Conty fair cucumber question

[jamserg]

This is my first year growing them. I bought seeds on ebay from supposedly trustworthy source. My understanding is that county fair should have all female flowers and don't require pollination. The plants I have now have a bunch of male flowers and not a single female. Does it mean it's not county fair and I have to contact the seller? tia

[jamserg]

Not sure why nobody answered my question. So I am making this post so there's at least 1 reply. Update on the cucumbers: I planted around 20 plants and all of them carry 15-20 male flowers and not a single female. At this point I am 100% sure it's not county fair, but I'm surprised to see plants with male flowers only (being growing cucumbers for more then 10 years), never happened before. Anybody?

[RebelRidin]

That's a new one on me. I know it is not uncommon for the first flowers to be male but all of them??? Gynoecious plants still require fertilization and come with seeds for male flowering types. Not sure there though if even those are all male. Only the parthenocarpic ones (like County Fair) do not require pollination to set fruit.

One thing is certain... if your seeing a bunch of male flowers you did not get the seed you paid for!

[lakelady]

well that would stink having all male flowers. Sounds like contacting the seed seller would be a good idea and let him or her know. Good luck!

[rnewste]

I bought County Fair seeds from Nichols in the past. You might want to purchase from them next year.

Raybo

[jamserg]

Thank you for your help. At first, I thought I was all alone here I did contacted the seller and got a full refund. The bad part is it looks like I won't have cucumbers to pickle this year. Oh well. Raybo, I checked Nichols, but county fair is not listed there. Is there another reliable source?

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by jamserg

Not sure why nobody answered my question. So I am making this post so there's at least 1 reply. Update on the cucumbers: I planted around 20 plants and all of them carry 15-20 male flowers and not a single female. At this point I am 100% sure it's not county fair, but I'm surprised to see plants with male flowers only (being growing cucumbers for more then 10 years), never happened before. Anybody?

The reason I didn't answer was I had never seen it happen before, nor ever heard of it happening before. But I have watched this thread hoping to learn something new.

Please let us know if you ever get to the bottom of the issue!

[riceke]

Originally Posted by jamserg

This is my first year growing them. I bought seeds on ebay from supposedly trustworthy source. My understanding is that county fair should have all female flowers and don't require pollination. The plants I have now have a bunch of male flowers and not a single female. Does it mean it's not county fair and I have to contact the seller? tia

I dunno but it seems a little un-natural to me that one doesn't need both sexes to produce fruit. Doesn't it?

[MrBig46]

Originally Posted by riceke

I dunno but it seems a little un-natural to me that one doesn't need both sexes to produce fruit. Doesn't it?

The parthenocarpic cucumbers have all female flowers and don't require pollination.
Vladimír

[riceke]

Originally Posted by MrBig46

The parthenocarpic cucumbers have all female flowers and don't require pollination.
Vladimír

Sort of like hermaphrodite???

[MrBig46]

Originally Posted by riceke

Sort of like hermaphrodite???

It is very complicated for me to demonstrate it in English. Find it on Google. I planted these cucumbers, which are for the planting in the green housese. There are parthenocarpic salad cucumbers and cucumbers for packing too.
Vladimír

[tlintx]

Oh. It looks like it means the plant can be triggered to (or just does) make fruit without making seed. Interesting concept!


Tl