Bitter cucumber

[Hyacinth]

I've a Long White cucumber plant which is producing lots of cucs..

I tasted the first this evening and it was so bitter I had to throw it away. I've read that the bitterness is caused by "adverse weather conditions" - and we've certainly had those! The same source says that all the cucs from that plant will be the same and the plant should be discarded.

Is that right?

Cucumbers from my Marketmore and Burpless Tasty plants are, thankfully, perfectly edible.

[Hyacinth]

[saddad]

Don't know, I've never had any (bitter cucs) yet.... and I grow whites from preference  :-X

[flowergirl]

The same happened to me last year. People said it was beacuase I hadn't removed the male flowers. I am not familiar with long white cucumbers though. ???

[Robert_Brenchley]

I've had the odd bitter cucumber, but other fruit from the same plant have been fine. I've only grown ridge cucs, and you don't remove male flowers on those as they need to be pollinated.

[pigeonseed]

I'm also growing these - bianco lungo - and only one plant has been growing largish cucumbers and they have also been bitter.

I've been using them for cooking - if you cook them with a little sugar/honey and vinegar they taste nice. I reckon you could also do a spicy pickle with them.

I think you wait so long for the d**n things to grow and fruit, I never rip them out and throw them away unless absolutely necessary!

People sell bitter gourd, and that's really bitter!

[pigeonseed]

I had it for tea, because you reminded me! With rice.

It was okay, but not my favourite meal. I wish that bitter cucumber plant wasn't the most productive plant in the garden!!!  ;D

[djbrenton]

It may be that the flowers were pollinated. There's no need to rip up the plant, simply remove, on an on-going basis, any male flowers and you may find future cukes aren't bitter. Any females already being formed may have been pollinated, so would maybe be better removed now.

[Hyacinth]

Thank you all very much for your replies and, if they're all going to be as bitter as the first, a Special Thanks to Pigeonseed for the recipe! Like yours, this is by far the most productive cuc. plant in the garden and has a different texture to the others (Marketmore & Burpless) I'm growing - smoother and creamier?

I checked about the cause of the bitterness with you here because I'd previously thought that bitterness was caused by not removing the male flowers, something which wasn't mentioned at all in the article I read and which put the bitterness down entirely to the stress of adverse weather conditions.

SO - decision made. The Long White stays.I've removed the male flowers; the cucs now forming I can cook if they're equally bitter and here's hoping that non-bitter ones will come along.

Question unrelated to bitterness but while you're reading, anyone know what the what-seems-to-be dense flowerhead(?) forming on the end of a couple of the branches is all about? I've not seen this on other cucs in the past. Sorry I can't show a pic. :-\

Thanks

[saddad]

I think it's called something like "Fascination" toms and lots of other plants get it when the "genetics" get all confused.  :-\

[Hyacinth]

Ah yes, I knew it from tomato plants but hadn't connected the two cos I've only seen it once before. Thanks.

[chriscross1966]

If you're growing Long White and Marketmore close together then you have a problem.... Marketmore needs to be fertilisd, Long White must not be fertilised..... if you have one then you can't grow the other nearby.....