Are you sure it's not bacterial wilt?

sounds like a lack of pollination.

I'm not for sure anything lol I will look up wilt and see, I don't know why they wouldn't get pollinated the okra, squash and tomatos all do fine? I can't remember if the cucumbers even have flowers I think a few not a lot? Sorry to sound dumb it's been a couple years since I tried, I give up last year lol.

how many would a small family putting up small anout of pickles need to thin plants to?

I grew 5 plants last year and jarred like 20 qts of pickles, plus had a bunch more left for fresh eating

That sounds about perfect maybe a little over what I would need.. Maybe 4 plants would work great..

Yes, you can grow cucumbers on the ground. The problem you described with small fruits does sound like pollination problems. If you continue to have this problem, you can pollinate them by hand fairly easily. One thing that helps natural pollination though, is to have a number of plants growing. If you only have one plant, there is less chance of having both female, and male flowers growing at the same time. You don't need a field of them, but having a few does help. Even if you hand pollinate, having more than 1 or 2 plants will increase your pollination rate. In most cases, cucumbers have little trouble with natural, insect pollination.

My suggestion... right now, before spring gets going further, look into how to build a few native bee and wasp nests. It's easy. Basically, it's small tubes of the right thickness wrapped together. You can do it yourself, and if you have kids, they usually enjoy such projects. Find detailed instructions using a quick web search. The native bees and wasps attracted to such nests are solitary, and pose little threat to people, and the whole project (which, depending on the materials used can last for years and years) might cost you $5. Another helpful hint is to keep a jar of water in the garden. The wasps will find it fast, and all day long they will visit the garden.

One last note... the 2 biggest problems with cucumbers are cucumber beetles, and mildews. Before you get your plants going, do a bit of learning about these 2 problems and develop a strategy. Depending on where you live, you can expect both problems to visit your plants in abundance.

I live in central MS and that's could be the problem because I was only able to get one of the 6 seeds I planted to work maybe not having at least 2 caused the pollination problem! And wow make a bee hive I will for sure read up on this!!! Thanks so much for the detailed respond!!

I started beekeeping because I had this problem too. I've definitely seen a huge increase in production since adding a hive to the garden. The whole garden is thriving but the biggest difference is the cucumbers. Each cucumber needs multiple pollination events to form and my native bees just never seem to be interested in them.

If if you don't think you'd be interested in actually working a hive, contact your local beekeeping club. Someone might be looking for another yard to stick a hive in. Professional beekeepers would probably charge you for this, but hobbyists would likely do this for free. I've seen Craigslist ads for people who will do this in exchange for some of your veggies.

What a great idea!! Thanks...