Pollination confusion???

Have a look at this website which has a nice picture of a female flower. They are easily identified by a small cucumber behind the flower, male flowers don't have the baby cuke. You may have an all female variety which you will know because they are expensive (4 seeds for about £5+).

Sweetcorn - yes, plant in a group; when the top tassles form, give them a tap now and again to make the pollen fall on the female flowers below.

Tomatoes - no need to do anything here, toms are generally self fertile.

thanks Mark

great, mine will have male and female - i not that mad on buying expensive seeds on the first growing season lol.

could you please post the link for me, so i can have a look.,

cheers

SU

Male cuke flowers have a skinny stalk, female ones have a tiny, prickly looking cuke behind them. Male flower will usually appear first - same as with courgettes

Don't worry too much about pollination - just let the wind, birds and insects do it all for you. Even in a greenhouse, you will get flies in there, busy pollinating away.

I think Cukes are tricky - mine have always been bitter, but I just grow them for the guinea pigs and they love em.

Ooops, sorry. Link fixed for cuke flowers now.

thanks mark for the link, i now know, well i think i do lol

SS

I read in my 'organic gardening' book that you shouldn't pollinate indoor varieties, as they'll go bitter, but you do need to pollinate outdoor varieties (such as marketmore). I have Marketmore, so hopefully they'll be allright left to their own devices with the insects. One problem though- can't find a sunny enough spot for them, so hope they'll be ok with semi shade.

Does this mean I won't have to do anything special with my Konsa (outdoor one I think) cucumbers - I bought the seeds from Lidl for my cucumber-loving daughter and then started reading stuff about bitter cukes and pollination and male flowers - urgh.

Anyone know why some go bitter if pollinated and others don't?

I've googled a bit and found a few sites that talk about bitter cucumbers and none of them blame it on pollination. See quotes and links below. So why do we take off the male flowers? I read somewhere (lost the link now) that non-pollinated indoor cukes grow seedless fruit - maybe the advice to take off male flowers is just so we get *seedless* fruit rather than anything to do with *bitter* fruit?


Some quotes

"Bitterness is due to the formation of two cucurbitacins (terpenoid compounds) that impart a bitter flavor to seedlings, roots, stems, leaves, and fruit... Usually the bitter principal does not accumulate very heavily in the fruit. When it does, it accumulates non-uniformly among fruits and within the fruit. The cucurbitacins are likely to concentrate at the stem
end and in and just under the skin of the fruit. The amount of bitterness in cucumbers appears to vary from year to year and from location to
location. Such a phenomenon may occur because elaterase production is stimulated or depressed under certain environmental conditions. Cool temperatures can enhance bitterness, but fertilization practices, plant spacing, and irrigation frequency have exhibited little consistent effect on the number of bitter cucumbers produced. Varieties vary widely in their tendency to be bitter."

"Q. What causes my cucumbers to become bitter tasting?
A. Any stress on a cucumber plant such as high temperatures, low moisture, low fertility or foliage disease can contribute bitterness. Bitterness is usually associated with fruit harvested late in the season from unhealthy, poor-yielding plants. Once a plant produces bitter fruit, remove it from the garden because all subsequent fruit will be affected in a similar manner."


"A bitter taste in cucumbers is the result of stress that can be caused by a number of factors including heredity, moisture, temperature, soil characteristics and disease. Most often this occurs during the hot part of the summer or later in the growing season.


Two compounds, cucurbitacins B and C, give rise to the bitter taste. Though often only the stem end is affected, at times the entire fruit is bitter. Also, most of the bitter taste is found in and just under the skin. Bitter fruit is not the result of cucumbers cross pollinating with squash or melons. These plants can not cross pollinate with one another.

Recommendations: Often newer varieties are less likely to become bitter than older ones. Proper cultural care is also often helpful. Make sure your plants have the following.

• Well-drained soil with a pH between 6.0 and 6.5. Plenty of organic matter also helps.
• Mulch. A mulch helps conserve moisture and keep roots cool during hot, dry weather.
• Adequate water especially during the fruiting season.
• Disease and insect control."

Good tips about bitterness, thank you. The cukes I grew were weedy looking and got mildew, so that could be the cause of the bitterness. To be honest I can't be faffed with mollycoddling plants, so I just won't grow them. I prefer radish on my salad anyway!

Thanks demeter, sounds like I just need to mulch well & not worry about pollination/male flowers. As I feel inclined not to worry much, this course of action suits me fine!