Cucumbers yellowing and dying!

[Pete4242]

Hi.
I just started with gardening and enjoying it. I am planting in pots. I am growing a few variety now among which cucumbers...
The plants are growing nicely, bearing fruit but while still small, the tip of the cucumber turns yellow and then dies - maybe an inch or so.
I am getting good production but not growing???
What am I doing wrong?
There's sand on the leaves - living in dubai, sand winds yesterday.
Thanks.
Pete

 

[Chuck]

I would say the problem is poor or lack of pollination.

 

[oneeye]

Since you have tiny cucumbers on the plant that means you have proper pollination or else there would only be flowers and no cucumbers.. Improper watering and fertilizing can both result in yellow cucumbers. The cucumber roots are shallow and small and need a good water holding soil to maintain proper cucumber growth. If you are growing in the ground use plenty of compost and if in a container use vermiculite to better hold water and nutrients for longer periods of time. . . I can tell by looking at the adult leaves on your plant that it is very thirsty in the photo.

 

[Pete4242]

Thanks for the replies, really appreciated.

So I topped up the soil in the pot as in the pictures. I am using the type of soil as shown in the picture.
As for watering, I am watering it in the morning, quantities until water start dripping in the below tray.
I had 8 plants in this pot but now left with 4 only. Not sure if it is small for all the 8 or is it some kind disease, coz I saw leaves nibbled and yellowing... I sprayed it with a mixture of veg oil+soap+water... still to see if it is working.

Before adding soil

After adding soil

Compost I am using

Fertilizer

Plant tonic - from time to time

 

[oneeye]

No need to add anymore fertilizer since its time-release. Since you added the soil on top, the water holding capacity will have increased enough to maintain the moisture. That being said, "now" you need to allow the top inch of soil to dry well before watering again. Don't let the plant set in water in the tray at all, now that you have cucumbers and blooms. You need to practice wet to dry cycles with watering and your plant should take off.

 

[Chuck]

Since you have tiny cucumbers on the plant that means you have proper pollination or else there would only be flowers and no cucumbers.. Improper watering and fertilizing can both result in yellow cucumbers. The cucumber roots are shallow and small and need a good water holding soil to maintain proper cucumber growth. If you are growing in the ground use plenty of compost and if in a container use vermiculite to better hold water and nutrients for longer periods of time. . . I can tell by looking at the adult leaves on your plant that it is very thirsty in the photo.

I hate to disagree with you but the lack of or improper pollination causes yellowing of tiny fruit. Not only on cucumbers but also on squash and melons. All cucurbits will suffer from this. Cucurbits have both male and female flowers and the female flowers always start with a tiny cuc, melon, squash. Thats how you can tell the difference between male and female flowers. On tiny cucs such as shown it is lack of pollination, on larger fruit improper pollination shows as deformities i.e. fat cucs with pointed ends, hourglass shaped fruit, curved and pointed fruit etc. All cucurbits will have tiny fruit at first. Having tiny fruit has NOTHING to do with pollination. Only after the flower with the fruit has been pollinated does growth of the fruit actually begin. Non pollination will cause yellowing and abortion of the fruit

 

[Pete4242]

Ok, pollination! I have had earlier 2 deformed cucumbers exactly like Chuck is explaining, fat with pointed ends, maybe 3-4 inches (this is small size variety)... so it must be it I guess.
I watched a couple of videos on "hand pollinating" but there really should be a better way...isn't it?
I did the hand pollination method today. Let's wait for the results
- pete

 

[Chuck]

Ok, pollination! I have had earlier 2 deformed cucumbers exactly like Chuck is explaining, fat with pointed ends, maybe 3-4 inches (this is small size variety)... so it must be it I guess.
I watched a couple of videos on "hand pollinating" but there really should be a better way...isn't it?
I did the hand pollination method today. Let's wait for the results
- pete

For complete hand pollination one has to do it numerous times. Temperature, humidity, the length of time between bloom opening and pollinating are all factors. One must make sure to get ample pollen to the ovaries so therefore numerous attempts at hand pollinating must be done. Did you ever watch insects when they pollinate a plant. They come back time after time day after day. This is Mother Natures way of complete pollination. I have tried hand pollination on squash. I have found that humidity has a great effect. Too much humidity and the pollen becomes sticky and stays together almost as if glued. With very little humidity the pollen separates too easily. The following link will help explain what is going on.

