How can I prevent my cucumbers from being bitter

Question

Last year my cucumbers were bitter. I tried peeling them “thicker”, picking them smaller, everything I could think of but it did not matter. I assumed it was from the heat or drown. This year the growing season has been perfect. Plenty of rain and no excessive temperatures so far. I picked the first cucumber yesterday, thinking it would be perfect. It was only about 4-5 inches long and an inch or so in diameter. Bitter as gall. Can the pH of the soil affect it?

Answer 1

This is a fairly common problem. Most researchers find that stress is the cause of it all, rather than soil chemistry. I thought this article had some good advice: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/bittercukes.html