I planted my cucumbers early this summer after the last frost and the plants grew beautifully. They even had blossoms on them but no fruit ever appeared. I didn't see any animal tracks in my garden so I don't think anything ate them. I'm at a loss.
Any ideas?
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soccer082004
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- Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2010 2:05 pm
- Location: Williamson, NY
I have 3 Cuc plants going. For weeks I had nothing but male blossoms, I'm talking hundreds of male blossoms, but no female blossoms. I also had lots of bees working on the male blosoms. It was this way for about 4 weeks, then suddenly I have about 20 cucumber fruits growing that I assume the bees pollinated. I was told on here that sometimes plants just produce males and If you get a female you need the bees to do the work.
I bought some seeds this year and found out they were "Gynoecious" these are cuke plants that bear only female flowers, The package should contain some seeds of a pollinator variety with all gynoecious cucumber seeds. - But when I got the seeds I had no idea what seed was the "all female" and which the pollinator variety, they weren't separated or color coded 
so it was a junk shoot. I did get alot of female flowers and fruits and I planted 6 plants, I only think one of the seeds I planted had males, so while I got some cucumbers, probably could have used more MALE ACTIVIVTY if you know what I mean. Anyhow they looked great and grew fast, but I learned a good lesson 
so it was a junk shoot. I did get alot of female flowers and fruits and I planted 6 plants, I only think one of the seeds I planted had males, so while I got some cucumbers, probably could have used more MALE ACTIVIVTY if you know what I mean. Anyhow they looked great and grew fast, but I learned a good lesson -
chris082004
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- Location: NY
If you want guaranteed cukes, you should grow the true "Gynoecious" varieties. They produce only female flowers that do not require pollination. They do not need the male blooms at all and will produce sweet, seedless cucumbers. If a male bloom is around, and the female bloom is pollinated, it will have seeds in it. The variety I grow is "Sweet Success". Next season, I will also be growing "Diva" which I believe is also "Gynoecious". It may not be though.
Ted
Ted
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Troppofoodgardener
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- Location: Tropical North, Australia
Are there female cucumber flowers? (ie. flower with mini cucumber attached) You need female flowers to grow into cucumbers. You also need the male flower to provide pollen. (If not growing the self-pollinating variety). Male flowers do not have the fruit attached.
You can try pollinating cucumbers yourself. It is quite fiddly and requires patience, but all you do is this:
- Pick off a MALE flower and strip away the petals, leaving the main stamen intact.
- Rub stamen pollen onto open FEMALE flower. You can actually then insert the stamen headfirst into the female flower and leave it there. This is quite handy if there are a lot of female flowers and you can tell which ones you have pollinated and which ones you haven't.
I grow three plants of the Lebanese variety and they are producing so many cucumbers I don't know what to do with them!
Hope that helps
You can try pollinating cucumbers yourself. It is quite fiddly and requires patience, but all you do is this:
- Pick off a MALE flower and strip away the petals, leaving the main stamen intact.
- Rub stamen pollen onto open FEMALE flower. You can actually then insert the stamen headfirst into the female flower and leave it there. This is quite handy if there are a lot of female flowers and you can tell which ones you have pollinated and which ones you haven't.
I grow three plants of the Lebanese variety and they are producing so many cucumbers I don't know what to do with them!
Hope that helps
Sorry to hear that your having a poor cucumber season.....you're far from the first person to talk about cucumber problems this year, though. I've noticed quite a few folks, both here and off-line, having cucumber issues of one type or another.
Ted, thanks for explaining the all-female cucumber plant concept for me. I wondered how a plant will all female flowers would ever produce fruit......now if only they can come up with a self-pollinating squash variety
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Ted, thanks for explaining the all-female cucumber plant concept for me. I wondered how a plant will all female flowers would ever produce fruit......now if only they can come up with a self-pollinating squash variety
.