What is the difference between male and female cucumbers

Indoor cucumber varieties need the male flowers to be pinched off otherwise the fruit will taste bitter However, outdoor varieties need the male and female flowers to remain o the plant as the female flowers need pollinating in order to produce fruit. Or you can pick off a make flower and do the pollination yourself by brushing the pollen into the female stigma to fertise the fruit. Thanks for your response.

I have the same problem as Chantal, I have only male flowers and they have been flowering for at least a month. Trying to find an answer if anyone knows! Thanks very much! PS Does anyone know if lemon cucumber babies look different? I have never seen them. Get rid of the plants if they only have male flowers, My dad grows them commercially and will always thrown away these plants. Hi Adrien, Thank you for your comment. It is however a bumble bee.

There are several varieties of Bumble bee, some can be quite big but not al. Generally bumble bees are hairier that honey bees. The Bumble bees also generally have a longer proboscis tongues to get deep into tubular shaped flowers where the nectar is produced and fertilise the flower in the process.

Best wishes Neil. I cut these off to encourage others to grow. I feed the plant afterwards, so that it can recover and get stuck into producing more. I do this after an early harvest too, and it has given modestly good second harvests. I have planted English long cucumber s in my greenhouse for the first time.

How do I know whether it is a indoor or outdoor variety, male flower off or on? Thanks Ian. A friend has just ask me to ask this question, she can only produce male flowers. Is she lacking in something?. Just would like to hear the views of others who just might know the answer. You normally keep both male and female flowers on for outdoor type cucumbers, but just to make sure it is always best to read the instructions on the back of the seed packet.

Marketmore Cucumbers, is a recognised outdoor type cucumber where you should not remove the male flowers Which is a female and which is a male flower? The male flower also grows closer to the stem of the cucumber plant. Cucumber flowers […]. Thank you so much for the pictures and clear labelling! As a first time grower I feel a little more confident now to pinch the male flower of and hopefully get nice juicy cucumbers. Thanks so much just the info I needed. Very clear and informative article.

Looks like I am going to get a cucumber but it might taste bitter — all part of the learning curve! You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. Create a free website or blog at WordPress. Gardening tips to help create interesting gardens. How to identifying male and female flowers.

Cucumber flowers Behind the bright yellow female flower is a miniature cucumber. Female cucumber flower. For indoor varieties you do want to pick off the male flowers otherwise your developing cucumber to be pollinated by the male flower and the cucumber will taste bitter and not very pleasant.

So, it is possible to have cucumbers blooming, but not producing fruit. The time between the first development of male flowers and the female flowers depends on plant variety and environmental conditions.

Your problem may just be that the female blossoms have not formed yet. They should be forming soon. However, if you see the female flowers on your cucumber plants, but they are not "setting" fruit, then the problem may be that you do not have pollinators. In the past several years we have had various problems affecting the honey bee populations.

However, bumblebees are good pollinators for these plants. Small, native ground bees are also good pollinators. These ground bees are solitary bees that lay their eggs in holes in the ground. So, even without honey bees you can have successful pollination if you do not do anything to disrupt the other pollinators. However, if you are not getting pollination, there may be something pesticides or other management practices that have disrupted the life cycle of the other bees.

If that is the case, and if you are willing to pollinate the cucumbers, you can do it yourself. Each morning collect pollen from the stamens in the center of the male flowers and then transfer that pollen to the stigma in the center of the female flowers. Use a small, soft bristled paint brush to do this. The plant grows both male and female flowers on the same plant.

While both flowers are the same color and similar in appearance, there some differences that you can look for to help identify which flowers are male and which are female. Examine the flowers and take notice of how they grow and when they open. Male flowers generally outnumber the female flowers on most varieties of cucumber plants, and they open about 10 days before the female flowers.

For every one female flower, most plants produce 10 to 20 male flowers, but each female flower on the plant produces fruit. There are varieties of cucumbers available that produce more female flowers, and these varieties generally produce fruit earlier than others.