Page 1 of 1
Cucumber flowers
Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 1:42 am
by lizzie
Hi folks
Can someone tell me why the flowers are falling off the plant please.
They have little cucumbers behind the flower but they fall off too.
What am I doing wrong?
I'm confused
Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 9:08 am
by Lyn
Hi Lizzie,
If the plants are still fairly small, they "think" they are too young and not ready to reproduce yet. This happened to my plants a couple of years ago, but eventually they started to produce good cucumbers when they finally got going. Also, they may not have been fertilised, and would be
automatically be shed by the plant. All this is assuming that you are keeping them watered, because stress through insuffient water could be another cause. I am sure they will buck their ideas up soon.
Regards, Lyn
Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 1:08 pm
by lizzie
Thanks Lyn.
They're well watered so don't know what's happening. They are still quite small so you're right. The plants are not mature enough to hold the flowers.
Never mind, time will tell.
Cheers Lyn, nice one
Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 2:52 pm
by Chantal
I wish today's teenagers had the common sense of your cumbers Lizzie!
Help in identifying Cucmbers from Courgettes??
Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 7:25 pm
by Garlic_Guy
Sorry to break the thread, but I've been given two pots: one had a courgette in it and the other a cucmber. But no label....
What is the best way of telling the difference (they've each barely got a couple of leaves at the moment)?
Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 7:30 pm
by Chantal
My cucumbers have windy tendrils on them and want to climb; my courgettes don't. May depend on the variety I suppose.
Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 12:19 am
by Deb P
This may sound a bit weird, but try tipping one out of the pot and smell the roots; cucumber roots smell of...er, cucumbers!
Courgette or Cucumber ?
Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 9:21 pm
by Wellie
My thoughts entirely Debbie....
Failing that, when they reach 'true leaf stage', if you still can't tell the difference, find someone with both a Courgette and a Cucumber plant, cut a leaf off each and compare with yours.
YO LIZZIE !
My cucumber plants (Telegraph Improved, open pollinated) have sort of done the same.
The embryonic fruits that first developed 'never came to anything', and it's only about 12" above compost level that they've now started to swell into proper cucumbers, and I reckon it's to do with the pollination. I'm removing male flowers, as seen, to stop cross-poll and bitter female fruits, but I'm pretty certain that it's similar to all our problems last year with courgettes. Remember ?
Lol
Wellie