Why are cucumbers thick at the stem? Cucumber problems

L. Sergeenko

HOW L. N. TOLSTOY TOLD THE TALE ABOUT CUCUMBERS

(from the book “Tolstoy’s Garden: Selected Memoirs”)

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was very fond of children all his life: both the youngest and the older ones, he always spent a lot of time with them: in the winter he went skating or sledding from the mountains, went skiing, and in the summer he walked through fields and forests, collecting with them flowers, berries, mushrooms. And he always told them something. And what didn’t he say! And about himself, how small he was, and how he lived in the Caucasus in his youth, and about his parents and friends, and all kinds of stories, fables, and fairy tales. And the children could listen to him as much as they wanted; they would listen and listen, because he talked about everything very interestingly and amusingly.

The children loved one of his special fairy tales - about cucumbers.

He told it both when he was young and when he was old. The last time was when he was eighty-two years old.

Lev Nikolaevich was sitting near the house on a long garden bench. He was wearing a dark autumn coat, a gray hat, and in his hand he was holding a stick with which he had just come from a walk. Next to him sat his grandchildren, brother and sister: Sonechka, nine years old, and Ilyushok, seven years old. He looked at them and asked in a cheerful, sonorous voice:

Do you want me to tell you a fairy tale?

We want it, grandpa, we want it! Tell me, grandpa, tell me!

Okay, I'll tell you! Listen! Just listen carefully!

He made a serious face, raised his head a little, looked to the side, as if collecting his thoughts. Sonechka and Ilyushok became wary.

A fairy tale about one boy and seven cucumbers,” announced Lev Nikolaevich.

Sonechka and Ilyushok held their breath.

Lev Nikolaevich turned his eyes to them and, until the very end of the fairy tale, kept looking at his grandchildren.

Once upon a time there was one boy in the world...” he began and fell silent. “And once this boy went to the garden...” he fell silent.

The eyes of Sonechka and Ilyushka became more and more bright with curiosity.

Once this boy went to the garden and saw - there was... a small cucumber lying there, sma-a-scarlet! - Lev Nikolaevich said in a thin, quiet voice and bent down to Ilyushka, who was sitting close to him. With his hunched appearance, he wanted to show how small the cucumber was.

How surprised Lev Nikolaevich was that the cucumber was so small! He even opened his eyes wide, raised his eyebrows, and between the index fingers of both hands showed a distance of four centimeters and, still surprised, said:

Here it is!

Sonechka and Ilyushok bent over his fingers, as if they really saw a cucumber between them. Lev Nikolaevich continued:

The boy bent down... picked a cucumber... - Lev Nikolaevich raised his right hand to his face, as if he were actually holding a cucumber. - The boy looked... - Lev Nikolaevich turned his hand one way or the other and smacked his lips. - The cucumber is pretty, pretty, green, green, fresh!

Lev Nikolaevich brought his hand to his mouth, slightly parted his lips, and said: “Hap!” - and seemed to put a cucumber in his mouth; then he closed his mouth and, pressing his lips together, sat motionless.

That's all? - Ilyushok asked with disappointment.

Shut up! Listen! - Sonechka said sternly.

Lev Nikolaevich suddenly moved his mouth and cheeks, as if he was chewing, and an amazing sound was heard: a crunch, exactly the same crunch that happens when eating real cucumbers: “Crunch, crunch!” Crunch-crunch!”

Grandfather, what you have in your mouth is a real cucumber! - Ilyushok screamed. - Open your mouth, grandpa!

Lev Nikolaevich shook his head and waved his hand: you can’t open your mouth, they say, the cucumber will fall out.

Of course, for real! - said Ilyushok. - But where did he come from?

Lev Nikolaevich stopped chewing, and suddenly the sound of swallowing was heard: the cucumber had been eaten.

Of course, for real! For real! - Ilyushok repeated.

Lev Nikolaevich said:

The boy went further and saw that there was a second cucumber. The boy bent down. Picked a cucumber. - Lev Nikolaevich lowered his hand down, as if picking a cucumber. - The cucumber is beautiful, beautiful, strong, with white pimples! Here it is! - said Lev Nikolaevich and, spreading his fingers nine centimeters, bent down to Ilyushka to show with all his appearance how small the cucumber was.

