Most nursery workers understand how important female cucumber flowers in a garden are.
Yet, not everyone knows how to increase female flowers in cucumbers for their garden properly. If you also get stuck in this issue, visiting our gardening guides might put an end to your riddle. It’s time to reach the answer.
Does Cucumber Have Male And Female Flowers?
Like most cucurbit families and monoecious plants, cucumbers produce separate female and male flowers on a single plant in terms of sex determination. Regarding the botanical aspect, a female flower has a pistil containing the ovule, while a male flower includes stamens producing pollen.
To reach the proper pollination, both female flowers need to be combined with the male ones to generate the viable cucumber seeds and then cucumber fruit. However, one male flower may pollinate around five females at the same time.
How To Increase Female Flowers In Cucumber
Water and Weeds
You should bear in mind that female flower plants develop well in moist and fertile soil. Yet, if the soil doesn’t have sufficient moisture, more male cucumber flowers are born. Like it or not, when you forget to water them, you are paving the way for more male flowers to come.
The proper watering frequency is twice a week, 2 inches each time. This will maintain enough moisture to stimulate the development of female flowers.
Keep an eye on the rain. As it rains, you can skip water on those days and just do it in the morning. Excessive water does no good for your plant.
It is also essential to put weed growth into account. Weeds not only hinder moisture evaporation but also compete for nutrients. Surefire, cucumber flowers, especially female ones, will want to stay away from these enemies.
Temperature
The external temperature is vital to determine the number of female flowers. This is true for any species you plant in your garden, even the Gynoecious cucumbers which are popular species in recent markets.
You have to care about your place’s weather factors. Female flowers tend to grow more in low temperatures. Yet, the male ones thrive in higher temperatures. Normally, most female flowers are generated when the outside temperature ranges from 40-60°F.
When there is a sudden change in temperature from 65-90°F, you will see more male cucumber flowers. Although adjusting the temperature is out of your control, you might predict how many female flowers will be in production based on the temperature condition.
Pest Control And Fertilizers
If you are putting your faith in harvesting more, you need to ensure that no bugs or pests may destroy them. Eventually, you should concentrate on the females as they deliver the most crop.
Try to apply some pesticide to prevent or kill off any insects from your garden.
There is a wide range of pesticides on the recent market. It would help if you cared about some ingredients in the pesticides. You should be more heedful of their ingredient, whether it is suitable for the soil or its growing season or not, to pick the most appropriate product for your garden.
Some greenkeepers value the organic matter and don’t intend to utilize nitrogen fertilizers or chemicals; if so, look at some ways below.
- Use animal compost to prevent bugs or worms.
- Cover the monoecious cucumber plant with mesh netting in the morning when they commence growing. Don’t forget to take out this net in the afternoon, which allows it to reach the sunshine.
- Consider planting Gynoecious cucumber plants which are well-known for robust stamina to oppose the attack of insects.
Besides, nitrogen fertilization is a must to foster the growth of the plant, but too much of it can come with adverse effects. Particularly, the denser the nitrogen concentration, the less female flowers are produced. The point here is to balance the amount.
Plant and Sow
It typically takes around three or five days for germinating plant seeds. In the first phase, the proper temperature should fall from 80-90°F. Nevertheless, when these cucumber seeds sprout, you have to lower the heat to push more female flower growth.
The best way to encourage sprouting and having female flower buds is to sow your cucumber unisexual seeds indoors then transplant them. Make sure you do not bother their roots as you put them in a pot, the ground or its exact location for future development.
Spacing
When you estimate a twofold yield, you need to focus on which place will be suitable for them to plant.
Spacing is crucial to reap more female flowers. Males can grow overcrowded, yet female cucumber flowers can not.
So how long should they be apart? Normally, to collect more female cucumber flowers, you should let them be around 18-24 inches apart. If you have some cucumber rows or cucumber lines, the ideal distance is approximately 24-36 inches.
Pruning
The cucumber variety is well-known for spreading. In some cases, this feature will be a good thing; you should also note that female buds need more air. Especially if you plant your cucumber lines next to some vines, this process will get worse and worse.
When you get enough female cucumber flowers as expected, you can allow them to spread freely. This step effectively cuts off the airflow, restricting female cucumber flowers from growing more.
Otherwise, periodically pruning your cucumbers is advisable, which leads to better air circulation and more female plant flowers production.
It is possible to utilize a stick or wire cage to prune your cucumber plants. Don’t forget to place the wire around the plant. By doing that, it will push airflow with more enclosure.
The wire needs to be firm enough to handle the maximum weight of these cucumbers and prevent damage and breaking.
Why Cucumber Female Flowers Not Opening?
Environmental conditions may stress the plant and impair the agricultural production, notably the female cucumber flower development, which might make them not bloom or open. In particular, these causes might be nutrient deficiency, lack of light, excessive heat or cold snap, insect damage or pressure, improper watering, or choosing the wrong insecticides.
The Bottom Lines
So far, you have no doubt got some great hints about how to increase female flowers in cucumbers in your garden. Just bear in mind that female cucumber flower development is not as strong as their counterparts. Thus, you need to be far more mindful of the ideal factors, especially weather conditions, to push the vegetative growth and female flower production to bloom wisely.
We hope that our above ways in this page might help you give your cucumber field thoughtful care. Depending on your specific garden, find out which option is the most proper for you.