i have cucumber and watermelon plants in my garden. its my first year for these two. i have lots of flowers but only 2 cucumbers and Lots and lots of watermelon flower and only 2 melons, and thats on 3 water melon plants. what can i do to get less male flowers and more female
2006-06-21 06:28:59 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Home & Garden ➔ Garden & Landscape
You can make sure you fertilize correctly. Don't let all the flowers grow, pluck some of them off so the energy of the plant can focus more on a few flowers versus many while making the fruit.
2006-06-21 06:32:17 · answer #1 · answered by Snuffy Smith 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Reaserch the type of cucumbers you are planting. Some types grom all male on one plant and all female on others. These are known as gynoecious cultivars. When planted you need to mark the male seeds so you don't thin them by mistake. One or two male vines will be enough to provide all the pollen you need
It's normal to have only one to three melons set per plant. Many female blooms will start to grow and then shrivel after several days. Even if your vines set lots of melons you should remove all but two or three to ensure proper growth of the fruit you keep.
2006-06-21 09:09:48 · answer #2 · answered by daviddemarco2003 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
never seen several melons on one plant, that is just life. it is a good idea to cut the plant when it tends to be too long - if you dont do it, it will creep further and forget about fruiting. next time plant more plants and just keep a couple of fruits on each cucumber - the whole thing will use the same space and yield more fruits. and dont rely only on insects with pollinating, take over the sex life of your melons and cucumbers if the season is not too late.
2006-06-21 13:14:19 · answer #3 · answered by iva 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The female flowers are the ones with what looks like a tiny immature cucumber under the flower. The male ones don't have that. Just leave the plant alone, it will produce both male and female eventually if it hasn't already. If you are short on bees in your area, your best bet is to pollinate yourself. Google "hand pollinating cucumbers"
2016-05-20 09:08:06 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pull one of the cucumbers off and then poke the flowers with it.
2006-06-21 06:31:58 · answer #5 · answered by DiRTy D 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
How many cucumber plants do you have? You need to have at least two.
2006-06-21 06:32:35 · answer #6 · answered by erin7 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