Ilyushok cheerfully and carefully watched Lev Nikolaevich’s fingers. And Sonechka looked not at his hands, but at her grandfather’s face: her grandfather’s face was so interesting - it just played with everything, and she just wanted to look at him.

Lev Nikolaevich raised his hand and beamed with delight.

Hap! - he said. This time he did not put the entire cucumber in his mouth, but as if he had only bitten off half, and held the other half in his hand. He started chewing again, and again he heard: “Crunch, crunch!”

And how deliciously crunchy the boy’s mouth is! - Sonechka said.

So delicious that I really wanted cucumbers! I love cucumbers too! - Ilyushok exclaimed.

Hap! - said Lev Nikolaevich and put the other half of the cucumber into his mouth.

And it crunches like the real thing. But no, not for real! I was already watching, watching my grandfather, to see if he was really going to slip it. No, I didn’t slip it,” said Ilyushok.

Sonechka was indignant:

Shame on you to think that grandpa was being cunning! This is a shame for grandpa.

Ilyushok looked at his grandfather in fear, but immediately calmed down: grandfather was not at all offended, but continued to chew and crunch with pleasure.

When the second cucumber was eaten, Lev Nikolaevich said:

The boy went further, he saw... - Lev Nikolaevich almost screamed in surprise, - there is a third cucumber! A cucumber too! But this one is bigger, the mountain is much bigger! Here it is! - Lev Nikolaevich said in a low voice and pointed about twenty centimeters with his fingers.

Sonechka and Ilyushok were also extremely surprised by the size of the cucumber.

Ha-ap! - Lev Nikolaevich said and began to chew again, a crunch was heard again, and then swallowing.

Lev Nikolaevich sometimes brought a cucumber to his nose, sniffed it and licked his lips with his tongue - the cucumber seemed so delicious to him. One time Lev Nikolayevich chewed something for a very long time: either he bit off too big a piece, or the cucumber was very hard.

“Crunch, crunch! Crunch-crunch! Crunch-crunch!”

What patience does the boy have to chew for so long! - said Sonechka.

Finally, the third cucumber was eaten.

The boy went further and saw the fourth cucumber lying there! - Lev Nikolaevich exclaimed with even greater surprise and even louder. - That's it! - he drawled almost in a bass voice and leaned back, as if he himself had become larger. With his fingers he showed a distance of fifty centimeters. - Like this!

Ooh! - said the amazed Sonechka.

Yes, like that! Such! - assured Lev Nikolaevich.

No, grandfather, there are no cucumbers that big,” Ilyushok suddenly declared.

How stupid you are! - said Sonechka. - After all, this is a fairy tale!

Ilyushok was embarrassed.

“Oh yes, a fairy tale,” he said quietly.

Lev Nikolaevich continued to hold his fingers at a distance of fifty centimeters and looked at Sonechka and Ilyushka. He was joyful and incredibly pleased that such a large cucumber had been found. What does it feel like: fifty centimeters! This is a cucumber!

Was the fourth cucumber very thick? - asked Ilyushok.

Thick! So fat!

Well, which one is fat?

Yes, like this! - Lev Nikolaevich made a semicircle about seven centimeters wide with the thumb and forefinger of his right hand.

Ilyushok shook his head.

Well, he's fat! “I wouldn’t take such fat ones, because I wouldn’t eat them: I wouldn’t have enough strength,” said Ilyushok.

And the boy will eat it. He will eat as much as he wants

What a boy! - said Ilyushok.

Ha-ap! - Lev Nikolaevich exclaimed and began to bite and chew, and the crunching began.

It is impossible to understand how Lev Nikolaevich produced this crunch. Now the crunch was louder, now quieter; its sound was sometimes higher, sometimes lower. Lev Nikolayevich must have once practiced a lot to learn this crunch and amuse children with it!

And the fifth one is even bigger? - Ilyushok asked with concern.

