Cucumbers are very prolific and easy to grow. Many gardeners think that cucumbers can be fed with tomato feed or other fertilizers, but that isn’t the best way for their growth and yield.
If you’re looking for the right method to care for your cucumbers, this article is for you. Here, we are going to give you our review list of the best fertilizer for cucumbers and how to know which of them is right for you.
Here are the best fertilizers for cucumbers you can buy in 2024:
- Best For More Harvest: Miracle-Gro Continuous Release Plant Food
- Best For New Seedlings: Dr. Earth Organic 5 Tomato, Vegetable & Herb Fertilizer
- Best For Big Cucumber: Miracle-Gro Water Soluble Plant Food
- Best For Hydroponic Cucumber: MasterBlend 4-18-38 Fertilizer
- Slow-Release: Jobe's Fertilizer
- Best For Tasty Cucumber: Greenway Biotech Cucumber Fertilizer
| 6 Best Fertilizers For Cucumbers | ||
|---|---|---|
Best For More Harvest | Miracle-Gro Continuous Release Plant Food | |
Best For New Seedlings | Dr. Earth Organic 5 Tomato, Vegetable & Herb Fertilizer | |
Best For Big Cucumber | Miracle-Gro Water Soluble Plant Food | |
Best For Hydroponic Cucumber | MasterBlend 4-18-38 Fertilizer | |
Slow-Release | Jobe's Fertilizer | |
Best For Tasty Cucumber | Greenway Biotech Cucumber Fertilizer | |
Best For More Harvest: Miracle-Gro Continuous Release Plant Food
- Efficiently solve the soil’s calcium deficiency – include a high content of calcium
- Easy to use and store - bottle-shape design, along with a wide, comfortable handle and a flip-up lid
- Safe - 100% natural ingredients
- Phosphate level is a little low
The Miracle-Gro Plant Food is known as an effective solution to help with calcium deficiency in the soil.
Made with 100% natural ingredients, including bone meal, feather meal, earthworm castings, and kelp, it is capable of boosting stronger plant growth within 3 months for hence more abundant crops.
Aside from cucumbers, it’s used for other fruits and vegetables.
One often overlooked feature that we really appreciate is its bottle-shaped design, along with a wide, comfortable handle and a flip-up lid, unlike other counterparts out there that are often packed in a plastic bag and it’s struggling to store once they're opened.
This improved packaging helps the product as easy to use as its name implies – shake ‘n feed.
| Miracle-Gro Continuous Release Plant Food Specifications | |
|---|---|
Size | 4.5 lbs. |
Coverage Area | 1/2 cup per 10 square feet. |
Fertilizer Analysis | 8-2-12 |
Highlight Features | include a high content of calcium bottle-shape design, along with a wide, comfortable handle and a flip-up lid 100% natural ingredients |
If you’re looking for the best way to improve your cucumber garden that is calcium deficient to be healthier and more harvest, consider the Miracle-Gro Continuous Release Plant Food
Best For New Seedlings: Dr. Earth Organic 5 Tomato, Vegetable & Herb Fertilizer
- Eco-friendly & human- and pet-safe – contain no sewage sludge, chicken manure, or GMOs
- Improve soil health and development of new seedlings - 8 select strains of ecto and Endo Mycorrhizae, 7 champion strains of beneficial soil microbes, and probiotic
- Dependable – made in the USA & Handcrafted from human
- Its smell might attract raccoons
- A bit hard to store
For those who want to completely cut off the chemical fertilizer use of their cucumber garden, the Dr. Earth is a worthwhile alternative.
This is an organic fertilizer made in the USA at a price that can't be cheaper. It's guaranteed to have no sewage sludge, chicken manure, or GMOs for pet- and human-friendly.
Besides, it contains 8 select strains of ecto and Endo Mycorrhizae, 7 champion strains of beneficial soil microbes, and probiotics. These ingredients are the essential nutrients that all the cucumber kinds need, during the seedling stage especially.
