Long cucumber is the classic Dutch glasshouse cucumber, shipped shrink-wrapped to hold moisture in a fruit that is almost entirely water. It is sold by the piece to a tight length and straightness specification, so a fruit outside the grade has little value regardless of its weight. It is the primary Dutch long high-wire baseline.
What the crop needs
The plant is grown on substrate and carried on a high wire, and it moves fast: fruit fills in days, and the plant will abort a load it cannot support. Transpiration is high, so irrigation capacity and humidity control are sized for peaks rather than averages. Because the crop responds within days, climate faults are expressed almost immediately — which makes the crop unforgiving, and also makes it quick to diagnose.
What the greenhouse has to do
Cucumber pushes the climate system harder than tomato does. Transpiration is high and the crop answers within days, so irrigation capacity, humidity control and ventilation are sized for peak demand rather than for the seasonal average. A house dimensioned on averages runs out of headroom in exactly the weeks that decide the grade.
Cycle planning is a design input, not an operational detail. The crop is fast enough to run more than one planting in a year, and how many the house runs sets the heating profile, the lighting decision and the labour pattern together. Length and straightness are graded fruit by fruit, so even transmission and even water delivery across the whole floor are worth more than a strong specification at one point in the house.
DutchGreenhouses® specifies the structure, climate, screening and irrigation around the cucumber crop, its cycle and the local climate, so peak demand is carried and fruit holds the grade. Get in touch to plan a cucumber greenhouse.
Other cucumber varieties and the systems behind them
Midi cucumbers
Shorter than a long cucumber, and a category that has moved.
Mini cucumbers
A label that has drifted further than any other in the crop.
Snack cucumbers
The smallest format, sold to be eaten whole.
Hydroponics
Substrate growing with drip supply and drain recirculation.
Climate
Heating, cooling, humidity control and carbon dioxide dosing.
Sold by the piece, and priced on condition
Long cucumber is eaten for water and for texture. Little else is in it: a light load of potassium and vitamin C, and not much energy. Condition is close to the whole of the eating quality, which is why the crop is graded on the fruit rather than on the weight.
The film around it is a response to distance. The fruit begins losing water as soon as it is cut, and the wrap slows that down for the journey. It does not stop it, and a shorter journey asks less of it, in shelf life and in packaging both.
Selling by the piece is what makes the loss expensive. The fruit is priced as one item against a length and straightness grade, so a cucumber that has softened is not a cheaper cucumber. It is one that does not sell. A house near its market cuts, packs and delivers inside days, and the fruit reaches the shelf with the water it was picked with.
Nutrition facts
Cucumber, with peel, raw
Per 100 g
- Energy
- 15 kcal
- Fat
- 0.11 g
- Carbohydrate
- 3.63 g
- Sugars
- 1.67 g
- Fiber
- 0.5 g
- Protein
- 0.65 g
- Sodium
- 2 mg
- Potassium
- 147 mg
- Vitamin C
- 2.8 mg
Long cucumber, asked and answered
Why is cucumber considered a demanding crop to climate-control?
It grows and fruits faster than other fruiting vegetables, so an error in humidity or irrigation shows within days and there is little time to correct it before it reaches the grade.
How many crops a year can a cucumber house run?
It depends on the cycle chosen, the lighting and the market being supplied. The crop is fast enough to allow several, which is why cycle planning is a design input rather than an operational detail.
Why is the fruit wrapped?
To slow water loss. The fruit is largely water and loses condition quickly once picked, so wrapping protects shelf life rather than appearance alone.
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