Very often, problems when growing cucumbers are caused by pests. First of all this spider mite and aphids. It is quite difficult to fight them, because spraying the beds chemicals no one wants it, but use folk remedies ineffective and quite labor-intensive.
Fitoverm helps a lot, it biological drug It is harmless to people, and destroys pests quite well. But in this article we will not talk about pests and measures to combat them, but about other problems that vegetable growers sometimes create for themselves. For example, thickening plantings or growing cucumbers in a poorly ventilated greenhouse at high temperatures.
If you are growing varieties rather than hybrids, it is likely that the plants simply haven't produced enough female flowers. But why the plants behaved this way, we need to understand.
On varietal cucumbers, male flowers appear first on the main stem, i.e. those that are capable of pollination, but not capable of fruit formation. More female flowers are formed on the side shoots, which is why the fruits on them are formed more actively.
Cucumbers need to be pinched, then there will be a lot of ovaries on them.
Cucumber plants planted densely or growing in the shade have weak branches because they lack light. And if there are no side shoots, there is no harvest. Even in unthickened crops, in order to start harvesting cucumbers earlier and ultimately get more, the main stem of varietal cucumbers is pinched above the fifth leaf. The pinching is repeated two and three times.
This simple operation helps, by restraining the growth of the plant, to increase its productivity. Plants that have a normal feeding area will also give a good harvest without pinching. But, firstly, the mass harvest of fruits will begin later; unformed plants will take up more space on the trellis or in the garden bed than those that are pinched.
Conclusion one. Varietal cucumbers must be provided with sufficient nutrition area (10-20 cm between plants in a row, 50-70 cm between rows) and well lit. Only under these conditions do they develop normally side shoots, on which the bulk of female flowers are formed.
Phosphorus supplements help to enhance the formation of female flowers: st. spoon of superphosphate (extract) per 10 liters of water. Female flowers are formed more intensively when cucumbers are picked daily, not allowing them to outgrow.
On bee-pollinated varieties, this happens if flower pollination has not occurred. On hybrid self-pollinating cucumbers ovaries do not develop at high (over 35 degrees) temperatures.
The ovaries do not develop in extreme heat.
Affects the activity of fruit set and the nutritional supply of plants. If it is deficient, the plant cannot feed all the fruits that have set at the same time, and some of them dry out. Dry air and soil negatively affect the yield of cucumbers.
Conclusion two. To solve problems with fruit set, normal conditions for pollinating insects must be created on the site.
Plant flowers and aromatic herbs that attract bees and other crop helpers. Provide plants with water and food. On hot days, apply refreshing watering to reduce the temperature and increase the humidity around the plants.
Why did hooks grow, and not even, beautiful fruits? On appearance cucumbers can be affected by the weather, a lack of nutrients, and irregular watering.
To avoid such problems, water and fertilize your cucumbers regularly.
Conclusion three. Regular moderate watering and fertilizing will minimize the likelihood of non-standard fruits appearing in the harvest.
The ability to acquire bitterness was passed on to them from distant wild ancestors. Is it true, modern varieties and hybrids rarely taste bitter and only if they are not satisfied with something in agricultural technology or weather. Any stress can cause bitterness in fruits.
Cucumbers often taste bitter when they quickly overheat and dry out. sandy soils. Cucumbers may respond to extreme heat or prolonged cold weather, watering with cold water or excessive application of manure by deteriorating their taste.
Feeding with potassium sulfate and spraying with growth stimulants (epin-extra, zircon, etc.) will help to resist stress.
Conclusion four (half-joking). Cucumbers begin to taste bitter not because of the sweet life.
Sometimes plants grow normally at first, but then... This happens both in the greenhouse and in open ground. And this also happens when good care, regular fertilizing and watering.
Soil infection is to blame for the death of cucumbers: most likely it is fusarium wilt. Fungi clog conducting vessels, disrupting the flow nutrients, water. The leaves first wither and then dry up. At the soil level, you can notice a lesion: the stem darkens or dries out.
This is what fusarium wilt looks like.
Fusarium fungi are always present in the soil, but when they are within normal limits, they do not cause problems. The number of fungi that participate in the decomposition of organic matter increases sharply when insufficiently rotted compost and humus are added to the soil.
What should you do in this case, since cucumbers love to grow organically? Add well-decomposed compost and humus, sow green manure, the green mass of which is quickly processed in the soil, and feed the plants with infusions of green grass.
You can use preparations based on Trichoderma, which accelerate the decomposition processes. Glyocladin apply to the soil to a depth of 1 cm, sowing seeds or planting cucumber seedlings (1 tablet per hole).
