How to find female cucumber flowers??

jymarino 6/29/2011, 9:45 am

I have lots of flowers on my cucumbers, but I don't think there are many females. It isn't as easy to tell which are the females and which are the males so if anyone can give me some tips that would be great. I am fine with hand pollinating, I just need to know who is who!

sherryeo 6/29/2011, 10:24 am

jymarino,

It's lucky that someone posted this pic a while back answering that very question for somebody else! The female blossom has the miniature cucumber below the blossom. The male flower just has a regular stem. See the photo on the page that this link leads to:

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t2830-squash-not-producing?highlight=female+squash

Good luck with your cukes!

boffer 6/29/2011, 10:33 am

Sherry beat me to it! The ratio of female to male blossoms varies by type of cuke.

New varieties of cucumber are being released which are advertised as all-female, or gynoecious types. On a normal cucumber plant the first 10 to 20 flowers are male, and for every female flower, which will produce the fruit, 10 to 20 male flowers are produced. This indicated to plant breeders that production could be increased greatly if many more female flowers were produced. Some of the new varieties produce plants which have only female flowers, while others have a greater proportion of female to male flowers. These plants tend to bear fruit earlier, with a more concentrated set and better yields overall.

female on top
How to find female cucumber flowers?? Zukefl10

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How to find female cucumber flowers??

How to find female cucumber flowers??

How to find female cucumber flowers??

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Re: How to find female cucumber flowers??


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