.
Detailed harvesting
Pick fruiting crops young and often — over-mature fruit signals the plant to stop producing. Cut, don't yank, with pruners to protect the stem.
Post-harvest storage & preservation
Cure winter squash and onions in a warm airy spot 2 weeks, then store cool. Freeze most vegetables blanched. Ferment or can surplus.
Culinary, medicinal & other uses
Fresh eating, cooking, preserving. Save the biggest and best specimens as seed stock, not for the table.
Medicinal or traditional uses are shared for interest only — this is not medical advice. Consult a qualified professional before using any plant medicinally.
Seed saving
Depends on species — tomato/pepper/bean/pea are self-pollinating; squash/cucumber/melon/brassica cross via insects.
Self-pollinators need little isolation (10 ft). Cross-pollinators need 1/4 mile, hand-pollination, or blossom bags.
Let one healthy plant fully ripen fruit or dry pods; ferment wet-seed fruits (tomato, cucumber, melon) 3 days to strip pulp before drying.
Your zone's planting calendar
Pick your USDA hardiness zone and we'll estimate the key dates for cucumber in your area. These are regional averages — always check your own last-frost forecast before sowing.
My Straight Eight Cucumber notes
Straight Eight Cucumber seeds on hand
Track packets and loose seeds you already have. Private to your account.
Par level — leave at 0 for no alert. Anything below par shows on Seed Starting and your shopping list.
From your kitchen — grow cucumber from what you already have
Only save from an over-ripe cucumber that has turned yellow-orange on the vine — the seed inside a normal eating-stage cuke is not mature.
- 1Let one fruit ripen on the plant until the skin is yellow and hard (30+ days past eating stage).
- 2Scoop seeds and pulp into a jar of water; ferment 2–3 days like tomato seed.
- 3Rinse, keep the sinkers, dry on a plate 1–2 weeks.
- 4Store in an envelope. Sow after last frost in warm soil.
Storage: 5–6 years in cool dry storage.
Order more seeds
Running low? Reorder from one of these seed stores.
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Other Cucumber varieties
Slicing (Marketmore)
60 daysStandard 8" green cukes for fresh eating. Thick skin.
Pickling (Boston, Bush Pickle)
50 daysShorter, bumpy, thin-skinned. Bred for jars.
English / Seedless
60 daysLong, thin, burpless. Best grown in a greenhouse or heavy trellis.
Lemon Cucumber
65 daysRound yellow cukes the size of a lemon. Mild and never bitter.
Spacemaster
60 daysCompact bush cucumber for small gardens and containers.
Armenian
65 daysTechnically a melon. Long, ribbed, pale green. Never bitter.