Questions on cucumbers

[bhazell123]

Okay so I have about 12 cucumber plants and theyve been blooming flowers for atleast 2 months and well they dont seem to actually be making any cucumbers> So any ideas on what I could do to make them actually grow ? I've been fertilizing them and watering them every afternoon and the bees have been visiting them. So any ideas will be greatly appreciated

 

[Oregon Blues]

They don't need to be fertilized every day.

They will flower for awhle before they start to set fruit. They need both male flowers and female flowers before you will get anything to grow. About all you can do is to stay out of their way and wait.

 

[Evergreen2000]

The squash plants need hot weather and time....it is early in their growing season yet...be patient!

;-)

 

[Cluky]

Sometimes it is possible for birds to start enjoying the flowers too much. We had this problem in my grandmothers garden. You woudl see the flowers and all, but never any cucumbers. What she did was take a bunch of poles and just tie grocery bags to them. The wind would move them, make noise...birds dind't come then as much. And like "miracle" got cucumbers

 

[AshleyMeurs]

Hey,

So just wondering if you may be giving them too much water... with the high intensity rains here last year ours did really poorly they flowered but only a few actually produced fruit if you are watering every afternoon they may be getting too much... just a thought you would know best your area and how dry they get by the afternoon!

 

[Gryphon]

Another issue could be too much fertilizer. Depending on the kind, it might be promoting greenery rather than fruiting.

 

[Tivona]

Another thing could be the type of cucumber. There are 4 main types. I had terrible luck with cucumbers until I started switched varieties. Only time I've had fruit set was when I used Parthenocaric or Monoecious varieties.

Parthenocarpic cucumbers have the ability to set fruit without pollination.

Hermaphrodite cucumbers have both male and female flower parts in the same flower and therefore pollinate each other.

Monoecious cucumbers have male flowers and female flowers on the same plant. But each flower is only one sex.

Gynoecious cucumbers have only female flowers and must have another variety of cucumber near to pollinate them.

Here is a page showing male and female cucumber flowers.