[chicken soup]

I have grown my first cucumbers this year and hubby tells me there are about twenty small cucumbers growing on one plant.  When I mentioned this to someone at my allotment they said I should reduce the number as not all of them would grow and mature.  Is this correct?  Also been told I should remove any male flowers that form I presume they are the ones without the bump behind them.  Why do you need to remove them I thought you would need them to pollinate the female flowers?  Sorry to sound so daft just unsure what to do and being given different advice from people at my allotment and know I can trust you on the forum to put me right.  

[Stevens706]

I would just let the plant do it’s own thing, not all of the small cucumbers will survive some will just turn yellow and fall off, if you do get a lot just pick them when they are quite small 6 – 9 inch.

As to the male flowers it depends on the variety of cucumber, some are all female and you can ignore any males other varieties, usually older types (not F1) need the males removing or if pollinated the cucumbers tastes bitter. Read the seed packet it will tell you what to do.

Hope this helps

[gobs]

Ignore the man, listen to Stephen and let them get on with it.

a) one or 2 cuke plants can produce more than you can muster
b) you do NOT want them to mature, far from it!

[DD.]

I just let mine go. Had 21 cues so far & still going strong. The variety I'm growing are alledged to give up to 50 per plant. (Only got 4 plants!).

[Trillium]

I do the same thing - let the plants sort themselves out. As long as you keep them well watered regularly, you'll not get bitter cukes. A little feed every few days helps as well. If anything, I find I get too many cukes, which I can then share with family.

[peterjf]

how i do my cucumbers, had great success for 5 years , head swelling ,

my cucs , i count out the number of cucumbers per plant, then i take out every third one,

then those that are left, i count 2 leafs past every cucumber in take off the the leafs that are left,

every morning a cucumber wakes up and thinks to itself , howcan i die today , cucumbers are very delicate plants ,

allways work on your cucumbers before you tens to anything else in your greenhouse, waash your hands afterwards , thensort out the rest of your greenhouse , cheers ,

[Noah'strolly]

My cucumber is dead  :cry: - except for a few leaves. After weeks of careful tending, plenty of fruit and a good recovery from an attack of spider mites I went on holiday leaving mum and Dad in charge. We got back yesterday to find all but the newest small leaves dry and covered in mites.  I don't think there's anything my folks could have done as bifenthrin says only one dose per crop on cucs but its so upsetting!

[Aunt Sally]

I've got about a dozen cucumbers in my fridge (Isla) I've run out of neighbours to give them to  :roll:

[mumsy]

I just let mine go. Had 21 cues so far & still going strong. The variety I'm growing are alledged to give up to 50 per plant. (Only got 4 plants!).

Carmen?  Mine are doing well too

[chickchick]

I just let mine go. Had 21 cues so far & still going strong. The variety I'm growing are alledged to give up to 50 per plant. (Only got 4 plants!).

ive had 3 cucumbers go rotten and now 1 growing good, although its a bit curly, ho can you get sooooo many? :shock:

[chickchick]

I've got about a dozen cucumbers in my fridge (Isla) I've run out of neighbours to give them to  :roll:

wish i lived nearer to you, as my 2 yr old daughter lives on cucumbers (fussy mare!), she has them at lunch and tea times, im growin a cucumber plant and only have 1 small one growing! :roll:

[Aunt Sally]

Isla is a very nice mini variety for the greenhouse - all female.  I'd highly recommend them !

[DD.]

I just let mine go. Had 21 cues so far & still going strong. The variety I'm growing are alledged to give up to 50 per plant. (Only got 4 plants!).

Carmen?  Mine are doing well too

Spot on!

Got the seeds free from T & M with the "Spend £10 - get the most expensive packet free" offer.

Just left them to it in the pots, didn't have to resort to a calculator to work out which fruit or leaf to cull!  Got another 4 or so to cut very soon