Container growing burpless cucumbers- cucumbers curling?
I am growing cucumbers in containers, both bush salad and burplesscucumbers. The bush salad cucumbers are going as straight as a cucumber can, no problem, then onthe other hand the burpless plnts are super tall and viney, but the problem I am noticing is thes cucumbers are curling up when they grow? Is there anything I can do to prevent this or will have to let nature take it's course, it seems to be just two of them doing this the rest are growing alright. Is there something that could be causing this? Tammy
- pharmerphil
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- stella1751
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- stella1751
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Same with me Stella, it seems to be just two, but I did some research earlier today on ask.com, and it popped up on some websites about possiblities as to why it has happened. Hortchat.com and arcamax.com, both suggested this, if growing on ground, cukes will tend to curl. They also suggested poor uneven pollination. Another possibility of things in the way of the growing cucumber can cause it to curl. Growingedge.com-says it is called crooking. They say it can begin if a leaf or stem interferes with the growth of young fruit. Severe curvature- when flower becomes stuck on spines of a leaf stem. Also tempiture changes excessive high or low temps. Imbalances in mineral elements. They say mishapen ones should be removed because they will continue to grow that way. From what I'm reading I tend to think mine is proably from leaves being in the way, because these burpless have huge leaves and lots of leaves to them. So I wouldn't be surprised if this is my problem- I have been thinning some of the leaves out though. Plus also mine could be the temp. changes, definitely been this this year!!!! Hope this helps you, it has definitely helped me!!!! Tammy
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Tammy42 wrote:
Oh. I noticed yesterday that those little bee-like insects with the green heads are hanging around my cucumbers. Could be they just aren't getting the job done but are stripping enough pollen so my real bees and paper wasps aren't interested. It's a thought
Yay! More goodies for my experiment in mini-composting. I'm going out to pick them now.They say mishapen ones should be removed because they will continue to grow that way.
Oh. I noticed yesterday that those little bee-like insects with the green heads are hanging around my cucumbers. Could be they just aren't getting the job done but are stripping enough pollen so my real bees and paper wasps aren't interested. It's a thought
Oops, I lied! I went to go do a major trimming of the cucumbers today and a few of my really juvenile cukes (I don't know what else to call them...) are quite curled. However they all seem to straighten out as they mature.
Perhaps you have a cucumber that is supposed to be picked larger then you realized?
Perhaps you have a cucumber that is supposed to be picked larger then you realized?
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- somegeek
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Our sword cucumbers(similar to English) do the same. Start out a bit curled but straighten out as they mature toward harvest time. They can start out as nearly a complete ring a few inches across to end up a straight 15" long cucumber when harvested. These are also on a trellis so stretching out straight is pretty easy for them.nes wrote:Oops, I lied! I went to go do a major trimming of the cucumbers today and a few of my really juvenile cukes (I don't know what else to call them...) are quite curled. However they all seem to straighten out as they mature.