Are They Ready? What Kind?
zach-walters
Posts: 3
Hi guys!
New to the forum and to gardening.
At the start of the year me and my partner bought a multi seed propagator with some Tom's, Peppers, chillis and finally some cucumbers. No indication of the type, or how long from female flowers opening to when I should harvest.
They have grown pretty big and straight, which is good! Problem is that I do not know if they're ready and I'm aware that there is many types.
As you can see, they're starting to stripe. Looks like a bog standard cucumber. They've been swelling for the past few weeks, I have read certain types need harvesting as little as 8 days after flowering, otherwise bitter fruit, so I am concerned these wil go bitter before I eat them!
I have been picking off the male flowers, but as I have 5 plants in a little green house it's hard to spot them all, but I'm confident these three at least didn't get pollinated.
Here's some pics!
Cheers guys.
Posts
Thanks for the quick reply!
Do ridge cucumbers need male flowers to produce fruit? As these started to take shape before any males opened, hence why I'm sure these three have not been pollinated. And I remove what males I can see daily, with no effect of fruit growth. I suspect these are bigger than 6" and are very gerthy. Tempted to pick one and give it a taste.
Why don't you cut one off and eat it?
I cut one off this morning, nice and refreshing. Noticed how it had tiny, under developed seeds inside. The other two are still getting longer, seems to be a variety that grows big and slow.
If the seeds are beginning to form then you have probably left them slightly too long. I would harvest them at 6" as scroggin says. The danger is that once seeds start forming, the plants tend to think their job is done and can stop producing new flowers and fruit; Regular picking will give you a longer harvest period (until the weather gets too cold for them is the ideal.)
Last edited: 22 July 2017 13:57:51