This is a [minor] problem I had last year, and the one early vine
this year looks to be continuing it.

At least some of my cucumber vines have a tendency to produce fruit
that gets appropriately plump at the stem end, but never does so
at the blossom end. In some cases, the narrow blossom end curls
back toward the rest.

What causes this?

Last year I blamed inconsistent watering, but that has not (yet)
been a problem, and I have a pointy cucumber about ready to eat.

The cucumbers are mostly for relish, so shape isn't important, but
I like to understand things.

--
Drew Lawson | Savage bed foot-warmer
| of purest feline ancestry
| Look out little furry folk
| it's the all-night working cat

On Saturday, June 29, 2013 12:10:52 AM UTC-4, Drew Lawson wrote:
This is a [minor] problem I had last year, and the one early vine

this year looks to be continuing it.



At least some of my cucumber vines have a tendency to produce fruit

that gets appropriately plump at the stem end, but never does so

at the blossom end. In some cases, the narrow blossom end curls

back toward the rest.



What causes this?



Last year I blamed inconsistent watering, but that has not (yet)

been a problem, and I have a pointy cucumber about ready to eat.



The cucumbers are mostly for relish, so shape isn't important, but

I like to understand things.



--

Drew Lawson | Savage bed foot-warmer

| of purest feline ancestry

| Look out little furry folk

| it's the all-night working cat

Hey ya, I have that problem too !!!

In article ,
lid (Drew Lawson) wrote:
At least some of my cucumber vines have a tendency to produce fruit
that gets appropriately plump at the stem end, but never does so
at the blossom end. In some cases, the narrow blossom end curls
back toward the rest.

Poor (incomplete) pollination?

If there are no seeds to be made, the plant does not waste energy on the
fruit around the missing seeds - often happens with apples - when you
have a severely lopsided one, the seeds on that side are not there,
typically, indicating it was not fully pollinated. I'd guess the same
thing might be happening with your cukes. You might want to try
hand-pollinating some to see if it makes a difference. Doing what you
can to support local pollinators (including the alternative ones) would
be a more long-term approach.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by
Please don't feed the trolls. Killfile and ignore them so they will go away.

In article
Ecnerwal writes:
In article ,
lid (Drew Lawson) wrote:
At least some of my cucumber vines have a tendency to produce fruit
that gets appropriately plump at the stem end, but never does so
at the blossom end. In some cases, the narrow blossom end curls
back toward the rest.

Poor (incomplete) pollination?

That was my main guess. But as a guess, I wanted confirmation.

If there are no seeds to be made, the plant does not waste energy on the
fruit around the missing seeds - often happens with apples - when you
have a severely lopsided one, the seeds on that side are not there,
typically, indicating it was not fully pollinated. I'd guess the same
thing might be happening with your cukes. You might want to try
hand-pollinating some to see if it makes a difference. Doing what you
can to support local pollinators (including the alternative ones) would
be a more long-term approach.

We have a solid bumble bee presence (currently on the Russian sage),
and the various "hover fly" wasps (which probably aren't much for
pollinating), but the honey bees are thin the last few years.

I *did* see some last year (and this year), as opposed to the year
before. So I am hoping that the local situation is improving.

As I said, the over-all harvest has been good. I was wondering if
this was some other common environment issue.

This year, I have more variety planted (most not yet blooming), so
time will tell if that helps.

--
|Drew Lawson | If you're not part of the solution |
| | you're part of the precipitate. |