Cucumber - loving warmth and wet conditions vegetable. Sometimes, instead of the long-awaited cucumbers forming, the ovaries on the cucumbers do not develop, but dry out and fall off. Let's try to figure out why cucumber ovaries do not grow and what to do in this case, because this problem is familiar to many gardeners.
Recently, they have become more in demand bunch varieties cucumbers They bring big harvest, forming up to 7 ovaries. But, unfortunately, not every gardener and gardener can preserve them. The reasons for this can be very diverse, for example, improper application of organic fertilizer.
The quality of the seeds is of great importance in the formation of cucumber ovaries. So, those who sowed fresh seeds cannot count on the appearance of ovaries this year, since the plant, before forming female flowers, at first it will produce only barren flowers.
A different picture is observed when sowing with seeds two to three years old. Their characteristic feature female flowers appear earlier than male flowers or simultaneously with them.
When deciding why cucumber ovaries do not grow, one cannot but take into account this important point as a plant variety. If a bee-pollinated variety is planted, then it is necessary to pollinate female flowers by transferring pollen from male specimens to them.
If a cucumber is self-pollinating and, nevertheless, the ovaries either do not grow on it or dry out, then it is worth thinking about what the plant lacks in nutritional components. This could also happen.
Another reason for cucumbers not flowering can be too dense planting. That is, when sowing, you left little space between the plants. Because of this, light will not reach the bushes well, and ventilation will be difficult. The same goes for nutrients. They will not be able to enter the right quantity to each plant. That is why it is important to know the correct distance between bushes. It should be approximately 20 centimeters. If you are growing a single-stem variety in greenhouses, that is, its shoot growth is limited, then you don’t have to cut off the side shoots.
Most gardeners grow self-pollinating and pollinating-free varieties. However, traditional varieties of cucumbers that require pollination are also quite frequent guests in greenhouses. If the female flower is not fertilized, the cucumber ovary does not develop, turns yellow and falls off.
How to help the plant in this case?
It is necessary to promptly remove everything that is trying to grow from the axils of three to five leaves, and pinch all the stepsons that form above above the second leaf. Many gardeners are afraid of pinching, mistakenly believing that this procedure will reduce the yield. However, this must be done without fail and ruthlessly. Stepchildren that will grow from the axils no longer in the main lash, but from the axils of the stepsons, i.e. so-called second-order shoots need to be pinched after the first leaf.
Cucumbers need to be fed regularly with watering, once every 7-10 days. But, depending on the stage of development, the composition of cucumber fertilizers should change: during the growth of green mass, the plant needs more nitrogen and phosphorus, and during the period of cucumber filling, phosphorus and potassium. If the plants are fed with an infusion of mullein, grass, chicken droppings and other nitrogen-rich but potassium-poor fertilizers even after flowering, the cucumber ovaries will turn yellow. The peculiarity of potassium deficiency is expressed in the curling and yellowing of the baby cucumber at the end. In this case, it is good to spray (and also add to nitrogen fertilizers) the plant with a solution of wood ash and calcium nitrate (3 tablespoons of ash and 10 grams of nitrate per bucket of water), or full mineral fertilizer type Mortar, Kemira.
Cucumber ovaries can also suffer due to improper watering regime. Plants grown in a greenhouse where the air temperature is extremely high are at risk. Do not forget to irrigate the plantings with warm, settled water at least 2 times a week, and if the summer is hot, this should be done daily. Many summer residents believe that cucumbers are comfortable in a greenhouse and the harvest will be protected from adverse factors. environment, but in fact, greenhouse conditions turn out to be very harsh for bushes.
Diseases of cucumbers - common reason yellowing of the ovary and leaves. This and powdery mildew, and fusarium. Greenhouse whitefly attacks cucumbers, melon aphid and familiar to many summer residents spider mite. Both in the greenhouse and in open ground diseases can be prevented. Due to damage to the roots, there is not enough nutrition for fruit formation, so the ovaries fall off. To save the plant, the lashes are bent to the surface of the soil, covering the healthy part of the shoot with soil. After time, the vine will take root and the plant will recover.
We have described the most common causes of yellowing and drying of cucumber ovaries. Caring for plants is a matter that requires regimen and effort. But everything goes for the benefit of the harvest, which will be good if you have not skimped on taking care of your beds all season.