Of course, more. Well, of course, more! - Lev Nikolaevich said with delight.

Well, which one? - asked Ilyushok.

Yes, like this! - And Lev Nikolaevich spread his outstretched fingers by eighty centimeters.

Yes, more. A big piece more,” said Ilyushok.

Lev Nikolaevich opened his mouth wide and jerked his hand, as if he had bitten off a huge piece of cucumber, and began chewing again. But the boy coped with the fifth cucumber faster than the other cucumbers, because he bit off very large pieces and chewed little. He chews it two or three times and it’s done: he swallows it. The fifth cucumber was eaten.

That's right, the sixth cucumber.

So, is this sixth one even bigger? - asked Ilyushok.

What do you think?

“Probably more,” Ilyushok answered with some doubt.

Well, of course, more! Of course, more! More!

Well, which one? - Ilyushok asked with disbelief.

Yes, like this! - Lev Nikolaevich said and placed his index fingers a meter apart from each other.

Grandfather, but such cucumbers... - Ilyushok began.

Sonechka laughed and interrupted him:

Again “such cucumbers”! Understand, this is a fairy tale. What a fool!

Ilyushok was so embarrassed that he even shrank and looked guiltily at Sonechka and Lev Nikolaevich. He must have really felt like a “fool.”

The boy bit off whole slices of the sixth cucumber. And the boy chewed the sixth cucumber even less than the fifth, and immediately there was nothing left of the sixth cucumber.

Lev Nikolaevich fell silent. His face became serious.

And the seventh cucumber... the seventh... the last one,” he said quietly. “The seventh...” he repeated, as if he didn’t even know what to say about the size of the seventh cucumber. - The seventh... the seventh... was so big... so big that if you showed me which one, you would have to throw your arms back, back...

Sonechka and Ilyushok looked impatiently at Lev Nikolaevich’s hands, expecting them to begin to lean back. But the hands did not move. The right one lay on a stick, and Lev Nikolaevich clenched his left hand into a fist. He was silent and, smiling, looked at Sonechka and Ilyushka. And they kept looking at his hands. Now Sonechka was looking at her hands, and not at her grandfather’s face: after all, it was terribly interesting to find out how big the seventh cucumber was. Sonechka and Ilyushok, apparently, themselves tried to imagine what he could be like. Ilyushok asked:

Or maybe the seventh was the same as the boy?

Yes, almost like that.

And just as fat?

Why do you think the boy was fat?

Why not fat? He ate so many cucumbers - of course he was fat.

Well, no, the cucumber was not as fat as the boy.

But still very thick?

O-very fat! So thick that it couldn't fit into my mouth. It was only with great difficulty that it was possible to push it into the mouth.

Did the boy still eat it?

Yes, I ate it. Ate it! - Lev Nikolaevich answered, surprised himself.

Well, the boy loved cucumbers! I also love cucumbers, but still not as much.

That's the whole fairy tale! - Lev Nikolaevich suddenly said.

How is everything? What happened to the boy? - asked Ilyushok.

But nothing worked out, so I went for a walk.

What a boy! - Ilyushok said and shook his head.

Yes, terribly funny. “Eat so many cucumbers,” said Sonechka.

“And I would like to listen more,” said Ilyushok.

“What to do,” said Lev Nikolaevich. - The whole fairy tale, all the cucumbers, there are no more left in the garden.

Thank you, grandfather, for telling us,” said Sonechka.

Yes, grandpa, thank you, thank you! - Ilyushok picked up. - What a boy! Well, cucumbers!

Having parted with Lev Nikolaevich, the children ran into the house to tell them what an interesting fairy tale their grandfather had told them. And then, for the whole day, they talked about it to everyone they could and showed with their hands how small the cucumber was at first, and then how big the cucumbers were, and they tried to imitate their grandfather with their voices, and puffed out their cheeks, and even tried to crunch, but But they just couldn’t do it, no matter how hard they tried.

Why did children like this fairy tale so much?

But because Lev Nikolaevich told it very interestingly. And also because when he told the story, he was cheerful, cheerful, smiling, laughing. And it made the children have fun too.

