Topic: male flowers on courgettes

[valmarg]

I don't think any of us were fighting. ???

The cucumber family is strange.

Melons, yes you nee to have male flowers to pollinate the females.  I can remember one year may dad had no melons.  He grew quite a few plants, but when there were female flowers on the plants, there were no males, and vice versa.  End result zippo.

Cucumbers, you are better growing the all female flowered varieties.  If you grow a variety with male and female flowers you need to take off all the male flowers, because if they fertilise a female flower the resulting cucumber will be extremely bitter.

Squash I cannot comment on as we don't grow them.

As I've said with courgettes, we have been growing Parthenon for several years, and keep them in the greenhouse until they are quite large.  The added bonus of this is that you can have fruits forming early without the need for bees.

valmarg

[Chrispy]

Cucumbers, you are better growing the all female flowered varieties.  If you grow a variety with male and female flowers you need to take off all the male flowers, because if they fertilise a female flower the resulting cucumber will be extremely bitter.

Depends, I grow Burpless Tasty Green, says on packet do not remove male flowers, I even hand pollinate the ones in the greenhouse and they taste great.

[Jeannine]

javaheart, no-one is fighting here it is simply a discussion about squash pollination.

Both right... no not exactly.

 Parthenon is the exception to the rule and  not part of the original discussion, the info on that particular variety is correct in that context. The other views are corrrect as pertaining to all the other squashes.Two completely different subjects therefore nothing to fight about..

XX Jeannine

[happygardner]

Children children calm down  haha I am so pleased that this subject has been discussed in such length I shall think of this as I am cooking them [how sad] lorraine

[Jeannine]

For goodness sake, no need to be sad, no one is fighting

[valmarg]

Cucumbers, you are better growing the all female flowered varieties.  If you grow a variety with male and female flowers you need to take off all the male flowers, because if they fertilise a female flower the resulting cucumber will be extremely bitter.

Depends, I grow Burpless Tasty Green, says on packet do not remove male flowers, I even hand pollinate the ones in the greenhouse and they taste great.

[valmarg]

Cucumbers, you are better growing the all female flowered varieties.  If you grow a variety with male and female flowers you need to take off all the male flowers, because if they fertilise a female flower the resulting cucumber will be extremely bitter.

Depends, I grow Burpless Tasty Green, says on packet do not remove male flowers, I even hand pollinate the ones in the greenhouse and they taste great.

[/quote


Ooops, sorry pardon Chrispy,

I'm probably giving my age away, but when we first grew cucumbers the only ones available were the ones with male and female flowers.  You needed to pick off the male flowers because if you left any on and the females were pollinated by the males the resulting cucumbers were just sooo bitter.

It's probably a throwback to this that has never ever tempted us to grow male/female cucumbers.

Burpless.  Thats a good name for a cucumber.  What we know them as is 'all wind and water'. ;D ;D

valmarg

[Trevor_D]

Courgettes is simple - dig a hole, put 'em in, water well, come back next week and pick buckets-full.

What's the problem with flowers? Or anything else, for that matter??