Have a great harvest and a successful season!
Barren flowers on cucumbers (that is what male flowers that do not form ovaries are called) cause concern among many summer residents. The excitement in this case is completely justified, because such flowers do not form fruits, which means that with their abundance, the harvest of greens will leave much to be desired. Why does barren flower form on cucumbers, is it needed, and what to do in this situation?
Mass formation of male flowers can occur due to several common reasons, the main part of which is directly related to violations of the technology for growing cucumbers and improper care after them. However, in most cases the situation is fixable - it is only important to accurately determine the source of the problem.
To begin with, we should mention one blunder, which can immediately destroy all hopes for the harvest. Thus, by completely cutting off barren flowers, some summer residents expect that after this, female flowers with ovaries will begin to form on the plants. This is strictly forbidden, since cucumbers need empty flowers for normal fertilization.
Let us give a common example when novice gardeners, noticing the appearance of much-desired cucumber ovaries, without regret remove the barren flowers adjacent to them, considering them useless. A couple of weeks after this procedure, the female flowers begin to wither, and a little later they begin to mold, rot and fall off. It would seem, what kind of attack could strike a healthy-looking plant?
In reality, there is no trace of any disease. It’s just that female flowers (precisely those with ovaries) needed pollination by male flowers, which were so mercilessly torn off. Having waited in vain for pollination, the small ovaries withered, after which they became victims of moldy fungus. However, if male flowers were present nearby, excellent greens would form from the ovaries after pollination.
Let's look at several main reasons why a lot of barren flowers form on cucumbers. More often, this problem occurs as a result of the influence of factors such as:
Sowing fresh, unheated seeds from last year's harvest
This error is considered the most common and is almost always the source of the problem described. Practical observations show that seeds obtained in the previous year germinate more slowly after sowing, and plants grown from them produce an abundance of barren flowers. The situation is further aggravated if the seeds were stored not in a warm place before sowing, but in a cool place and, as a result, did not have time to warm up and ripen.
To avoid the appearance of barren flowers on cucumbers, seedlings should be sown with 2-4 seeds. summer term storage It is they who, in the opinion experienced gardeners, have the greatest productivity.
It should be noted that, according to observations experienced summer residents, a lot of barren flowers are also formed on cucumbers when amateur gardeners use seeds independently obtained from hybrid fruits.
Crop density
An old folk wisdom that should be remembered when planting not only cucumbers, but also other crops, says: “Don’t plant thickly - it will be empty!” Crowding of crops actually threatens not only the appearance of barren flowers, but also weak growth and slow development of plants. In addition, with very dense plantings, the risk of disease and pest damage increases.
To prevent this, cucumber seedlings should be planted following the prescribed pattern and maintaining the prescribed distance between plants. On average, per 1 sq.m. It is recommended to plant no more than 4-5 seedlings (depending on their variety).
Placing plants in shaded areas
Cucumbers are a demanding crop that suffers from a lack of light. It should be noted that plants react negatively even to the shadow that they themselves cast, being planted too close to each other. Lack of light not only provokes the appearance of barren flowers on cucumbers, but also the massive fall of the ovaries. These problems can be avoided if you provide the cucumbers with adequate lighting.
(Note: Here it should be said separately about cases when solar activity reaches its peak, and the temperature in the greenhouse rises at an alarming rate. In this situation, soft, diffused light is required immediately after planting and during plant care. This can be achieved by spraying outside greenhouses with an aqueous solution of chalk.)
Watering cold water
Few novice gardeners know that the homeland of cucumbers is hot, sunny India, and it is their exotic origin that explains the increased demands that they place not only on light, but also on regular watering warm water. It is unacceptable to water them with cold water, since this will inevitably lead to root diseases, massive shedding of ovaries, the appearance of barren flowers and even plant death. Watering should be carried out only with warm water warmed in the sun, trying not to wash away the soil at the roots and not to get on the leaves.
Despite the fact that cucumbers do not tolerate drought and respond gratefully to regular watering, at the same time they cannot tolerate stagnant moisture in the soil. By generously flooding the plantings (even with the best intentions), inexperienced summer residents sometimes do not even suspect what damage they are causing to their garden. Excessive watering can not only cause the appearance of barren flowers on cucumbers, but also the fall of the ovaries, the development of dangerous diseases and rotting of the roots.