This means that, although it may be a trifling fairy tale, and not a useless one, Lev Nikolaevich always said that the benefit not only comes from a large, serious composition, but also from every fairy tale, from every song, from a joke, from a simple joke, if after them it can be fun and good. And after the fairy tale about cucumbers, this is exactly what happened.

Gardeners often complain: “There are no cucumbers, just empty flowers.”

What to do in this case? What are the reasons for the continuous flowering of cucumber plants with only barren flowers? And are they even needed, these empty flowers? First of all, the significant delay in the appearance of female flowers on cucumber plants and, consequently, late fruiting, lies not in barren flowers, but in the quality of the cucumber seeds themselves. If you did not listen to numerous recommendations and sowed fresh cucumber seeds, then the powerful plants that grew from them first form many male flowers - barren flowers, and only then female flowers appear. The picture is completely different if you sowed cucumber seeds two or three years ago. On such plants, female flowers are formed simultaneously with male ones or even earlier than male ones. But now it’s not early spring, but the very height of summer, and therefore it’s too late to talk about the quality of the seeds and how to improve it.

Another reason for the abundance of barren flowers and the absence of female flowers is the presence of very large amounts of nitrogen fertilizers in the soil, which also causes rapid growth of lashes, leaves and these same barren flowers. In this case, plants are very useful when fertilized with fast-acting phosphorus fertilizers, for example, superphosphate extract (2 tablespoons per 10 liters of water) or an infusion of ordinary wood ash.

The third reason for delaying the appearance of female flowers is watering the plants with very cold water. The water temperature for watering cucumbers should not be lower than 25°C and must always be higher than the soil temperature.

The next reason for “barren abundance” is a large excess of moisture in the soil. Dry the soil in the cucumber bed for several days. As soon as the leaves on the plants wilt slightly, female flowers will immediately appear. But do not overdry the plants, this will be another extreme.

And if all this does not help, then pinch the top of the main stem of the cucumber plants, regardless of the number of leaves on it. This pinching stops the growth of the lash and causes accelerated development of axillary shoots and female flowers with ovaries.

Well, what about male flowers - barren flowers? A big mistake is made by those gardeners who remove all barren flowers, mistakenly hoping that this will cause the growth of female flowers. There is no benefit from their removal, and the conditions for pollination of female flowers can actually worsen. Barren flowers on the plants themselves will quickly turn yellow and fall off.

In the role of a bumblebee - a gardener. It often happens, especially in film greenhouses, that the plants grow well, the vines are large, the leaves are large, there are many female flowers, but there are no cucumbers. Why does this happen? But because pollination of flowers did not occur. There are so-called parthenocarpic varieties and hybrids that form fruits without the participation of insects and without pollination. But most varieties and hybrids are bee-pollinated. If pollination has not occurred, their ovaries will last 3-5 days, then they turn yellow and fall off. When growing such varieties, you need to have bees or open a greenhouse, then the insects around will fly there. But the owners can also help such cucumbers with pollination. The best time for artificial pollination is from 9 to 12 noon. The pollination process itself is carried out like this. They pick the male flower, tear off the petals, and check the quality of the pollen. To do this, touch the tips of the stamens with the back of your hand. If the pollen smears, it means it is ready. The male flower is then placed inside the female flower so that pollen from the stamens of the barren flower gets onto the stigma of the female flower. It will be better if you touch the female flower with two or three male ones. If you want bees to help you with pollination, then place bouquets of blooming dandelions or perennial onions in the greenhouse. To attract them, plants in the greenhouse are sometimes sprayed with a very weak solution of honey. But you can’t put honey on a plate to attract bees to the greenhouse. The bees will take the honey, but will not “work” with the flowers.

Why don't the ovaries grow? This is a fairly common occurrence, especially in hot weather in film greenhouses. In this case, the ovaries do not grow at first and gradually begin to turn yellow, then quickly dry out and fall off. What's the matter? But the fact is that fertilization did not occur. There are several reasons for this unpleasant phenomenon: - the air temperature in the greenhouse is too high (over 35°C); - very high relative air humidity (over 90%); - absence of insects due to prolonged rainy and cool weather or strong wind (see above); - a significant lack of nutrition in the soil, especially in modern varieties and hybrids with bunch fruiting. In this case, 1-2 fruits grow, and the rest dry out and fall off. If the plants are weak and there are a lot of ovaries, then they are fed with mullein infusion with the addition of urea.

