In my opinion inadequate or inconsistent watering is more to blame for cuke bitterness than the variety or how soon you pick them. The only one that I know that is never bitter is the lemon cuke. Since it's a little different from the normal cukes, it might not suit your fancy. We enjoy picking and eating them out in the garden while we're working - no need to peel, just wipe off the little spines.

Agree. Bitterness in cukes is due to a lack of consistent moisture for the plants, not a variety issue. You'll want to reevaluate the growing conditions you provided, things such as type of soil, size of container if one used, watering regimen, planting times, etc.

Most any of the common varieties, including Straight 8, can be grown without any bitterness but it requires carefully monitoring the soil moisture levels. Drip irrigation, soil moisture meters, using timers, avoiding shallow watering, etc. can all resolve the problem.

Dave

Ditto on the last two posts, so I won't beat that dead horse.

But given the hot climate, I would recommend growing "Armenian" cukes. They are really elongated melons bred to be eaten immature, so they can take the heat without getting bitter. The taste is wonderful & completely non-bitter, and the texture is crisp. They get hollow quickly, though, so they should be picked young.

I grew up with that old wives' tale as well. It turns out that most of the bitterness is near the ends. So, just cut the ends off if you think the cuke will be bitter. No need to rub.

while bitterness in cukes is by and large an environmental issue and any variety can be grown in such a manner as to avoid it there are definitely varieties less susceptible to becoming bitter when conditions aren't just so.

my preference is diva. lemon cukes are also great for this as long as you aren't hung up on the idea of cukes being long and green...

Agree - Diva is a good choice for non-bitter. So is Viridis (from seeds of Italy). It's a long time since I grew lemon cukes (at least 30 years), thanks for the idea biscgolf.

Water is important but Heat stress can also be a problem. I had a regular watering routine by double line driptape to each row of high tunnel grown cucs but when temperatures soared last July I ended up with many underdeveloped bitter cucs. Under those conditions the overall yield drops as well and seldom fully recovers. My best looking and best flavored cucs are the firstfruits. I'll admit that a water routine 8 hours prior to harvest will yield more plump, juicy cucs but fruits that start developing unevenly will remain uneven (and bitter at the narrow end).

Bitterness in the skin can occur even under ideal conditions with many varieties. Other than Diva, one I think is too mushy, I like Sweet Success, Tasty Green or Sweeter Yet. Burpless picklers like Ballerina or Picolino are good choices for direct eating, but they are too soft for pickling.

I live in a challenging climate for cucumbers, and I have found that the variety you choose makes a great deal of difference. Even some "burpless" varieties can easily turn bitter here. My favorite variety is "Summer Dance", sold by Pinetree and others. I have also tried "Summer Top" for earlier fruit, and it remains non-bitter but I think that Summer Dance has a little better flavor and texture. Summer Top is vigorous, though. There is also a new "Southern Delight" hybrid out which I haven't tried yet.

In our climate, true cucumbers do far better when grown vertically. They can be grown in part shade here. In Mexico, cukes are sometimes grown under corn.

The Armenian cucumbers will never be bitter because they're really melons. Sandhill sells a selected variety called "Duke". Baker Creek calls this type of "cucumber" a "Mekti". They offer white, painted serpent and dark green versions. The familiar scalloped light-colored Armenian cucumber does well here. I have only grown a "painted serpent" type once, and it was later, not as productive, had softer, smoother skin (not a negative) and a somewhat apple-like flavor.

That brown cuke from India does fine here, too. The hybrid gherkin "Cool Breeze" doesn't get bitter, but doesn't last long into the season due to disease pressure. It's nice for early fruit or pickling. I have also used unripe "Piel de Sapo" type melons as a sort of sweet cucumber, while neighbors have used immature honeydew melon.

I acknowledge that bitterness is a watering/heat issue, but after struggling with "straight eight" for two seasons, I tried lemon cucumbers last summer, and they did much better.

I also agree stress would cause cucumber bitterness. However, the first year I grew a set of run of the mill cucumbers next to a set of japanese cucumbers under the same condition. The regular cucumbers were prolific yet bitter. The japanese cucumbers were not as productive but sweet and non-bitter. I've also grown mini-white varieties from different sources and found them to be non-bitter. So I guess some varieties are less prone to stressful condition than others.

It's not exactly that way. What one variety is adapted to, another might react to as stress. That is why there can be variation year to year with the same variety. The best approach is to find the variety with the qualities you like best, and based on experience (and good notes) provide the conditions under which it thrived. And also to have an alternate variety to take advantage of conditions over which you have no control. Staggered planting dates are another way of hedging bets - 2 weeks can make a huge difference in a crop outcome if the last 2 weeks of a growth cycle happen to be abnormally hot and dry or cold and wet.

Grow the japanese varieties like Soyo. They don't get bitter.