Cold weather
It has been noticed that when root warmth is provided, cucumbers feel most comfortable and readily form ovaries. And, on the contrary, if the roots of plants are constantly exposed to cold, then bountiful harvest You don't have to wait for the green ones. The culprit is the notorious barren flower, which is formed due to cooling of the soil and air.
So, in the old days, gardeners, trying to provide optimal conditions To grow cucumbers, they laid beds of straw manure under them, which warmed both the humus in the holes and the roots of the plants themselves. Nowadays, many summer residents successfully replace straw manure with old leaves and other types of biofuels.
Based on the above factors leading to the mass formation of male flowers, it follows that the appearance of barren flowers can be avoided by fulfilling the following conditions:
The formation of female flowers with ovaries can be stimulated by briefly drying the soil. The duration of drying is determined by the condition of the plants - as soon as they wilt slightly, watering should be resumed, another feeding should be done and a little fertile soil should be added under the cucumbers.
It is also recommended to resort to pinching the top of the main stem above the 5-6 leaf. If this was not done in a timely manner, it is not forbidden to pinch the top, regardless of the number of leaves. After pinching the main stem, the side shoots begin to grow more intensively, on which female flowers will subsequently form.
During the fruiting period, it is advisable to harvest on time, trying not to overexpose the ripening cucumbers. Timely removal of greens stimulates the formation of new ovaries and, as a result, leads to an increase in the number of fruits.
Before you find out how to increase the ovary on cucumbers, you need to know the main reasons for their wilting and drying of the ovaries.
The reasons for yellowing of the ovaries of cucumbers may be: characteristics of the cucumber variety, temperature changes, irregular watering, thickened planting of cucumbers, lack of nutrients, improper formation of bushes, as well as various plant diseases. All this can be monitored, prevented in advance and prevent yellowing of the ovaries on your plants. 
Yellowed ovaries inevitably fall off and cannot produce a harvest; accordingly, the yield of cucumbers from your plot decreases sharply. Therefore, it is in your interests to eliminate all causes of yellowing and falling of the ovaries.
Modern productive varieties cucumbers, especially those that do not require pollination, are distinguished by a large number of ovaries; they are located in each leaf axil. The plant cannot “feed” such a quantity of fruits, so it gets rid of some or all of the ovaries at once. To prevent this from happening, you should remove excess ovaries, cutting them off before the flowers bloom. On average, 25-30 fruits can form and ripen on one cucumber bush. 
Provided that only part of the ovaries turn yellow and dry out, and the rest develop normally, nothing needs to be done, the plant itself knows how many fruits it can feed.
It is not always possible to create in a greenhouse favorable conditions for growing vegetable crops, many summer residents complain about temperature changes. So, during the day the sun heats the greenhouse, and at night it becomes cool, which leads to undesirable changes. As a rule, it is difficult to influence the temperature, so it is easier to provide the plants with good nutrition.
Cucumbers love water very much, but there are nuances here. Before cucumbers bloom and during fruiting, cucumbers need to be watered often - 3 times a week, and in hot weather - every day. However, during flowering, for the formation more female flowers, it is recommended to stop watering for several days so that the soil dries and the leaves wilt slightly. After the appearance of female flowers with ovaries, watering is immediately resumed, and in larger volumes than before flowering. If the soil is too dry at this time, the cucumber ovary will fall off. 
Another important point - do not water the cucumbers with cold water. The temperature of water and soil should be approximately the same, around 23-25 degrees (ideally). Watering cucumbers with cold water not only promotes the appearance of a large number of male flowers, but also leads to yellowing and falling off of the cucumber ovaries.
Many people make this mistake and it often leads to the ovaries starting to turn yellow. Be sure to remove everything that somehow tries to “climb out” from the axils, which are located in the area of the first 3-5 leaves. In addition, all those stepsons on cucumbers that will definitely grow a little taller will need to be pinched above the 2nd leaf. Many people simply don’t do this at all, thinking that if they carry out pinching, the yield will be significantly reduced. But it is still necessary to do this. It often happens that stepsons actively grow from the sinuses, which are not present on the main lashes, but from those sinuses that are located on the stepsons. It is these same shoots that are called second-order shoots. They will definitely need to be pinched after the 1st leaf.
