Grow Your Own Magazine

first time with cucumbers
they're ridge cucumbers growing in growbags and pots in the greenhouse
they've got yellow flowers now - from descriptions i've read they look like female flowers
do i have to pollinate them or something? if so, where are the male flowers?
and where are the actual cucumbers? (is it too early to see them?)
do i need to do anything else? pinch out or anything?
stringy bits are grabbing hold of short canes for support so all seems ok - just need to know what to do with them!

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I have never pollinated cucumbers myself and have had huge crops, so I presume not, but that's not to say that insects visiting my greenhouse might not have done it all for me. My cucumber plant got enormous last year - one plant nearly took over the entire greenhouse - so I would suggest train yours in an upwards direction - or you might have a triffid by autumn!

Farmer,

You should not need to worry about pollination. I have a question for you though, is your ridge cuke not an outdoor variety as most ridges are, and if so it might prefer to be in the open.

Mine areat the lottie and are growing well, the first cuke is about 3 inch long, although it resembles a boomerang ...

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An onion can make people cry but there's never been a vegetable that can make people laugh.
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me too on both counts!

1. you don't need to pollinate

and

2. my cucumbers look like boomerangs! (and very thin ones at that!)

cheers guys
already training them upwards on stakes - all going well so far
yes, i think they are an outdoor variety - got some in greenhouse and some outside - the ones in the greenhouse are doing much better than the ones outside
but no cucumbers in sight yet - just pretty yellow flowers ....

Dont pollinate them at all, in fact remove the male flowers.

Fertilised cucumbers taste bitter and yuk. They are no good hence why people grow hybrid female only plants.

WAtch out if they are near melons etc as they can cross pollinate each other.

Basically you dont want them to be fertilised at all !

Also yes pinch out any side shoots that you want to remove, train the plant to grow where you want it to. Dont let it go wild.

I think Uzboth that you may be thinking of greenhouse cukes like telegragh improved. With ridge cucumbers(marketmore etc.) you do not need to remove any flowers.

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