Our Japanese cucumber has been our problem child, due to the disease that overshadowed it a while back. I quickly learned that the disease was more from me than anything else and when we pulled back on the watering she began to live again. She is doing so much better these days that I was amazed to see this flower. It is a good thing but from what I have been learning, one flower is not going to do any good. SO for now I am enjoying the one bloom. There seems to be another one in process but I can't tell and I am not sure with the timing. But I will leave it up the plant to decide and if by some chance another bloom happens to occur I will try diy pollination.
2 comments:
I am having a problem myself with a japanese cucumber plant. I know they are supposed to need lots of sun and a little water (at least, cucumbers in general are) but every time I leave it out in the sun it starts to wilt, so I water it thinking it needs water... I don't know what to do. What would you recommend?
Camillionaire- Currently we are still experimenting with the Japanese cucs. They happen to be the best tasting Cucs we have grown. However, they are very fragile and Hardy plants at the same time. Im not sure where you live, but Japanese cucs don't do well in the heat. And places with extreme humidity. When we placed our Cucs in full sun they would wilt. I then moved them to a shaded area under neath our gazebo and they did much better. But because of the humidity they seem to be supressed. It was trivial at first but during the summer when they were under the shade it seemed as though they were almost dormant. As soon as Sept hit. They were on like popcorn. The cooler weather at nights pushed them over the edge and they set flowers like crazy. We transplanted several from pots into the garden with some fresh compost worked up from the chickens and they grew like wild fire. I will have to check my posts but I think they grew all the way up until Dec. So my take on the Japanese cucs, is that they prefer cooler temps in contrast to the common cucs that many people plant. My wife had no issues planting the common variety during summer. They did best during the heat of the day and six plants produced more cucs than she ever wanted. So if you time it right for your Japanese variety make sure you get them started well before the cool weather hits and try seeing where they feel happiest. When you find that place don't move them. They will grow slow, but keep the soil slightly damp and fertilize off and on until the cool weather comes and then when they start to show signs of awakening, Stick em out in full sun and enjoy!! I wish you the very best in this years growing season. Also you might want to try transplanting your Japanese cucs in Haybales if you have access to them. I write about this on my blog and there is some info for getting started. Good Luck!!
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