We realized that the young plants early fed with this fertilizer grow faster and healthier with better drought toleration than those applied with other brands.
| Dr. Earth Organic 5 Tomato, Vegetable & Herb Fertilizer Specifications | |
|---|---|
Size | 4 lbs. |
Coverage Area | 60 square feet |
Fertilizer Analysis | 4-6-3 |
Highlight Features | contain no sewage sludge, chicken manure, or GMOs 8 select strains of ecto and Endo Mycorrhizae, 7 champion strains of beneficial soil microbes, and probiotic made in the USA & Handcrafted from human |
The Dr. Earth Organic Fertilizer is our proud pick for high-level environmentalists who want to provide essential nutrients to their new cucumber seedlings in an eco-friendliest way.
Best For Big Cucumber: Miracle-Gro Water Soluble Plant Food
- Capable of up-size the fruits – rich in nitrogen
- High efficiency – require mixing with water before use
- It has an atrocious smell
The Miracle-Gro’s is specifically rich in nitrogen - the substance known for the capabilities of boosting fruit size quickly.
According to the manufacturer, if cucumber plants during their fruit set are fertilized by this product daily within a week or two, their size will be increased noticeably afterward.
A note is that the fertilizer requires mixing with water before use.
While this extra step makes the use process become a bit more complicated, it turns out to be extremely efficient.
At just two pounds of weight, it can cover a huge area of the farm up to 800 square feet (while most of its competing models that weigh over 4 pounds barely do this).
| Miracle-Gro Water Soluble Plant Food Specifications | |
|---|---|
Size | 2 lbs. |
Coverage Area | 800 sq. ft |
Fertilizer Analysis | 18-18-21 |
Highlight Features | rich in nitrogen require mixing with water before use |
The Miracle-Gro Water Soluble Plant Food is one of the most favorite fertilizers of cucumber farmers because it helps improve the fruit’s size significantly.
Best For Hydroponic Cucumber: MasterBlend 4-18-38 Fertilizer
- Perfect for hydroponic crops – 100% water soluble
- User-friendly – high concentration & simple to use
- No complaint
The MasterBlend is a water-soluble fertilizer containing three main ingredients of 38% soluble potash, 18% phosphate, and 4% nitrogen.
To be honest, we haven’t found any fertilizer with that analysis before and were a bit skeptical about its performance because of the low content of nitrogen. However, our hydroponic cucumber garden became healthier as well as grew much faster after using it, within just a few weeks.
Their leaves thrived larger and greener and the roots were a lot stronger.
Besides, the product is easy to use, highly concentrated and priced affordably.
| MasterBlend 4-18-38 Fertilizer Specifications | |
|---|---|
Size | 1 Pound |
Fertilizer Analysis | 4-18-38 |
Highlight Features | 100% water soluble high concentration & simple to use the unique composition of 4-18-38 |
For hydroponic cucumbers, the water-soluble MasterBlend 4-18-38 Fertilizer is the strongest candidate.
Slow-Release: Jobe's Fertilizer
- Easy and clean to use – designed in a form of spikes
- Reliable – made in the USA
- Affordable
- Wish the instructions were more detailed
The Jobe's is a bit different from other options here; it’s a slow-release fertilizer in the form of spikes.
The biggest advantage of this form is no stinky smells, mess, nor wasteful runoff. The way to use these spikes is to push them 1” below the soil, 6”-8” away from the plant stem, then water them thoroughly.
The spike will feed continuously within two months while each plant just needs two spikes so, it’s highly efficient in our opinion.
| Jobe's Fertilizer Specifications | |
|---|---|
Size | 3.9 oz. |
Fertilizer Analysis | 6-18-6 |
Highlight Features | designed in a form of spikes made in the USA |
Particularly formulated for giving quick and mess-free plant feed, the Jobe's becomes the best slow-release fertilizer for cucumbers this year.
Best For Tasty Cucumber: Greenway Biotech Cucumber Fertilizer
- Able to be used for both soil and hydroponics – 100% water soluble
- Easy to store – Ziploc packaging
- Enhance cucumber taste and size - an NPK ratio of 8-16-36
- No manual directions
- Expensive
The Greenway Biotech is a bit pricier than other counterparts out there but it's well-worth spent.
It’s a rare fertilizer specifically formulated for cucumbers, with an NPK ratio of 8-16-36 that is well-balanced for enhancing all the plant’s growth stages, from seedlings to fruit set.
