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small cucumbers turned yellow http://imagizer.imageshack.us/a/img537/2604/223Te1.jpg

My baby cucumbers turned yellow and fell off. I have 2 cucumber plants that produced 8 cucumbers each, however, the other flowers with small cucumbers turned yellow and fell off.

What causes that problem? How can I solve it?

Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL
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user3142694
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  • Duplicate? http://gardening.stackexchange.com/questions/4902/why-do-some-of-my-zucchini-shrivel-and-turn-yellow-at-the-blossom-end – Niall C. May 28 '15 at 17:33
  • no my small cucumber are not growing like this size, they stay small and then turn yellow and fall, i think the end of cucumber is not rotting – user3142694 May 28 '15 at 17:41

2 Answers2

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Pollination is probably the issue - the cucumber is formed behind a female flower, but if the flower does not get pollinated, then it yellows, shrivels and drops off. You haven't said whether you're growing under glass (less likely to be pollinated by insects) or not, but you can hand pollinate - take a small paintbrush, grasp the male flower (the ones without the tiny cucumber behind them), gently swirl the brush around in the centre of the flower, till you can see yellow pollen on it, then transfer that to the female, using the same procedure.

Bamboo
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  • thank your for reply, my plants are growing in an open area,should i have to pollinate all female flowers to get pollinated cucumber? – user3142694 May 28 '15 at 18:46
  • Well you shouldn't have to, no - but it depends on your bee/hoverfly and other pollinating insect population, if that's low, then you may need to. Some people place bee attractant plants nearby - anything native with single flowers will do. – Bamboo May 28 '15 at 19:18
  • If you live in one of those unlucky areas where people have gone nicotinoid happy, your pollinators may be in decline. Watch for hoverflies, short body native bees, small bumblebees, etc. Little to no activity means it's hand pollination for everything. We had one year where the feral honeybees totally gave out, we've established an English style flower garden to help the native pollinators out and they've been slowly increasing to make up for the honeybee crash. – Fiasco Labs May 29 '15 at 16:54
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Surely, it's lack of pollination. For the two years past, I had to hand pollinate my squash plants. This year, however, I see bees on the flowers, and I'm getting lots of squash. I live in Renton, Washington, and I don't see many bad bugs.

I see that many of you recommend insecticides, which I never use. For one thing, insecticides are not specific to bad bugs. They'll kill all the insects, including the pollinators, which are really susceptible to poisons (as am I!).

Niall C.
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Rose Rawson
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  • Yaaayyyeee Rose! Such a duh howdy, huh! I've been a licensed pesticide operator for decades and VERY rarely have I ever used pesticides. Especially on stuff I am going to eat!! True on pollination, especially now. Weather's confusing insects and plants. Our pollinators are being decimated mostly by HOMEOWNERS versus commercial. Our bees are in big trouble and so are us humans...there ARE specie specific pesticides, such as BT. Non-specific should be illegal!! But homeowners can get sevin and rotenone and without any understanding of ramifications, use it 'just in case'!!! – stormy Jul 11 '15 at 19:48