A lot depends on the kinds of cucumber you are growing, I usually pick mine at 6 to 8 inches long. I just like them at that stage for slicing, If I am going to make whole dills from them, I pick at about the length of my thumb . I always grow a lot at a time, so I dont have to store them before making pickles. If I dont happen to get enough in a picking, I put them in a brown paper bag in the crisper(never plastic)...until I get enough to be worth pickling.
Generally, once cucumbers start bearing, I pick daily to keep them, from getting over size, and they will continue to set blossoms and bear if you keep them pretty well picked. If you let them get really large, the vine puts a lot of energy into the growth of those large ones, and may not be able to also bloom much until the big ones are picked. Year before last, I canned over 120 jars dill pickles, because I supplied my city kids theirs for the year. Last year, I was not able to do that, this year in the new garden, I hope to teach our daughter how to carry on the tradition, while I"strawboss" I bet there is a lot more excellent advice out there, I am only passing down what I was taught. Also, if your cucumber is turning light color, take it off the vine, its already past done .