Fungicide trichoderma veride used for pre-sowing soaking of seeds (3 g per 10 liters of water) and watering plants at the root. The first treatment - in the phase of 2-4 true leaves, the subsequent one - after two weeks (25-50 g per 10 liters of water, consumption - 100-200 ml per plant).
Today we will solve the problem of barren flowers on cucumbers. Agree, it’s very nice to see that your cucumbers are literally covered with flowers. Here you are already expecting that there will be almost the same amount of fruits themselves, and you are thinking about where to put them. But the cucumbers fade slowly, and the process does not go further, that is, there is practically no ovary after such abundant flowering, and, accordingly, there are no fruits. Why did everything happen like this, where you didn’t look after them, and what to do next?
First, let's try to find out why this barren flower appears on cucumbers in the first place. It is quite possible that the reason lies in the wrong choice of cucumber seeds themselves, when it happens that female flowers on cucumbers appear with a serious delay, and accordingly, fruiting can also be greatly delayed. If you simply ignored numerous useful tips and recommendations, if you still sow cucumber seeds in your garden bed or in a greenhouse, they are still quite fresh, then usually the plants grow from them quite powerful. But, at the same time, on such powerful plants, many male flowers very quickly appear, that is, empty flowers, and only then female flowers begin to slowly form.
The picture will look completely different if you sowed cucumber seeds not fresh, but those that are already two or three years old. Such seeds usually ensure the appearance of female flowers almost simultaneously with male ones, and sometimes even earlier. All this should certainly be taken into account when you plant cucumber seeds in the spring if you don’t want problems with barren flowers in the future.
Of course, the problem of the appearance of barren flowers and an insufficient number of female flowers is explained not only wrong choice seeds There are other reasons for this. For example, nitrogen fertilizers, which may be too much in the soil under cucumbers. Such fertilizers, again, only contribute to the growth of powerful vines in cucumbers and the formation of barren flowers. If you have overfed your cucumbers with such nitrogen fertilizers, then the situation needs to be corrected. And it is corrected by applying fertilizers again, but not with nitrogen, but with fast-acting phosphorus. Here the simplest option is wood ash, from which an ordinary infusion is prepared, or you can use an extract of the same superphosphate for this (we take 2 tablespoons of it and dilute it in 10 liters of plain water).
Why do the ovaries of cucumbers turn yellow?
Many gardeners have encountered the problem of yellowing of the ovaries of cucumbers. For some, this is a real problem: the ovary has just finished blooming, but it has already turned yellow. This leads to a logical question: “Why do the ovaries of cucumbers turn yellow?” There are many reasons for this.
Bundle hybrids of cucumbers, namely, “Zyatek” belongs to them, in last years became very popular. Indeed, a lot of ovaries are formed in the axils of the leaves, but rarely does anyone succeed in preserving them all. If we exclude the attack of pests and the development of any diseases, then we can name several reasons for the yellowing and drying of greens.
Reason one: the plants are planted too densely. They simply do not have enough food area, so they cannot feed all their numerous offspring. In particular, for “Zyatek” cucumbers, the recommended distance between neighboring plants is 50 cm, which means planting them closer, even with a vertical growing method, is not necessary. For each specific variety or hybrid, this information is indicated in the description on the bag.
Reason two: plants do not form.
Many novice vegetable growers allow cucumbers to grow arbitrarily; they think that pinching certain vines will reduce the yield. As a result, thickets of intertwined vines with large leaves, through which sunlight breaks through with difficulty. In such conditions, not some of the greens may dry out, but almost all of them. The formation of cucumbers is simple: you need to pluck out the stepsons completely from the axils of the lower 3-5 leaves. The higher shoots should be pinched after the second leaf. Stepchildren of the second order, which will begin to form from the axils of the leaves of the non-main vine, should remove the growth point after the formation of the first leaf.
Reason three: improper feeding. If at first cucumbers, as a rule, are fed with fermented manure, i.e., mainly with nitrogen, then with the beginning of fruiting, the needs of the plants change; they already require both potassium and phosphorus. Therefore, it is necessary to add superphosphate and ash to infusions of herbs or mullein. It should also be remembered that excessive amounts of minerals also cause yellowing of plants.
Reason four: fruits that have grown to the size stated by the manufacturer are not harvested in a timely manner. Overgrown fruits (or one fruit) greatly retards the development of the remaining ovaries. For bunched cucumbers, the presence of an overgrowth, even an extra 2 hours on the vine, affects the greens.
Reason five: perhaps a pollinator is needed. Modern hybrids and varieties are predominantly parthenocarpic and do not require pollinators. For bee-pollinated varieties and hybrids, you need to plant 1 or several (depending on the size of the greenhouse) pollinator plants, i.e. cucumbers of other varieties that also have male flowers. In the latter case, care must also be taken to attract pollinating insects.
