Telegraph Cucumbers

[Paul_77]

I am growing cucumbers for the first time this year and decided to gro

the telegraph greenhouse variety. Books tell me that I should remov all male flowers from the plants otherwise the fruits will be bitter. Please can someone tell me how I can distinguish between female an male flowers? I believe I am right in saying that telegraph cucumber should be long, straight and smooth skinned, however the fruits tha have developed on my plants are far from that. They have spikes o them and curl like a banana. Will the spikes disappear and smoot out?

Thanks Pau

-- Paul_77

[Pat Kiewicz]

The male flowers don't have a tiny cucumber behind them; they just have a short stem. The greenhouse varieties should be able to set fruit without pollination, which will be seedless. (Bitterness has more to do with water stress and variety than pollination.)

They are most likely to grow straight when the plants are grown on trellises or some other support so that the fruits hang suspended as they grow.

The spikey bits are normal on immature cucumbers. When the cuke is mature enough, the spikey bits will drop off (or can be easily rubbed off).