If cucumbers are planted too densely, the plants, during the growth process, suffer from a lack of nutritional area, which leads to the development of diseases and the fall of the ovaries. To avoid these unpleasant moments, always carefully study the information about planting frequency located on the back of the seed packages. And, following these instructions, carry out planting work. 
A very common cause is a lack of all essential nutrients in the soil. The fact is that for the formation of a fruit from the ovary, a lot of a substance such as potassium is consumed from the soil. If there is not enough of it in the ground, then the ovary cannot properly set and produce a harvest.
That is why it is necessary to constantly feed cucumber plants. During fruiting, cucumbers need potassium, and small quantities nitrogen. There is a lot of potassium in wood ash. And as a nitrogen fertilizer urea may appear. However, it is best to feed cucumbers with liquid chicken or cow droppings.
Of the pests that bother cucumbers, the most annoying is the aphid, which affects plantings both in open ground and in greenhouses. Due to the precocity of this crop, use chemicals dangerous, so it is better to give preference to biological products such as Verticillin. You can also fight aphids with a strong stream of water or by rubbing the affected leaves with ash.
To strengthen plant immunity and prevent diseases such as ascochyta blight, powdery mildew, downy mildew, it is worth using “Gaupsin” or “Mikosan”. It is recommended to treat cucumbers with biological preparations after germination, when planting seedlings, during flowering and, of course, when the first signs of disease appear.
The more developed root system, the stronger the plant. To have large, powerful roots in cucumbers, this needs to be done from the very moment of planting the seeds:
In order for plants to remain healthy throughout the growing season, it is necessary that the soil around the base of the stem is always dry. This will help avoid rotting of the root system. On those days when it is dry and sunny weather, with temperatures above +25 C, the greenhouse can be very heat even with regular ventilation.
It is also important to remember that both sprinkling and proper watering cucumbers should be carried out with warm, heated water. The water temperature should be about +200C +250C, or even better, approximately the same temperature as the soil in the greenhouse. This will avoid damage to the surface root hairs and get a decent harvest from the plant. 
How to feed cucumbers to grow? The question is quite important, since cucumbers love well-fertilized soil, warm temperature and it is best to plant them in greenhouses or greenhouses.
In order for cucumbers to form multiple ovaries and have less empty color, it is necessary to use special preparations that help plants in this matter. Most often, summer residents and gardeners use preparations such as Epin or Zircon.
These products must be used according to the instructions included with the package. It is categorically undesirable to deviate in one direction or the other.
In addition, a remedy such as boric acid. This one is cheap affordable drug increases crop yield, stimulates germination planting material, and also nourishes the roots of plants.
Stepchildren of a cucumber are shoots that take away the plant’s strength, as a result of which it does not bear fruit. To avoid this, excess shoots must be removed. Usually considered unnecessary side shoots in the axils of the first 6 leaves. In addition, it is also recommended to get rid of ovaries in the axils of the first 4 leaves.
The pinching procedure must be carried out very carefully. It is extremely important not to damage the main shoot, as well as its flowers. To prevent this from happening, you need to slightly pull the leaves back with one hand, and carefully pinch off the excess sprout from the stem with the other. If cucumber planting is done correctly, the first cucumbers should appear by mid-July.
You can plant cucumbers when the stepsons reach a size of 4-6 cm. This way they can be seen better, but the plant has not yet spent too much effort on such stepsons. But if the stepsons reach sizes greater than 20 cm, then the loss of harvest may be 2.5 kg.
The pollination problem can be solved in the following ways. If you plan to grow cucumbers in a greenhouse, then it is better to take seeds of self-pollinating varieties. In open ground, you can use any variety - in this case, pollinating insects will come to the rescue. But even if you initially made a mistake with the variety for the greenhouse or the insects hid in cold summer conditions, you need to take pollination into your own hands. The greenhouse must be opened in daytime days. This will allow insects to fly in, and will also reduce the too high temperature in the heat of the day. You can also use mechanically, i.e. independently transfer pollen from male flowers to female flowers. It is easy to distinguish them: the flower on the ovary is female, the barren flower is male. You need to touch the male flower with a soft brush, and then carefully, trying not to shake off the pollen, touch the female one. Repeat the procedure until all the flowers are pollinated.
