Hey everyone! It's my first year growing cucumbers, and I've hit a bit of a snag with pollination. There doesn't seem to be many natural pollinators around, so I've decided to try hand-pollinating my cucumbers. However, I'm noticing that the female flowers are dying off before I can get them pollinated, and when I do find them, the flowers aren't always open enough to transfer pollen. My main question is: Do I need to wait for the female cucumber flowers to open up completely before I try to transfer the pollen, or would it be okay to gently pry them open?
2 Answers
For next spring, consider planting parthenocarpic varieties, which can pollinate themselves without the need for bees! I use these for my first and last cucumber crops each year when natural pollinators are less common. Some great varieties you might try are Beit Alpha, China Jade, and Suyo Long. They have given me excellent results!
I noticed with my cantaloupes that those flowers only stay open for a short time, usually just a couple hours in the morning. I made it a habit to get up early with my coffee in hand to pollinate. I found that about an hour after sunrise was my sweet spot. If you need to, you can gently open the flowers to help with the process. Just a tip: I used Q-tips for the actual pollination! It worked well for me.
Absolutely! Gynecious parthenocarpic cucumbers typically mean every flower turns into a cucumber. The productivity is wild! You'll end up with more cucumbers than you can handle, trust me! Just yesterday, I was making pickles and giving away my surplus!