
(Female cucumber flowers have what looks like a tiny cucumber between the bottom of the flower and the stem).

What to do about male and female flowers?Īlways remove the male flowers from greenhouse cucumbers – you can tell they’re male because they just have a plain stalk. This helps to encourage more sideshoots, which will produce bigger crops of cucumbers. Pinch out the end of each side shoot once the fruit begins to develop, leaving two leaves after each fruit. So, train the main shoots to climb a vertical cane or string and, once they reach the end of their support, pinch out the growing point at the top of the plant. If you encourage the plants to climb, you’ll get better yields. You might need to screen plants to protect them from scorching on very hot days, and a little liquid fertiliser every two weeks or so will go a long way. Keep the greenhouse warm and humid by regularly spraying or damping down the pathways.

How do you look after greenhouse cucumbers? Plant two cucumber plants per grow bag, or at a distance of 45cm apart. Keep the potting compost moist – the rule of “little and often” applies here. If your greenhouse is heated, you can plant the young plants in late March.

Image: Cucumber 'Carmen' F1 Hybrid from Thompson & Morgan Encouraging cucumbers to climb in a greenhouse produces better yields