Why did ugly cucumbers grow? Cucumbers are very demanding about the presence of sufficient nutrients in the soil, but they tolerate increased concentrations of fertilizers in the soil less well than other vegetables. Therefore, they need to be fed more often than other vegetables, for example once a week, but with relatively small doses of mineral fertilizers. The cucumber (fruit) itself “signals” especially convincingly about the lack of a particular nutrient in the soil. You just need to learn to “speak” the same language with him.

At lack of nitrogen in the soil the fruits, regardless of the variety, acquire a light green color, the upper part of the fruit (where the flower was) is narrowed, pointed and often curved like a beak; the cucumber is shaped like a conical carrot. In this case, the lower leaves turn yellow, the growth of stems and lateral shoots of plants is delayed. And if the leaves and vines of plants, on the contrary, grow wildly and have a dark green color, then there is an excess of nitrogen in the soil. In this case, it is necessary to immediately feed the plants with superphosphate or wood ash, otherwise you will not see a cucumber harvest, because there will be only leaves.

At lack of potassium in the soil fruits in cucumbers they are narrowed towards the stalk, and at the top, regardless of the variety, they are spherical in shape and very similar to an ugly green pear. At the same time, a light border appears along the edges of the leaves (starting from the bottom); in the heat, the plants may wilt slightly.

If there is little phosphorus in the soil, the growth of the vines slows down, the leaves become smaller, become dark green and dry out quickly. All these signs will tell you the composition of fertilizers for subsequent feeding of cucumbers.

If the fruit is narrowed in the middle and has a pronounced “waist,” then this is due to a large difference in day and night temperatures or due to watering the plants with very cold water. And if the cucumbers are curved and have an irregular arched shape, then this happens when the soil is very dry or when the plants are watered very unevenly.

How to prolong the fruiting of cucumbers? By the beginning of August, the first abundant wave of fruiting of cucumbers has generally passed, their leaves become rough and prickly, and in some places powdery mildew appears on them. At this time, your plants may need urgent help. We must immediately carry out foliar feeding of plants with urea solution (0.5 tablespoon per 10 liters of water). After this feeding, the leaves of the plants will become soft again, and photosynthesis will increase in them. And the powdery mildew that appears on them in the initial stage is very easy to suppress with special preparations. Look closely at the soil of your plants. By this time it has become very compacted, but it should not be loosened, since it is easy to damage the root system of the cucumbers. The soil must be watered and mulched with humus, in extreme cases, peat, grass or sawdust. After this, the plants quickly form new suction roots, and fruit growth will increase. But soon on plants where the lower tier has finished bearing fruit, the leaves will turn yellow and the stems will become bare. If the weather still permits, try carefully lowering the lashes a little down, bending the lower bare part of the stem to the ground or rolling it into a ring and covering it with humus. But all this must be done before watering, while the stems are soft; after watering, the lashes become very fragile and break easily. And, of course, at this time the plants must be intensively “fed” with a solution of mullein with the addition of urea and ash. The plants themselves will tell you what they need, you just need to watch the shape of the fruits.

Why is cucumber so bitter? Gardeners very often complain that cucumbers are bitter. Moreover, this bitterness is concentrated under the skin and is not present in all cucumbers. This bitterness is mainly due to the content of the substance cucorbetacin in the fruit, which has an antitumor effect. This substance is present in any cucumber in very small quantities. But when its concentration in fruits increases greatly, cucumbers begin to taste bitter. Its presence in cucumbers is mainly explained by the hereditary properties of individual varieties. They are predominantly found in old varieties. However, the appearance of bitterness in cucumbers is also influenced by growing conditions - high temperature in the greenhouse, lack of moisture in the soil and air, watering with cold water, low air temperature in sunny weather, incorrect composition of fertilizers, i.e. completely different extreme situations. Fruits grown in dry beds in hot weather have a particularly bitter taste.

