Cucumbers not developing

[Ian in Cumbria]

Hi all

I had 2 cucumber plants in my 8' x6' greenhouse (all-female but can't just recall the variety without going back out). One rotted off at ground level (just after I'd got rid of the spares!). The other is about 4ft high with one cucumber growing nicely. There were five or six embrionic cucumbers but I have just removed 3 because were yellow and shrivelling. These were about 2 inches long with the flower still attached. If it had been a flower needing fertilising I would have said this was the problem but not with a cucumber. Any ideas? I'm growing it in an Auto-pot in a 75/25 compost/pearlit mix so irregular watering isn't an issue though the Auto-pot keeps it a little wetter than I would have done (not that I'm saying I would have been right). I'm wondering whether the plant has decided that it can only support the one fruit and maybe I should up the feed a bit?

Regards

Ian

[haggis]

Hi Ian,
Unfortunately I don't know the answer to your query. I have had exactly the same problem. Two of my three plants collapsed at the base - may be slug damage? and the third has plenty of tiny cucumbers but they are not developing. Will be interetsed to see if anyone has any ideas as to why the small cucumbers don't develop. they are well watered and fed twice a week.

[Geoff]

I think it is to do with the "psychology" of the plant. If you let several develop to a fairly large size it definitely happens but I have also had it happen after the first one. Once you have removed it and keep feeding (bit more N than you give Tomatoes) and watering I would expect it to recover.

[Ian in Cumbria]

Thanks Geoff. I took off the one mature fruit this evening. Hopefully this will persuade the plant to allow others to develop.

Regards

Ian

[oldherbaceous]

Collapsing cucumber plants at an early stage, is nearly always down to over watering.
Once the plants are larger, it doesn't seem to matter as much.