Hand pollination of Cucumbers

Hand pollinating cucumbers and how to tell the difference between male and female flowers

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[ZaphedBeebleBrox]

My cucumbers are mostly females and fewer males. I started hand pollinating yesterday and I look forward to a heavy crop. I pollinated like 20 female flowers.

[MrStepheninKY]

@ZaphedBeebleBrox

Sounds like you are off to a great start on those cucs, hoping you harvest a truck load :)

[bnbob01]

I have crossed some Cucurbits when we run out of male flowers for pollination... Used a Kent pumpkin to pollinate a Black Jack Zucchini twice this year without any problems & have seen others do it in clips on you tube... Just thought I would share as it might work with the cucumbers as well as they are all in the Cucurbit family as far as I know..

Have a great one...

Rob

[MrStepheninKY]

@bnbob01 As far as I know it does not work with cucumbers at all. The reason is they are in the same family but not the same specie, They are just two genetically different. Kent pumpkin can pollinate a Zucchini and vise versa because they are in the same species (pepo) . Something like Butternut and zucchini would not cross either. I believe there are three spices of Cucurbits found in gardens.

[MrStepheninKY]

Last frost was around the end of April, but the cucs did not get in the grow bags till much later in my 5/23/11 update they only had 1-2 true leaves, So just wait for it, I am sure yours will take off too, most the growth has been in the last two weeks. Little miracle grow bloom booster and 1 TBS of molasses to a gallon of water is all I have given them.

[stymye]

I planted 2 different varietys and have more cucumbers than I know what to do with ,,, didn't think about hand pollination ,, but it hasn't been an issue so far ...lol

[MrStepheninKY]

@stymye Once the ones in the garden catch up I am afraid I will have that same issue. I have 4 varieties in the main garden. Muncher, tasty green, straight eight, and Armenian cucumbers

[AJBiddle7]

I've seen people pollinate with a designated paint brush (clean obviously) and it doesn't stick to your finger as much cause no oil from your fingeres : )

[GrowSomethingGreen]

Great video, I'm gonna try it with my cucumbers.

[alz123alz]

Thank you. Very educational, plus, you have a nice voice.

[alz123alz]

Thank you. Very educational.

[Magesandrogue]

Hot Dang!! thanks for the information. I always wonder about the different flowers on my cukes. Leaving it up to nature, I only get about 4-5 cukes on my plant and wondered how I can get more to produce. My bees aren't always around. Another thing I learn is that cukes are heavy nutrient utilizers. gonna try qtip...as I got fat fingers. cheers.

[multiponics]

Good info, thanks. This will come in handy when I try cucumbers indoors in our system.

[mediamaker2000]

@MrStepheninKY Thanks! Good to know!