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. Cucumber roots do not like 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.
It often happens like this: you planted cucumbers, the seeds were good, you selected the varieties, and you wanted to get a harvest of cucumbers early, but they still aren’t there. The vines of cucumbers are good green, but there are no cucumbers, what is the reason?
The plants bloom profusely, but ovaries do not form; there are several reasons for this.
Barren flowers, of which there are a large number on cucumber bushes, are male flowers and without them it is impossible to get an ovary.
Therefore, the mistake of gardeners is that they begin to pick off barren flowers; this will not help to get more ovaries. The number of male and female flowers is influenced by several factors, such as varietal characteristics, seed quality and growing conditions for cucumber plants.
A peculiarity of the flowering of cucumbers is that only male flowers appear first on the main stem of cucumbers, and then male and female flowers are formed alternately. Towards the top of the main stem, the number of female flowers becomes predominant; less often male flowers (empty flowers) predominate. Therefore, gardeners often cannot wait for the first cucumbers for a long time, it seems that they began to bloom a long time ago, but there are no ovaries.
What is the reason for the appearance of many barren flowers on cucumbers? First of all, this is influenced by the freshness of the seeds; last year's seeds produce more barren flowers. Then it may not have been carried out pre-sowing preparation
seeds, did not warm them up. Cucumbers are very demanding of light,
in shaded places they do not form female flowers well; shading can be caused by too dense planting of plants, they shade each other. Intense heat and waterlogging of the soil, imbalance of fertilizer application, with a predominance of nitrogen.
All these reasons can lead to a predominance of empty flowers on cucumbers over female flowers and, as a consequence, a decrease in yield.
What to do to stimulate the appearance of ovaries on cucumbers? For sowing cucumbers, it is better to use seeds with a shelf life of 2-4 years. , V The longer the seeds are stored, the better their quality. Plants grown from such seeds give more harvest, they begin to form female flowers earlier and, naturally, this leads to the early formation of ovaries in the lower part of the bush.
If you collected cucumber seeds yourself, then before sowing them, they need to be heat treated. To do this, the seeds must be placed in a fabric bag and hung over a heating radiator, let them hang there from the beginning of winter for 2.5-3.0 months, this will age the seeds and increase their productivity.
You can also increase the yield by using special preparations by soaking the seeds in them before sowing.
You can increase the formation of ovaries on cucumbers by adding to the hole before planting organic fertilizers with addition superphosphate.
If, nevertheless, a lot of barren flowers appear, it is necessary to pinch the top of the main stem, which will lead to the growth of side shoots, on which more female flowers are formed.
A delay in the appearance of female flowers on cucumbers can be caused by watering with cold water, This is especially important in the first time after germination and growth. Water must be poured into containers and barrels to warm it up, or mixed with hot water, bringing the water temperature to 25 degrees. If the garden is small and planting cucumbers does not take up much space, this can be done.
It is better to water in the afternoon, when the water in the container and the soil have warmed up. However, you should not water too late in the evening, as this is harmful to the plants.
There is one feature in growing cucumbers that allows you to achieve maximum yield from the bush. Cucumbers love moisture, but do not like flooding. Good watering is necessary for cucumbers during the first period of growth and during fruit growth.
But during flowering, cucumbers need to arrange “fasting” days, that is, stop watering for several days, drying out the soil, this will stimulate the appearance of more female flowers. When the ovaries appear, watering must be resumed.
In hot weather, cucumbers need to be watered every day and even twice a day., in cloudy weather you should refrain from watering.
Your task is to organize for each bush drip irrigation, which will provide the cucumber bush with the necessary moisture for a long period.
For example, I placed a 1.5 liter bottle of water under each bush, and at the bottom of the bottle I pierced a tiny hole with an awl. Thus, 1.5 liters of water runs away from me per day. The cucumber bush receives all this water; it does not evaporate or flow out. If you organize drip irrigation under the cucumbers, you will achieve the preservation and ripening of all the cucumber ovaries that appear, which will lead to even greater productivity of the cucumber bush.
These are all the reasons for the low fruiting of cucumbers and ways to restore it.
Have a good harvest, friends!
