My cucumbers produced well at first, but now....

mjwheels75 · Mon Aug 01, 2011 8:42 pm

My cucumber plants are growing great and have produced about 10 pieces of fruit about 8" long. They taste great. But...I've noticed the new cuc's growing are not near as thick and look like they are shriveling toward the end. The new ones are much skinnier especially on then ends. Can anyone tell me what is causing this?

Jeremy

orgoveg · Mon Aug 01, 2011 10:05 pm

Same problem here, except mine have stopped producing altogether. I think it is simply the heat wave that most of us have experienced.

Francis Barnswallow · Tue Aug 02, 2011 1:40 am

My cuc plant produced lots of cucs for about 2 months. As quickly as it produced, it self-destructred aka stopped producing blossoms and quickly died.

Same thing happened with my zuc plant.....and it was in a screen enclosure.

Stella Blue · Tue Aug 02, 2011 9:38 am

You are not alone. My cukes are slowing down drastically, zukes and yellows aren't doing a thing, but winter squashes are holding on. I agree with orgo. The heat is doing a number on these types of plants.

garden5 · Tue Aug 02, 2011 10:13 am

Yeah, mine have done the same. I agree with the members that said that it's the heat.

The vines and leaves of mine still look healthy, though, so maybe they will produce another batch once the weather cools a bit.

CharlieBear · Tue Aug 02, 2011 4:16 pm

If you leave them in, water them very well (more than you think they need) and maybe consider side dressing with a little and I mean a little fish meal. That is high in potasium and may get them to blossom more. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, depends on how tired out the plant really is.

Cuke · Fri Aug 05, 2011 6:40 pm

I hate to say this,but I'm glad I'm not alone.My cukes are hardly producing now and haven't produced much this year.I was only able to can 3 pints so far this year which is very pitiful for me considering last 2 seasons were amazing.

mjwheels75 · Sat Aug 06, 2011 2:32 pm

Actually, mine started producing again all of a sudden. I think my issue was due to poor pollination of that particular flower. I clipped the dead and deformed ones and the new ones look much better. although a little smaller.

Fig3825 · Mon Aug 08, 2011 9:29 am

My cukes were planted a bit late and I think they should have started producing fruit earlier than they have but I think they got behind due to the heat wave. The vines have climbed my trellis to nearly 6' high from the ground. I'm just NOW getting some growth on the female buds. Maybe 3 or 4 little cukes that are about 2-3" long. We just had a break in the heatwave in my area (Northern VA) and I'm thinking that this is why they started setting fruit.

The forecast for today is going to be 94 today, 91 tomorrow and 90 on Wednesday. After that, temps are predicted to be in the mid to high 80's. I'm hoping the production that has just started will make it through the next 3 days and will continue later in the week when the temps are a bit lower...

I'll let everyone know what happens.

Incidentally, I'm also fighting off a small invasion of cucumber beetles... On any given day I'll find 5-10 on my leaves and I'm finding one of my vines has started to die due to these pests... I kill them as I see them but I broke down yesterday and sprayed with some organic oil spray to see what would happen.

garden5 · Mon Aug 08, 2011 10:33 am

Well, I picked another small batch the other day, but now things look like they may be slowing down. It seems like I pick several small "flushes" and then they slow up.