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Cucumber early fruiting question

ChriscoreChriscore Posts: 155
in Fruit & veg
Hey, one of my cucumber plants has started fruiting already. The thing is though this plant is still in a rather small pot and i didnt really expect it to be fruiting yet as it was one of the slower seedlings of the bunch and therefore i have not got round to repotting it yet. Should i just repot it? or will the fact its fruited so small stunt its growth as a plant? I have only grown cucumbers once before.
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  • Blue OnionBlue Onion Posts: 2,995
    Does it have fruit on it, or just a flower?  Depending on your variety, they will often throw male flowers on quite early, even while tiny.  
    Utah, USA.
  • ChriscoreChriscore Posts: 155
    It does have fruit of it. Its a self pollinating f1 variety though so only female flowers as far as i know.

  • Kitty 2Kitty 2 Posts: 5,150
    Has the flower dropped off? Has the fruit started to swell?
    You have two options.
     1: try to carefully pot it on without damaging the fruit.
     2: nip it off and pot it on, giving the plant a chance to bulk up a bit before it has to support fruit production.

    If you have other, bigger plants, I'd go with option 2.
    Let them fruit first, then get a later crop from the catch-up plant 😀.
  • Kitty 2Kitty 2 Posts: 5,150
    Ah, your pic snuck in whilst i was typing Chris 😄.
    That's a nice bite sized fruit. Eat it and then pot it on.
    I was imagining those tiny underdeveloped ones when I first responded.
  • ChriscoreChriscore Posts: 155
    edited May 2018
    Kitty 2 said:
    Has the flower dropped off? Has the fruit started to swell?
    You have two options.
     1: try to carefully pot it on without damaging the fruit.
     2: nip it off and pot it on, giving the plant a chance to bulk up a bit before it has to support fruit production.

    If you have other, bigger plants, I'd go with option 2.
    Let them fruit first, then get a later crop from the catch-up plant 😀.
    The flowers have shrivelled but not fallen off yet.  I think i will go with option 2 the other thing is even some of my bigger plants have fruit starting to form which is weird because last year they got a lot bigger before fruiting. See pic 2.
  • Blue OnionBlue Onion Posts: 2,995
    You've got yourself a solid green finger!  What are you growing?.. I want to go buy some seeds.  
    Utah, USA.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    edited May 2018
    Hi Chris
    I think your plant needs potting on into a much bigger pot asap.
    It'll start to grow very quickly now. If you have seaweed extract - that's good to give now and every 10ish days alongside whatever feed you choose when you start feeding (but not at the same time)
    It may have produced fruit early if it was stressed - if a plant thinks it may die, it tries to produce seed asap. Just a possibility.
    Mine was only a couple of inches taller than yours, and I planted it in a 22L pot last week. It's already grown 6"
    Good luck

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • ChriscoreChriscore Posts: 155
    Blue Onion said:
    You've got yourself a solid green finger!  What are you growing?.. I want to go buy some seeds.  
    These are f1 byblos :) 
  • ChriscoreChriscore Posts: 155
    Pete8 said:
    Hi Chris
    I think your plant needs potting on into a much bigger pot asap.
    It'll start to grow very quickly now. If you have seaweed extract - that's good to give now and every 10ish days alongside whatever feed you choose when you start feeding (but not at the same time)
    It may have produced fruit early if it was stressed - if a plant thinks it may die, it tries to produce seed asap. Just a possibility.
    Mine was only a couple of inches taller than yours, and I planted it in a 22L pot last week. It's already grown 6"
    Good luck
    Thanks Pete, got it repotted now and going to use the seaweed extract! 
  • Blue OnionBlue Onion Posts: 2,995
    Thanks.. but after a short search,  f1 byblos only looks to be available in the UK/EU.  Bummer.. I'll keep looking, but they aren't on Google or my usual seed places.  
    Utah, USA.
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