Muncher Cucumber

A friend highly recommended trying the Muncher variety of cucumbers for me to grow this year. I had a hard time finding them, so was happy they were available here, when I placed my (first ever) order. I direct sowed 2 seeds in a 10 gallon grow bag, which I set underneath one side of a trellis tunnel. They germinated and grew very well, and were easy to train up the trellis. This was my first time growing cucumbers myself (had them in family gardens in my youth), so I forgot about the spikey little "hairs" on the vine stems, branches and leaves. lol (same with the other cucurbits I grew this year) The issues I had with these cucumbers was that the ENTIRE fruit is also completely covered in those fine "spikey hairs"! I had never seem cucumbers like that. I've seem them with random, spread out tiny "spikes", but not ones of this texture covering the entire fruit. I had to peel them to eat them, and with my poor had dexterity I found that hard to do since the fruits are so small. However, once peeled, the flavor of the cucumbers were good (although they gave the burps). The plants did grow fairly well and had decent production, but they were quick to succumb to disease. So between the fruits' funky skin texture and poor disease resistance, I won't grow them again (except maybe for the pollinators, as the bees loved the flowers).

This variety grows extremely fast. Once the fruit is set, it really takes off. It produces a lot of cucumbers in a short amount of time. I put out 4 plants this year and have been picking cucumbers constantly every few days. Out of the 4 plants I have already picked about 75 cucumbers and I still have more on the plants. I love this variety and will be making this part of my yearly garden plan.

I had trouble with these cucumbers, not very productive for me, but then again, I have trouble with a few other cucumbers as well. My Munchers seemed to be stunted compared to some other varieties I grew. I got a few fruits, and they were very tasty.

I saw the good reviews for this cucumber variety last year and ordered a packet. I am so glad I did! This is the best tasting cucumber I have ever grown. It has a nice, thin skin, so you don't even need to peel it. I like to slice one of these up and put it into Thai salad rolls (served with homemade peanut sauce)... or I make a felafel sandwiches and include chunks of this cucumber and homegrown tomatoes and red onion in pita bread with ranch dressing. Either way, it's delicious!

One of the best tasting slicing cucumbers I've found anywhere. These are the cucumbers I like to use for pickles too. Fairly cold hardy as I got them to grow in cloudy/cold San Francisco!

Very tolerant of the hot 2012 summer. Best tasting cucumbers ever with minimal seeds.

Very easy to grow, with nice-sized and great tasting cucumbers. Will definitely grow these again next year!