Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi guys,
I planted (some time ago) a high yield cucumber. It would seem it's been devised to only put out female flowers!
Great says I, look at all that potential fruit. I'll get to and fertilise them all!
Only, there are NO male flowers!
I have been advised (on my own thread, to get a normal cuke, and use it's boy flowers. However it's too late in the year for anybody to be selling cucumbers!!!!!!
What I would very much appreciate (now that my cuke has thrown another 6 or so female flowers, would be for a friendly BYAPPER to be able to pick, and give me some make flowers. one or two would do the trick nicely.
Pretty Please? I'll be an absolute angel bow down to the cucumber savior and love you forever more (as a friend )

I would have thought that such plants would be Parthenocarpic. If so, Flowers on all parthenocarpic plants should form fruit without fertilization/pollination. There is a chance that fruit from parthenocarpic plants could be seedless though fruit that does get fertilized may have seeds.

I hope this is the case for the plants you have there. I have seen some cucumbers listed as Parthenocarpic.

I have also seen cuc seeds listed as Gynoecious (all female) with 10% pollinator added. I guess if growing those, you want to make sure to plant at least 10 or more seeds and hope you get a couple pollinators for you lot.

Good Luck

I have never run into a cuc that is not parthenocarpic at least any that are good for greenhouse or high yield production so, you should have no problem

I have a problem
I have never seen a cuke that does not require male flowers.
I have lost 3 batches of female flowers due to not fertilising so far. I NEED male flowers. Please.

just make them produce male flowers.

Do a prowl of your local market garden area and see if you can sight & snatch a few. Meh heh heh heh heh.

Check out this product:
http://www.gardeners.com/Vegetable-Blos ... lt,pd.html

I've used it with tomato and cukes. You end up with fruit with no seeds.

I too have a cucumber problem, though mine is slightly different.

There are heaps of male and female flowers and mini cuc's ready to be big cuc's....but they aren't pollenating...just dying off...Any idea's ???? on how to fix this problem

all you need to do is gently remove the male flower and rub it on the female, you have to do that asap otherwise its a lost cause

I was attempting it this morning with a paint brush ....will try the flower....I placed a pilchard in the garden be to attract blowies thinking once they all get to the fish as i walk past they will jump from flower to flower and pollenate them for me

Ok will try the direct flower trick...but it's ment to be a high yeild plant, growning over 17 kg of produce per plant

Yep, if you have heaps of boys:
1 pick a male flower.
2 Peel the petals off.
3 stick him inside each of the girls in turn.

Voila!

ahhh damnit, I got distracted, then came back and saw I hadn't hit the post button... Then found bk had beat me to it

Anyone know what would happen if you tried to pollinate a cuc off a pumpkin / watermellon male?

Would it set?

In nature you'd expect the odd bee to traverse many flowers, without regard to species and I haven't seen any franken-fruit yet So it either works and has no bearing on the fruit or it doesnt work at all

I don't know if you could get away with pollinating cucumbers using flowers from others of that plant family. The frank-en fruit isn't really an issue from the fruit set after pollination, it would be what might grow from the seeds of such a cross pollination. If you grow lots of plants in that family, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, different winter squashes, pumpkins, melons and such, saving seeds can have rather random results. I've had some of the strangest green yellow coloration of summer squash since I tend to grow squash and zucchini together and they usually sell hybrids anyway.

so, if some one tries pollinating their cucs wish anther type of flower in the same family, let us know how it works?

I had a cuc a couple years back that produced all female flowers then at the end of the season grew a few, but all male flowers.. Stupid plant! I should have pulled it sooner.