Understanding Flowering Habits in Cucumbers

This agronomic spotlight discusses the different flowering patterns in cucumber varieties, which are either monoecious or gynoecious.

seminis-us.com

 

[Pete4242]

Great article, much appreciated Chuck!

 

[oneeye]

If the vines are healthy and growing in full sun, female flowers should appear in due time. If you have to use a hand pollination there is something wrong because cucumbers pollinate very easily. When a cucumber plant is young it will only produce male flowers and when it becomes mature it will develop female flowers and pollinate itself. However if there's any kind of complication with the plant or environment the plant will lack female flowers due to poor growing conditions. . If that's the case you can NOT use male flowers to pollinate male flowers, which is In your case. So if you bring the plants back to good health, the female flowers will develop and you will get big seeded cucumbers. Cucumbers are not hard to pollinate if they are healthy. .call the seed co 1-800 # and ask if they have to be hand pollinated outdoors? Handpollenating is a big pain in the a_s and if you want to do that by all means go ahead. That's my point. Good luck

 

[Chuck]

There are 3 types of cucumbers on the market today. The first is Gynoecious of which most of todays hybrids are. This type has only female flowers but it still needs pollination from the second type of cucumbers called Monoecious. The second type of cucumber is the aforementioned Monoecious type. This type of cucumber has both male and female flowers. It is also the type of cucumber that @Pete4242 has. This is shown in the pictures he posted. Then there is the third type of cucumber the Parthenocarpic or better known as the seedless cucumber and it has no need to pollinate at all. Cucumbers are NOT easy to pollinate even if the weather (humidity) is not a detrimental factor. Bees and insects have no problem at all except during high humidity but, they come back time and time again. Male flowers are produced first and have no baby fruit attached. A female flower always has a tiny fruit attached and as the bud developes so does the tiny fruit. It will stay very small as the flower develops and finally opens. The little fruit at this time will be about an inch long. Just because the flower has opened does NOT mean that it will be receptive to pollen. This is why it usually takes more than one try when hand pollinating and why insect pollinators come back numerous times. CUCURBITS (CUCUMBERS) ARE NOT SELF POLLINATING. They MUST have insect pollinators or a human hand with a brush. Cucurbits are not like tomatoes which actually are self pollinating.

 

[Pete4242]

Thanks Oneeye. In fact I am getting both flowers, male and female but the thing is that female flowers are not developing into mature cucumbers as I showed in the pics.
I am trying the hand pollination just to get some confirmations to Chuck's article, where pollination is the logical culprit. If it is the case then I know what's wrong - no hand pollinating is definitely not something that I want to do )
I am living in Dubai, it's a different ecosystem... i dont see much bees and flying insects except flies when temperatures are not high... maybe cucumbers are not the right choice for me under those conditions. I am trying also with cherry tomatoes, strawberries, mint, basil, green peas and got me now seeds for red capsicum.
Just enjoying gardening!
I really appreciate your time and information shared.
Here are some pics

Strawberries and (right) mint still to grow

Cherry tomatoes

Green peas, basil & spring onions & garlic

Avocado tree

Cheers!
- pete

 

[oneeye]

No disrespect to Chuck, because he certainly knows what he's talking about and he is the Expert. I have learned a lot from Chucks post using this thread on cucumbers. If he says hand pollinate then give it a try and repost again with the results. I have harvested 100s of cucumbers from many different varieties for many different years and to this day never ever had to hand pollinated my plants.

 

[Pete4242]

An update

Hand pollinated

Left to nature

I will update if those ones will grow or die, but I can see the tip start turning yellow.

- pete