These cucumbers are making so many flowers!
These cucumbers are making so many flowers!
The variety is Homemade Pickles by Territorial Seed Co
The flowers are edible. They taste like cucumber but less so. And they look pretty in a salad. Just saying.
... aren't these pumpkins?
Pumpkins and cucumbers are in the same family, cucurbitaceae, which is why they look so similar.
Thank you. I thought I was losing it.
Pickles?
Pickles!
Wow, your cucumbers are absolutely thriving! Those flowers are just beautiful. 🌸 It looks like they’re really happy where they are! Have you noticed any bees or other pollinators visiting? I always feel like each flower is a little victory in the garden. Keep an eye on them—looks like a bountiful cucumber harvest is just around the corner! 🥒
Strangely for cucumbers that is about an average for a monoecious variety.
The flowers pattern in cucumbers has many genes that control them. It's an interesting topic to research.
The amount of flowers is controlled by multipistillate genes. These control how many flowers form per node. In extreme cases this will be 10-15. Other genes will limit them to 1-2.
The type of flowers are controlled by sex expression genes. You can have all female flowers, mostly female flowers or mostly male flowers.
The plants with the most extreme level of flowers are the extreme multipistillate and mostly male varieties. These are used as pollinators in commercial field production. They produce so many male flowers that they will have a pile of flowers underneath of them at the end of the season.
The second most are all female flowers with the extreme multipistillate expression. These are harvested the day after flowering to make some tiny pickles in south eastern Europe.
Have you had any problems with squash moths? I skipped gardening this year but last year my pumpkin got infested.
No I haven’t seen those I usually struggle with powder mildew but I haven’t seen that yet this year
Wow those look healthy!