Hi
I have Burpless cucumbers growing in half whiskey barrels. They are
starting to bloom, but there's about four or five blooms real close
together. Should they be "thinned" out or left alone? They are close to the
bottom of the plant. The vines are about three feet tall and still growing.

Thanks
Jimmy

In article ,
"Jimmy" wrote:

Hi
I have Burpless cucumbers growing in half whiskey barrels. They are
starting to bloom, but there's about four or five blooms real close
together. Should they be "thinned" out or left alone? They are close to the
bottom of the plant. The vines are about three feet tall and still growing.

Thanks
Jimmy

Check to see if they are male or female blooms.
Excess male blooms are candidates for stuffed squash blossoms!

Deeeelicious. ;-d
--
Peace!
Om

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch"
-- Jack Nicholson

Male or female blossoms? How do I tell the difference? Do I pull which one
off or leave them on?Stuffed squash blossoms??
"OmManiPadmeOmelet" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Jimmy" wrote:

Hi
I have Burpless cucumbers growing in half whiskey barrels. They are
starting to bloom, but there's about four or five blooms real close
together. Should they be "thinned" out or left alone? They are close to
the
bottom of the plant. The vines are about three feet tall and still
growing.

Thanks
Jimmy

Check to see if they are male or female blooms.
Excess male blooms are candidates for stuffed squash blossoms!

Deeeelicious. ;-d
--
Peace!
Om

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch"
-- Jack Nicholson

You can't have too many. They will fall off on their own. Unless, like Om
you like to eat that sort of thing.

Kimberly

"Jimmy" wrote in message
. net...
| Hi
| I have Burpless cucumbers growing in half whiskey barrels. They are
| starting to bloom, but there's about four or five blooms real close
| together. Should they be "thinned" out or left alone? They are close to
the
| bottom of the plant. The vines are about three feet tall and still
growing.
|
| Thanks
| Jimmy
|
|

"Jimmy" wrote in message
. net...
Hi
I have Burpless cucumbers growing in half whiskey barrels. They are
starting to bloom, but there's about four or five blooms real close
together. Should they be "thinned" out or left alone? They are close to
the
bottom of the plant. The vines are about three feet tall and still
growing.


Leave it be. All is well. Stand by for cucumbers!

"Jimmy" wrote:
Male or female blossoms? How do I tell the difference? Do I
pull which one off or leave them on? Stuffed squash blossoms??

The female blossoms bear the fruit (they look like tiny cucumbers).
The male blossoms are just flowers with no fruit to show. Of
course, you could call the fruit bearer the male if so desired.

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/senio...abl/cucum4.htm

I know nothing about eating the male blossoms. Omni will have
to provide more details.

--
Jim Carlock
Post replies to the group.

In article ,
"Jim Carlock" wrote:

"Jimmy" wrote:
Male or female blossoms? How do I tell the difference? Do I
pull which one off or leave them on? Stuffed squash blossoms??

The female blossoms bear the fruit (they look like tiny cucumbers).
The male blossoms are just flowers with no fruit to show. Of
course, you could call the fruit bearer the male if so desired.

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/senio...abl/cucum4.htm

I know nothing about eating the male blossoms. Omni will have
to provide more details.

Stuffed squash blossoms!
Pull the flower, remove the center stamens, stuff with a spiced rice and
meat mixture, tie the petals shut at the tips.

Steam,fry or bake.

Very good!

Lots of recipes on google:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&i...squash+blossom
s
--
Peace!
Om

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch"
-- Jack Nicholson

Jimmy wrote:

Male or female blossoms?

Female flowers are attached to the end of a miniature cucumber. Some
varieties produce a bunch of male flowers before they even open the
first female flower. I think you will find that the female flowers come
one at a time.


Stuffed squash blossoms??


Don't worry about that. It's technically impossible to make stuffed
squash blossoms from cucumber flowers and NOBODY makes stuffed cucumber
flowers!

Steve

Steve writes:
Female flowers are attached to the end of a miniature cucumber. Some
varieties produce a bunch of male flowers before they even open the
first female flower. I think you will find that the female flowers come
one at a time.

Cucumbers can be infuriatingly slow to start setting. I think part of
the blame can be attributed to the small size of each blossom: the bees
just don't pay them much attention when there are bigger blooms nearby
offering much bigger pollen rewards. Only when there are vast numbers of
flowers on the cucumber do bees become interested. So I recommend that
the impatient gardener pick a couple of male flowers and gently rub them
around inside each open female flower to carry out the essential
pollination. Do this early in the morning and keep it up each day until
you find yourself competing with the bees! That way you won't waste the
first lot of female flowers.
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)