Kitchen Garden Forum

Got 2 cucumber plants in my greenhouse ,just noticed one has 3 flowers on dont look like female flowers as no cucumber behind just on a thin stalk,now should i leave them on or pinch them off Thanks Bill

Firstly, Bill, what variety are they?

I knew someone would ask that

Bought them on line ,just mailed the grower will let you know if they respond.Bill

Well the young lady says Market more all female flowers thought they should have a cucumber behind ,these dont look as if they have .

Maybe you just need to be patient the male flowers appear before the female ones. All female varieties give really good yields in a greenhouse,
If your cucumbers are in growbags feed regularly, ( high potash ) in the ground outside, I just let the plants get on with it feed the soil well with compost and mulch and they will be happy and productive.

billnorfolk wrote:Well the young lady says Market more all female flowers thought they should have a cucumber behind ,these dont look as if they have .

Hi Bill

The young lady is misleading you

Marketmore is a ridge cucumber, mainly grown outdoors, and needs pollination to produce cucumbers. As NB says, the male flowers come before the female, so be patient. It is very definitely not "all-female". Don't remove the male flowers!

http://www.beansandherbs.co.uk/tipsoutdoorcucs.htm

Hope this helps.

Alan

PS Now you see why I asked what variety they were.

Next year save money and buy some seed - they're cheap as chips.

Alan is right marketmore is more usually grown outdoors though they can be grown in a greenhouse, outdoors they usually pollinate freely, in a greenhouse though you might get more fruit if you hand pollinate with a soft
paintbrush from male to female. Just a suggestion, is it too late to move them outdoors and get a couple of all female for the greenhouse?

Cucumbers do better with a balanced feed or even extra Nitrogen compared to Tomatoes that's one of the reasons they don't do well together. Use Miracle Gro rather than Phostrogen or Tomorite.

Thanks for the answeres first time i have grown some ,bought off ebay next year will grow my own from seed ,seems the person i bought off doesnt know her cucumbers.I have miracle grow so will start useing .For next year what is recomended in seed for indoor growing.

My fav F1 is Paska, prolific, thin skinned, tasty, good enough to eat like apples, they are not long and thin but a good size and fatter, which means they stay crisp longer, and unlike some greenhouse varieties that crop together snd fizzle out they seem to keep cropping for longer

Will try that next year thanks.