So instead of cucumbers, all you have are large, attractive leaves and showy, yellow flowers. Plants in the cucurbit family (Cucurbitaceae), which includes cucumbers, pumpkins, watermelons, and others, are notoriously difficult to pollinate. What can you do if your cucumber plant is blooming but not producing fruit?
In contrast to tomato plants, in which the male and female sexual organs are combined in a single flower, cucurbits produce a separate flower for each gender. Pollination can only occur when the male plant carries pollen from one flower to the female. Discover how to pollinate cucumber flowers below!
How does pollination take place in cucumbers?
As you may remember, bees used to transport pollen from male flowers to female flowers to facilitate pollination of the flowers. However, for certain reasons they are not always able to fulfill this task. Due to this shift in tasks, manual pollination has proven to be a viable option. To begin pollinating cucumbers, you must first be able to distinguish the flowers of male and female cucumbers.
Recognize male and female flowers
Recognizing the female andmale flowersof a cucumber is the first step in hand pollination. Although they are very identical, there are a few distinguishing features that set these two yellow flowers apart.
The male flowers are often in clusters, while the female flowers tend to be far apart. However, the tissue beneath the flower is the most visible difference. The “base” of the female plant is thicker and resembles that of a small baby cucumber. At some point it will bear fruit. The male plants, on the other hand, only have a narrow stem underneath the flower. Note that occasionally your vine will only produce male flowers. In this case, the female flowers will appear in a few weeks.
Pollinating cucumber flowers – hand pollination
Now that you know how to distinguish the flowers on your vine, the fun part can begin. A clean cotton swab or brush is sufficient. Look for a brand new, fragrant male flower and dip the brush tip into it. Make sure the bristles touch the core of the flower as you gently twist it: you should be able to see small, yellow pieces of pollen at the very end of the brush tip. Before twisting your coated brush into the core of a female flower, repeat the process on a few male flowers. Make as many passes as necessary to remove all of the female flowersTouching cucumber plant. Yes that's it!
The female flower will go through a process of regrowth and enlarging its “base” within a few weeks. And soon you'll have delicious, home-grown cucumbers.
@thesmilinggardenerIt can be so frustrating when you see a baby cucumber forming, but then it turns yellow and shrivels up. This happens because the flower didn’t get pollinated. Here is an easy way to make sure all your cucumber babies grow up to become adults! 😉 🥒#thesmilinggardener #organicgardening #mygarden #mybackyard #mygardenismyhappyplace #gardening #gardentotable #gardeninspiration #gardenersofttiktok #gardeningtips #gardeninglife #growyourownfood #veggiegarden #vegetablegarden #vegetablegardening #meatlessmonday #greenthumb #raisedgardenbeds #raisedbedgarden #zone6b #zone6bgarden #cucumber #cukes #cucumbers ♬ original sound – Risa
