Grow and Care for Wild Cucumber

Grow wild cucumber in full sun, in moist soil, and on a tall fence or arbor. Wild cucumber is Echinocystis lobata. It is not a garden cucumber.

Give it full sun, moist soil, and a tall fence or arbor

wild cucumber is an annual vine in the gourd family. Hairless, grooved stems run twenty-five to thirty feet in one summer, grabbing with three-forked tendrils. Pale white flowers open in midsummer, and the male racemes are fragrant. Give it sun and moist ground so the vine covers the support instead of searching for a tree. [1] [2] A fence, arbor, or pergola is the right job. The vine is native in much of the eastern and central United States, and it is not an invasive species there, but it will smother a young planting if you let the tendrils take a sapling. [3]

It dies after frost; next year comes from seed

Frost kills the vine. There is no crown to lift and store. Next summer's plants come from seed that overwintered on the ground, or from seed you sowed with a cold spell first.

Sow after a cold spell, then plant at the foot of a sturdy support

Seed is the usual start. The hard coat needs a long, cold, moist spell before it germinates well. File or nick the seed only if you want a poor stand — cold treatment works; damaging the coat does not. Sow in fall, or mix the seed with damp sand in a bag in the refrigerator for several months, then plant after frost at the foot of the support.

1. Collect ripe pods in October, or buy seed, and keep the four flat seeds dry until you start the cold spell. [4]
2. Sow outdoors in fall, or mix seed with damp sand and refrigerate it for about six months. Keep the sand barely moist, not soggy.
3. After the last expected frost, plant one vine at the foot of a fence, arbor, or pergola. Set the seed about a half inch deep, or set a pot-grown seedling at the same depth it grew in the pot.
4. Water to settle the soil, then keep the root zone moist while the tendrils find the support.
5. If extra seedlings appear, pot them separately or pull them. Do not crowd several vines onto one thin post.

Not a garden cucumber — and not bur cucumber or creeping jenny

Garden cucumber is Cucumis sativus, a yellow-flowered crop you pick green. This vine has six-petaled white flowers and a spiny, inflated pod that is not a slicing fruit. See How to Grow Cucumber. Squash and pumpkin are Cucurbita, with large yellow flowers and edible fruit. See How to Grow Squash.

Bur cucumber is Sicyos. It has hairy stems, five petals, and small clustered fruits with one seed each. This plant is hairless, with a single inflated pod that holds four seeds. One-seeded bur cucumber is a shop nickname for Sicyos, not a second kind of this vine.

Shops also print creeping jenny and mock orange on this plant. Creeping jenny is a low Lysimachia mat. See How to Grow Lysimachia. Mock orange is a Philadelphus shrub. See How to Grow Mock Orange. Squirting cucumber is Ecballium, a Mediterranean plant that jets wet seeds. This pod dries and opens at the bottom. California wild cucumber is Marah, a western perennial with a large tuber. Japanese hops is a different vine. See How to Grow Hops.

Set it in full sun in moist soil, with the tendrils on a fence or arbor. Sow after a cold spell, and do not buy a slicing cucumber, bur cucumber, or creeping jenny as this vine.