Topic: Odd-looking Carmen cucumber plant

[tricia]

I've grown Carmen for years but never had a plant that looked like this!

[attachment=1]

It has only just started to form fruit.

Tricia

[manicscousers]

wow, it's a triffid  ;D   something in the soil?

[Robert_Brenchley]

It's a cristate stem, with a growth abnormality where the growing point turns into a line. It's quite common, but the causes are often obscure.

[tricia]

Only normal potting compost, regularly fed with tomato feed Manic.

Thanks for the info. Robert. The plant is also producing an awful lot of male flowers each day (I pick them off as often as I can) otherwise it is slow to produce cucs that actually swell!

Tricia

[davyw1]

The reason its slow to produce cucumbers is because it does not produce male flowers only female so you have been removing the cucumbers before they get to develop

[tricia]

No, I haven't Davy - I do know the difference between male and female flowers. If you look at the photo you will see there are some embryo cucs with female flowers along the top!

Tricia

[davyw1]

I am not implying you don't know the difference Tricia, Carmen only produce female flowers so there is no need to remove any flower as they are self pollinating.

[tricia]

That is what is so odd about this particular plant Davy - it is producing male flowers!

Tricia