A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Vegetable Gardening Fertilizer for Cucumbers

What is a good fertilize for cucumbers. I have many blossoms but few cukes, some turn yellow and dry up. What do they need. thanks TXsdar

I am not sure what is causing your problem. I would go with a basic fertilizer with even numbers for now. For instance Osmocote is 14-14-14, I think. That gives you a well rounded fert. And lasts a while.

Maybe your cucumbers need to be pollinated. Usually after picking through them it helps with your kind of problem. An old "grama's" story is take a broom and sweep over the plants. Kind of the same idea as working through them with your hands.

I doubt that it's a fertilizer issue. If the plants are otherwise healthy & vigorous, chances are all of the nutrients are there.

Without double checking-- someone correct me if I'm wrong-- here's what you might be seeing. I *think* cucumbers are like squash in that there are male & female flowers. Pollen from the male needs to be delivered to the female flower. But typically, male flowers blossom earlier, before female flowers. So you may just be noticing this-- flowers that bloom & then fade away-- because you don't have a lot of female flowers yet. As soon as the female flowers bloom, you won't notice it, because they'll be pollinated & you'll have cukes. And since you do have some cukes... some females are showing up & are being pollinated.

Could you post a photo? Believe it or not, there is a way to tell the difference between boys & girls! The flip side is that there could be something wrong!!

thank you, I will take pix and post. The plants look very healthy and I have planted flowers (marigolds) so the bees will come to garden and pollinate. Maybe I am rushing them. so many flowers and so little cukes. Txsdar

thanks Marcia...that answer also applies to my questions about the female pumpkin blooms, maybe it is just too early for them.

missd