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Re: Cucumbers yellow and dieing

Square Foot Gardening List - http://myweb.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

Debbie,
The problem is lack of pollination or insufficient pollination.  Gardeners
have been feeling the effects of the honey bee demise for the last couple of
years.  Most of them in the wild have been killed by parasitic mites.
Commercial growers now rely on beekeepers with domesticated hives to
pollinate fruit trees and row crops.  Other pollinators have filled the gap
for home gardens--bumble bees (which must visit each squash flower at least
three times to do the work of one visit from a honey bee), wasps, black
flies and more.  What you describe in your cucumbers is exactly the signs of
insufficient pollination.  My suggestion for next season or even this season
if you are in Zone 7 or south, is to plant flowers and/or flowering herbs
among the crops that need pollinating by insects.  I let my broccoli plants
go to flower every spring for that very reason--they are bee magnets, and
everything gets pollinated.  There are some excellent pollination border
seed mixes on the market.  Nichols Garden Nursery has one, and they are
online at:
http://www.nicholsgarden.com
Also, you might try plant gonococcus (I know I didn't spell that word right)
cucumbers next season.  They need no pollinator, and all the flowers are
female.  Look in seed catalogs for them.  Again, I believe Nichols carries
them, as does Burpee's at http://www.burpee.com
Doreen Howard

-----Original Message-----
From: Debbie Turner <lovesmercy@juno.com>
To: sqft@listbot.com <sqft@listbot.com>
Date: Wednesday, July 05, 2000 7:02 PM
Subject: Cucumbers yellow and dieing


>Square Foot Gardening List - http://myweb.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html
>
>Wow, this list has been quiet for being the middle of garden season!  My
>cukes are mostly starting out ok, then when they are about an inch or two
>big they turn yellow and die off.  I have a few that are making it,
>getting nice and big and green.  What am I missing?  Also, one of the
>ones that are making it is bulbous on the end, then gets skinny toward
>the stem.  Any suggestions?  I only have three plants, so not some huge
>harvest we are talking about here.
>
>TIA,
>Deb
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