As English cucumber growers replant their crops, some wholesalers are finding it hard to source product.
Derek Hargreaves, technical officer at the Cucumber Growers’ Association (CGA), said: “There is quite a lot of replanting going on at the moment so a number of nurseries are fairly low in production. Whatever they have got is going to the supermarkets.”
As most of the UK’s cucumber growers are able to produce three crops in a season, there are two periods when replanting takes place. These are usually staggered over a period of weeks so as to keep disruption to a minimum.
Hargreaves said: “Growers replant from the end of April until the third week of May and then again from mid-July until the second week in August. Most will be finishing their replanting this week but it does take three weeks from the start of the process before the nursery is back into full production.”
The situation has improved markedly since growers began using this phased approach.