A little about care. The soil in which they grow bunch cucumbers, must be fertilized, loose and always moist.
Incorrect watering. A very common reason why cucumber ovaries turn yellow is improper watering. This is especially true for growing cucumbers in greenhouse conditions.
It’s no secret that cucumbers love frequent, abundant watering and high humidity air. However, many vegetable growers neglect this and as a result, the ovaries and leaves turn yellow and the entire plant dries out. It is recommended to water cucumbers growing in open ground 3 times a week (on particularly dry days you can water every day). It is much hotter in greenhouses, so the plants are watered 4-5 times a week.
Moreover, it is necessary to water cucumbers exclusively warm water in the evening or morning hours.
These plants need to be fed weekly, but an excess of nitrogen can lead to a decrease in the number of ovaries. In case of unfavorable weather conditions(for example, prolonged cloudy weather, i.e. lack of sunlight, or a sharp cold snap), it is advisable to spray cucumbers with Epin-Extra or Zircon. To speed up the filling of greens in the greenhouse, you can install a container with fermenting manure or grass. The “aroma,” of course, will be specific, but it will stand out carbon dioxide, necessary for plants for photosynthesis, will significantly increase the growth rate of fruits.
Sudden changes in temperature.
With sudden changes in temperature or during long cold weather, a lot of bad things can happen that will lead to yellowed ovaries.
Sudden temperature changes can cause the development of many diseases in cucumbers, which will lead to yellowed ovaries. This is especially true for fungal diseases.
During prolonged cold weather (below 10-14 degrees), the roots of the plant stop absorbing nutrients from the soil. Accordingly, there will not be enough nutrients for fruit ripening. In this case, foliar feeding can help.
To protect plants from frost, you need to cover them with film or lutrasil. You can also put bottles with hot water. This will maintain a fairly high temperature for a long time. Remember that temperatures below +14 degrees Celsius cause the growth and development of cucumbers to stop. The optimal temperature for them is +22+26 degrees.
A fairly common problem is the absence of ovaries in successfully flowering cucumbers. This is seriously frustrating, because all the work involved in growing seedlings, planting them in permanent place growing, watering, loosening, weed removal, pest and disease control were invested in order to ultimately produce a harvest. What to do if the cucumbers have only empty flowers? What went wrong?
There may be several reasons:
Let's look in a little more detail at why cucumbers bloom profusely, but there is no ovary.
Delay of female flowers and late ovaries are primarily associated with poor quality seeds If you planted fresh seeds, then the plants that grew from them will actively produce male flowers and only later female flowers with ovaries will begin to appear. To avoid this, it is better to take seeds that are 2-3 years old. Then the female flowers will appear earlier than the male ones or at the same time as them, and everything will be fine with pollination.
If you don’t know how old the seeds are, you can warm them up before planting or, conversely, harden them with frost. Then the female flowers of the plants grown from them will appear on time.
The reason that cucumbers bloom and the ovaries dry out may be a violation of growing conditions. Review the lighting, watering, air and soil temperatures. The roots of cucumbers do not like the cold, they grow poorly, do not absorb nutrients, and due to overwatering rot. Lack of light and high air temperatures cause cucumbers to stretch out and have thin and frail stems. Such an unhealthy atmosphere does not in any way contribute to good fruiting.
Too much wet soil negatively affects the fruiting of cucumbers. What to do if cucumbers bloom but there is no ovary? Try drying the soil, that is, not watering the garden bed for several days. As soon as the leaves on the plants wilt slightly, a large number of female flowers. Just don’t overdo it and dry out the soil.
Another reason why cucumbers bloom but there are no ovaries may be an imbalance of nutrients. If there is too much nitrogen in the soil, this causes rapid growth and an increase in green mass, as well as an abundance of barren flowers. To correct the situation, you can feed the cucumbers with an extract (dilute 2 tablespoons in 10 liters of water). You can also try watering the plants with infusion 
ordinary
An additional incentive for cucumbers to produce female flowers can be pinching the tops of the stem. This will stop the growth in length and cause the appearance of lateral shoots with female flowers on them.
When we have achieved the appearance of a sufficient number of female flowers with ovaries, the next question arises - are empty flowers necessary, what to do with them? Some remove them in the belief that this will cause female flowers to grow. However, this will not help in any way, and can only worsen pollination conditions. Barren flowers, as a rule, dry out and fall off on their own.
Summer residents often face such a problem as abundant flowering cucumbers, but no harvest. What is the reason for the appearance of barren flowers, why cucumbers do not grow and what to do? Why are there many flowers, but no harvest? Why do only barren flowers appear without an ovary? What to do to make them appear? Gardeners have many questions, and we will try to answer them.
