Cucumbers are widely cultivated creeping vine plants that can be found in different regions. These fruits are mostly used in recipes as vegetables which is why they are referred to as both. The vegetable is not only tasty, but it also comes with tons of nutrients. These can provide people with health benefits by decreasing the chances of getting diseases. On top of all this, the plant cucumbers are also quite easy to maintain as long as you understand what you are doing.
Cucumber Plant Only Have Female Flowers
If you are a beginner trying to grow these vegetables in your garden, then there are several problems that you can run into. Talking about this, recently users have been asking the question “Why does my cucumber plant only have female flowers?”. If you are wondering the same thing then going through this article should help you in finding some reasons behind the problem. Additionally, we will provide you with some steps that can be taken to prevent this from happening.
- Variety Of Cucumber Seeds Planted
Before growing vegetables like cucumbers in your garden, people should first understand that these plants have some varieties that they can choose from. In most cases, stores have seeds that provide female varieties. These can only grow female flowers on them which is why you might be running into this issue. While it might be quite annoying, you should note that female cucumber plants produce a lot more fruit than male plants.
This is why most brands have these seeds in female varieties so that you can get better harvests at your home. Keeping this in mind, most users might be happy with their female flowers, but there are also some issues that you can run into with these variants. When it comes to this, the plant requires pollination before it can start growing its vegetables.
If this is not done, then there will be no harvest of your plants. The only way this can be done is if you have at least one male flower that can spread its pollen to the female flowers. Tons of seed companies provide several male flower seeds in a separate bag so that you can easily distinguish between the two varieties. However, if this was not present then purchase the seeds from another store.
You can then ensure that these are placed at a close distance from the female flowers so that the pollen can spread easily. People can also spread the pollen manually using cotton buds, but this can be a little technical. If you are having trouble with the process, then look for some guides online to help you out.
- Temperature In Your Region
Aside from varieties, another major reason why people might run into this problem can be due to the temperatures in their region. When it comes to this, you should understand that low temperatures are better for male flowers as they can easily pollinate during them.
The wind helps the pollen in flying inside flowers so that they can reproduce and grow cucumbers. However, the main issue is that the growth of male flowers slows down during this time. The flowers start to increase once the temperature starts rising but the female flowers will now start dying.
This is why the time between these two seasons is best if you want pollination in your gardens. Growing the plants during winters can help in getting rid of the issue as long as you keep these healthy.
- Lack Of Pollination
Finally, the last reason why the flowers in your garden might all be female can be due to lack of pollination. Ensuring that the process happens can be necessary if you want to harvest cucumbers. As mentioned above, one way is to manually move the pollen from male flowers to female ones. Though, another thing that can be done is that you plant companion flowers along your cucumbers.
These can attract birds and insects to the flowers, allowing the to pollinate. This should allow your garden to grow vegetables while also ensuring that the male flowers don’t die before pollinating the female ones. The number of male variants required usually varies depending on how many female flowers you have.