Cucumbers Again

[greenhouse girl]

My cucumbers have grown enormous although they are very pale, They are in a greenhouse watered every evening. Iast year they tasted great but this year when I cut the first last week I had to spit it out it was so bitter. What have i done wrong. I don't want to cut off any more until I know they will be nice.

[Carole B.]

If they are enormous and pale then they have gone over the hill and will be full of seeds and taste horrid.They wont get any better, you would do well to remove them to the compost heap and feed your plant up in the hope of it carrying on fruiting afresh.Pick them when they look a bit smaller than in the shops and a good dark green colour. You should pick all cues as soon as they are ready,if you leave them on the plant the next batch of young ones drop off and you get a gap in harvestable fruits.
I am presuming that what you have is a normal greenhouse cucumber.

[John]

Hello Greenhouse Girl
I have had similar problems with cucumbers in my frame. Although the leaves on the plants are a good colour, some fruits are pale almost turning yellow. I guessed that this might be due to a lack of Mg and that it was showing up in the fruits first of all. So I watered in some dolomite lime that I had (2 teaspoons to 1 gal) at 1 gal per plant. This appears to have cured the problem as the fruits that are coming now are all a good green colour.
If you think that this might also be the problem that you have, an easy way of adding Mg would be to use Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate) from the garden centre. You could try this it certainly won't do any harm!
Can't help with the bitterness problem - maybe its related to a possible lack of Mg.

John

[Allan]

If you have a non-F1 female varity e.g.Telegraph you should remove the male flowers to avoid bitterness. Most people have switched to the all-female varieties where pollination cannot usually occur.
Allan

[greenhouse girl]

Thanks for all the helpful tips will make sure i harvest them a bit sooner and try the mg suggestion as well as picking off the male flowers.