But we particularly realized that those cucumbers applied with this fertilizer produce tastier fruits rather than those that weren’t. They are juicier with a slightly stronger melon aroma. The size is also bigger.
And, like the MasterBlend, this is a water-soluble product, making it versatile enough for both soil and hydroponics use.
In spite of the weight of just one pound, it requires a small amount to be dissolved for a large area, which is relatively economical. The Ziploc bag design makes it easy to use and store, which is a nice bonus.
| Greenway Biotech Cucumber Fertilizer Specifications | |
|---|---|
Size | 1 Pound |
Fertilizer Analysis | 8-16-36 |
Highlight Features | 100% water soluble Ziploc packaging an NPK ratio of 8-16-36 |
If you place a premium on the taste of your cucumber crops, fertilizer them with the Greenway Biotech.
How To Choose The Best Fertilizer For Cucumbers?
Nutrient Ratio
The best fertilizer for cucumbers should contain a low amount of nitrogen but high phosphorus and potassium, meaning that the first of the three numbers on its label should be lower than the two next. For instance, 4-18-38.
Avoid choosing all-purpose models, like 10-10-10 or 5-5-5.
Now, why? – you might ask.
While all plants need a certain amount of nitrogen for their healthy growth and greener leaves, providing cucumbers with fertilizers high in this nutrient will encourage them to focus only on growing shoots, leaves, and fruits.
This makes their flowers hardly blossom, ending up to lower harvest results.
It’s best to go for slow-release nitrogen because it stays in the soil longer for more consistent nutrient feed to the plant.
Styles Of Fertilizers
The most popular style of fertilizers for cucumbers is granular. Some other similar versions are spikes and pellets.
These are basic fertilizers that will gradually break down in the long term, making nutrients slowly released into the soil for consistent feed. The two biggest advantages of this fertilizer style are:
1) It’s easy to store and use
2) You don’t have to apply fertilizers too many times
Another style is water-soluble or liquid fertilizers. In contrast to the granular models, they are fast-acting for instant nutrient distribution, which is perfect if you want faster results.
In turn, this style is usually smelly and messy when applying.
Which Brands Make The Best Fertilizer For Cucumbers?
Miracle-Gro
Miracle-Gro is reputable for developing their signature plant food line that can work on any plant, including cucumbers, making them one of the best brands for all-purpose fertilizers.
Dr. Earth
Dr. Earth was one of the first US brands to introduce probiotic fertilizers to the gardening industry. They set a standard in high-quality organic plant foods that definitely contain no cheap chicken manure fillers or harmful chemicals, and are 100% safe for the soil.
Jobe’s Fertilizer
At Jobe’s Fertilizer, you’ve got a lot of choices because their lines are up to 200. But what makes their current reputation is their signature food plant spikes. One big bonus is their entire manufacturing process is in the US.
FAQs
When should I fertilize my cucumbers?
There are two common ways to fertilizer cucumbers:
Press granular fertilizer (usually one or two units/plant) into the soil, 6”-8” away from the plant stem.
Mix liquid fertilizer following the manufacturer’s ratio recommendation, then apply directly to the soil, at planting, one week after bloom, and every three weeks.
Is Miracle Grow good for cucumbers?
Yes, it is. Feeding cucumbers every two weeks will produce bigger, more flavorful fruits.
Why do my cucumber plants have lots of flowers but no fruit?
Cucumber plants have lots of flowers but no fruit because of two reasons:
- Female blossoms haven’t formed yet
- There are no pollinators in your garden
How do you increase the yield of a cucumber?
To increase the yield of cucumber, make sure to water it 1 gallon every week.
Can you feed cucumbers with tomato feed?
Yes, you can. But it will not be as effective as when feeding cucumbers with the right fertilizer.
Conclusion
We hope that this ultimate buying guide illustrates the best fertilizers for cucumbers as well as gives you the information needed for your decision-making process. Follow our blog for more informative, helpful articles.
If you have any questions for us, please leave them in the comment section and we’ll respond as soon as possible. Thanks for reading!
Harry RamosI’m Harry Ramos, who's crazy about all things green. I’m here to share some experience in my gardening adventure and how to choose the best products for your garden. Let's dig in, get our hands dirty, and celebrate the simple, earthy pleasures of the garden together!
