Cucumbers

[Steve]

Being new to this gardening lark I'm not sure what I'm suppose to do about my cuc's there producing fruit near the bottom of the plant,do I leave them to mature or do I cut them off and let the fruit higher up mature

[Alice]

Hello Steve, if you've got cucumbers I would leave them to mature. What you do have to remove is the male flowers, that is the ones that have no wee cucumbers at the back of them. If you leave the male flowers on, the females will be pollinated and the cucumbers will be bitter.

[Lesley Jay]

Alice you don't need to remove the male flowers on the modern varieties of cucumber. If there is any bitterness it is usually the skin and I always peel outdoor cucumbers.

[Steve]

Cheers guy's

[Jaxom]

In my green house I have a telegraph improved type cucumber that I am busy removing all the male flowers off. If an insect fertilises the female flower with pollen from the male flower then the cucumbers will all be bitter and go in the bin.
Outside I have a ridge cucumber that needs the male flowers left on. This I keep as far away from the greenhouse as I can to make sure that they are not cross-pollinated.
Different cucumbers need different treatment. Some modern cucumber types only produce female flowers, but the seed is much more expensive to buy.

Steve do you know what type of cucumber you are growing?

[Lesley Jay]

I only grow outdoor cucumbers and the male flowers must be left on the plant. Indoors with modern varieties, which I believe will be F1 varieties, there is no need to remove the flowers. It is only on old indoor varieties that you need to remove the male flower. So, as Jaxom said what variety are you growing Steve?

[pigletwillie]

If your worried about the bottom fruit laying in the soil and rotting you can place them on a bit of polystyrene to keep them off the ground.