How to avoid this undesirable phenomenon? First of all, probably, plant modern varieties and hybrids of cucumbers that contain significantly less cucorbetacin. It is also important to strengthen the immune system of the plants themselves by spraying them with anti-stress preparations “Epin-extra”, “Novosil” or “Aurum S”. Some gardeners are of the opinion that the accumulation of bitterness in fruits is facilitated by their careless collection, which involves turning over or damaging the vines. Whether the last statement is true or not - check for yourself in your greenhouse.

Why has the cucumber grown? Cucumbers must be picked regularly as they ripen, while the fruits are still small, crisp, and contain small, tender seeds. To do this, they are cut every two days with a knife or picked very carefully so as not to damage the plant lashes, as just mentioned above. If you pick cucumbers less often, they will quickly outgrow. This immediately causes a delay in the growth of subsequent ovaries and a general decrease in the yield of cucumbers. In addition, overgrown cucumbers are less tasty, their skin becomes rougher, their seeds increase in size and become tougher.

How to defeat spider mites? Spider mites are the main pest of cucumbers. They are very small and are clearly visible only under a magnifying glass. But if your eyesight is good, then they can be seen on the back of the sheet in the form of rapidly moving dark dots. Most gardeners use garlic infusion against spider mites. This is an effective remedy. But at the same time, spraying must be carried out on the underside of the leaves, where the pests “live”. Modern biological preparations - Fitoverm, Agravertin or Iskra-bio - are much more convenient and effective. These drugs are quickly absorbed by the leaf and protect cucumber plants from all sucking and gnawing pests for 20 days. Having tasted the “treat”, the pests die within two days. These drugs are absolutely safe for birds and insect predators. People can eat plants without any harm to their health two days after they are treated with these drugs.

If cucumbers are bitter, there is not enough moisture. Watering just at the root does not solve the problem. Abundant watering is required over the entire surface of the ground in the greenhouse, including paths. Air humidity is also significant. The appearance of a bitter taste can also be caused by sudden changes in temperature during the day and night (usually either at the beginning of summer or in August).

If the cucumbers are in the shape of a light bulb (round, but taper at the stem) - there is not enough potassium. Water with infusion of ash - 1 glass of ash per bucket of water, 1 liter per plant. Hooked cucumbers have appeared - they should also be fed with potassium. Cucumbers do not react well to chlorine, so it is better to use potassium phosphate for feeding. The solution can be poured under the roots of cucumbers (according to the norm on the package) or sprinkled on the leaves (1 teaspoon per 1 liter of water).

If the vines are thin, the leaves are small, and the cucumbers themselves are lighter than usual, there is not enough nitrogen, you need to water them with mullein solution at the rate of 1 liter of mullein per bucket of water, 1 liter per plant. Also a sign of nitrogen starvation is the narrowing of the greens at the tip and their thickening at the stalk.

And now in more detail about the shortage of elements that are missing most often. Symptoms of a lack of individual elements are often similar, so it is best to feed the cucumbers with complex fertilizers with microelements, which usually helps.

Lack of nitrogen. Plant growth is greatly inhibited, the vines are thin, hard, and quickly become woody. The leaves remain small and few side shoots are formed. The ovaries rapidly fall off and some of the flowers die. First, premature yellowing of the leaves is observed at the bottom of the stem. Then it spreads to young leaves. With progressive nitrogen deficiency, the fruits become pale yellow in color. Individual fruits are shortened in size and have a pointed end.

Potassium deficiency. The edges of older leaves acquire a lighter color, which spreads between the main veins towards the center of the leaf. Then the entire leaf turns yellow-green, and necrotic spots appear on its edges. The edges of the leaves curl down.