So, if there is no ovary for cucumbers, you should check and, if present, eliminate negative factors, influencing this process. And these could be temperatures above thirty-five degrees, relative air humidity above ninety percent, lack of pollination, lack of nutrition in the soil.
Many people wonder whether it is worth removing barren flowers. Yes, indeed, by removing them, you can improve pollination. But they themselves quickly turn yellow and fall off, although they grow quite quickly. Therefore, it is up to the gardener to decide whether to do this or not.
In some hybrid varieties, where they predominate female flowers, there may be no pollination due to a lack of males. To fix this, you need to sow another variety of cucumbers for pollination.
Lack of pollination is also possible due to prolonged cool weather, as a result of which pollinating insects simply do not fly and do not cope with their task. Then the tops grow, but there are no fruits.
But this can be corrected by hand pollinating the flowers when they bloom. To do this, take the male flowers, tear off the petals and carefully place them in the female ones. You can also pollinate the stigma of a female flower with a brush.
Why is proper planting of seedlings very important for the appearance of ovaries on cucumbers? Because if the cucumbers are too thick, they will not bear fruit. But this can be corrected by weeding the plants.
It is necessary to ensure timely harvesting. Overripe fruits interfere with the formation of a new ovary. There are some varieties that are recommended to be collected every other day or even every day, as they grow quite quickly.
To obtain the ovary and, as a consequence, good harvest There are a number of conditions that can be met to grow a certain crop.
One of the conditions proper cultivation cucumbers are well watered. Seedlings should not be watered with water colder than twenty-five degrees, but in any case the water should not be colder than the soil.
But an excess of moisture is just as bad as insufficient soil moisture. The main thing here is to strike the right balance. If the soil is waterlogged, it needs to be dried for several days. After the leaves dry out and slightly wilt, many female flowers will appear, which will lead to the appearance of cucumber ovaries. But again, do not overdry the soil, this can lead to the death of the plant.
Proximity groundwater can also have a detrimental effect on plant growth and yield. This is due to the fact that cucumbers have a fairly well developed root system, and such conditions can simply ruin it.
Ambient temperature is also a key factor for obtaining a good cucumber harvest. High temperatures can lead to the death of the plant; in fact, frosts also have a detrimental effect on the fruiting process.
Often the reason for the appearance of barren flowers and the lack of fruiting lies in the quality of the seeds. If fresh seeds are sown, most likely only male flowers (barren flowers) will grow, if two or three years ago, on the contrary, first female flowers will grow, then only male ones. If the age of the seeds cannot be determined, but you need to plant them, warming the seeds before planting, then female flowers will appear much earlier, along with male barren flowers.
For good seed germination, you need to monitor the level of phosphorus in the soil. Potassium fertilizers are also important.
There are varieties of cucumbers in which female flowers are formed later. These are late cucumbers. In such conditions, you need to wait a little longer for fruiting than usual.
Favorable conditions will be the hardening of swollen seeds. To do this, the swollen seeds are placed in the refrigerator for several days, then they are dried and sown. Such hardened seeds germinate earlier. They can germinate even at lower temperatures than usually required.
Optimal temperature for seed germination: twelve to thirteen degrees. Hardened seeds can germinate at temperatures of ten degrees Celsius.
An imbalance of nutrients is also a significant reason for the lack of ovary on cucumbers, when one microelement predominates in the soil and the other is absent. Disturbances in this balance can cause an excess nitrogen fertilizers in the soil. Because of such an excess, all the strength of the plant goes into the lush growth of leaves and barren flowers.
For good fruiting of cucumbers, an even content of nutrients in the soil is required. In order to normalize the soil, fertilizing with phosphate fertilizers or wood ash infusion is suitable. An extract from superphosphates is also suitable for these purposes. This extract is prepared at the rate of two tablespoons of the mixture per ten liters of hot water.
When nutrients in the soil are disturbed, many ovaries can form, but due to lack of strength they may fall off. Therefore, if enough flowers have formed on the plant, they need to be fed with an infusion of mullein and urea once every seven days. You can also find many recipes and tips on the Internet.
To ensure optimal content of organic matter in the soil, you need to place manure, humus or compost under the plants at the rate of one bucket per bucket. square meter soil.
On sandy soils, cucumbers need magnesium, so it is good to add Kalimag to such soil.
If all the negative factors that prevent the plant from bearing fruit normally are removed, but nothing helps, the cucumbers bloom, but the ovaries do not grow, as an option, you can pinch the top of the foliage. This will stop the growth of the stem in length, cause the growth of lateral branches and, as a result, the growth of female flowers.
To increase the plant's resistance to stressful situations, needs to be carried out foliar feeding cucumbers
