Yellowing and drying of salad cucumbers: a somewhat natural thing

Do you grow cucumbers for salads? If you do, you know that in addition to nice cucumbers you will get yellow ones that usually dry up. Why is that? We shall take a closer look at this phenomenon in the following lines. The reasons are actually well-known and the same applies to courgettes for example.

Nitrogen deficiency

That is usually the main reason. The plant needs nitrogen, and it needs a lot of it during fruiting. Large and healthy fruits consume plenty of nitrogen. To keep the consumption of nitrogen in check, let fruit grow to a nice size and cut it. Do not let it overgrow. By doing so, you will help the plant to keep and grow fruits that would not have much chance to grow – the plant may even loose them. This problem applies to traditional parthenocarpic varieties of cucumbers.

Photo: Radek Štěpán

Pollination may not occur

If you grow a non-parthenocarpic variety of cucumbers, they may not get pollinated properly. This problem usually occurs in poorly ventilated greenhouses or enclosed rooms. If that is the case, you need to pollinate individual plants by hand. It is not as complicated as it sounds and you can do it easily with a brush.

Photo: Radek Štěpán

Mould and other issues

Cucumbers can also suffer from mould, so do not over water and apply suitable treatment in advance. As any plant, cucumbers can also be attacked by aphids or other pests. You can tell that aphids attacked you cucumbers if the leaves start changing colour – you will see a kind of mosaic pattern on them. The plant will continue to bear fruit and form new leaves that are nice and green however, if the fungus spreads a lot, you may have to get rid of the entire plant.

Source: https://www.semo.cz/poradna-otazka/zloutnuti-malych-okurek-hadovek/
https://www.poradte.cz/zahrada-a-rostliny/2106-zloutnuti-okurek-proc.html

Preview photo: Radek Štěpán