Lack of calcium. Signs of deficiency of this element appear at the ends of the shoots. The young leaves are very small and initially dark green in color. The internodes are short, young leaves at the edges acquire a light color. At the same time, narrow light stripes appear on the leaf blade between the veins, which quickly expand and lose their green color, then tissue necrosis occurs. The edges of the leaves bend down and the leaf takes on the appearance of an umbrella. When you try to straighten the leaf, it breaks from the edges, which die first. With severe deficiency, the shoot tip dies. The growth of the roots stops, they are gradually covered with a glue-like substance.

Boron deficiency. The internodes of the cucumber become greatly shortened and the entire plant has a dwarf appearance. The first signs of boron deficiency appear at the top of the shoot and the youngest leaves. The leaves become intensely green with downward-curving edges, thicker than normal, and hard. With severe deficiency, flowers and ovaries fall off prematurely. The shoots are very brittle. Side shoots are intensively formed, but after the first or second leaf their tops die. The lateral roots grow poorly, the root system is underdeveloped, the roots turn orange.

You can find this article in the newspaper "Magic Bed" 2010 No. 14.

October 2013

© Selection and seed production company Manul LLC

As a rule, the main reasons for the appearance of non-standard greens are low soil and air temperatures, uneven watering and other unfavorable factors. In addition to the appearance of crooked and bulb-shaped fruits on young plants “in their prime,” these factors accelerate the aging of plants. And on older plants the percentage of non-standard greens increases. But there are other reasons.

Auxins are most often to blame for the fact that the cucumber ovary grows unevenly and remains thin at the stalk, while its upper part (from the flower side) thickens and becomes rounded. Auxins are hormones that stimulate the flow of nutrients and tissue growth. They are found in the tips of shoots, in seed primordia and in pollen, but especially many of them are formed after pollination in growing seeds. The ovules are located almost along the entire length of the cucumber ovary, but if there is little pollen on the stigma of the flower, then the seeds are formed only at the apex (at the ovary, the ovules closest to the flower are pollinated first); there the seeds and the surrounding “pulp” begin to actively grow. So it turns out: instead of a short cucumber there is a “light bulb”, and instead of a long one there is a “grenade”. It should be noted that hybrids (as well as varieties) of cucumber differ markedly in the tendency of the fruit to lose shape during pollination. Long-fruited parthenocarpics (especially those with a smooth surface) are most deformed. Greens of medium length also lose their slimness (to a lesser extent); The work of bees on the shortest cucumbers is least noticeable. The appearance of bees and bumblebees promises consequences - even if they do not bring cucumber pollen, they manage to visit the flowers of other plants, and this “alien” pollen, although not suitable for fertilization, contains hormones, and this is enough to spoil the harvest.

Thus, the more actively insects visit the female flowers of parthenocarpic cucumbers, the more non-standard products are obtained.

For a bee-pollinated cucumber, everything is different: uneven thickening occurs when there is poor, insufficient pollination, and also when the growing fruits do not have enough nutrition (i.e., the soil contains insufficient amounts of nutrients, and primarily potassium).

It should be borne in mind that the reaction of different hybrids to pollination varies greatly. There is a large group of short-fruited and medium-fruited parthenocarpics, the greens of which, in the event of pollination, retain their marketable appearance: they remain smooth, without thickening or constrictions. This includes bunched gherkins ( F1: Ant, Grasshopper, Master, Maryina Roshcha, Chistye Prudy, Hit of the season, Be healthy, Karapuz etc.), and medium-fruited parthenocarpic hybrids with the simultaneous pouring of a large number of greens on the plant ( F1: Makar, Marta, Mill, Emelya and etc.).

Thus, for a cucumber to be slim and beautiful, you need:

Monitor the nutrition and health of plants; avoid nutritional deficiency and, if possible, severe stressful growing conditions;

Ensure active work of bees for bee-pollinated hybrids and minimize insect visits to parthenocarpic cucumbers;

When choosing an assortment, take into account the biological characteristics of these two types of cucumber: in a greenhouse they are bad neighbors to each other. In open ground, parthenocarpic hybrids can be hidden under covering material, and bee-pollinated cucumbers that need bees must be opened to give insects access to flowers for pollination.

Detailed information on the reasons for the appearance of non-standard cucumber fruits is presented on the website in the article: “ ».