Most garden owners want to have more female flowers than male flowers. Because one male flower can pollinate 3 or 5 female flowers at a go.
I don’t need to tell you that water is essential, especially when you want to get your cucumbers to produce healthy female flowers.
So how do you ensure you’re supplying your Cucumber with the right amount of water, at the perfect time? It’s hard.
Get started with a pot that has good drainage such as the HOMENOTE self-watering pot (on Amazon). Check price here.
HOMENOTE 7″ Bottom Self-Watering Plant Pots
- Delivers water to plant roots
- Protects the plant from overwatering
- Comes with a saucer and reservoir
You can increase female flowers in cucumber by planting more Gynoecious species of cucumber. Gynoecious species of cucumber produce only female flowers. Therefore, growing more of Gynoecious will result in many female flowers of cucumber.
The more female flowers your cucumber has, the more fruits it will produce.
Every cucumber row is naturally supposed to produce 5 to 10 pounds for every 5 to 12 feet row.
However, planting the right cucumber seed that produces more female flowers will yield more fruit as well.
It’s possible to double the cucumber fruit if your cucumber produces more female flowers.
Let’s delve into some of the factors that will either increase or decrease the rate of female flowers in cucumber.
1. How Does Temperature Increase Female Flower in Cucumber?
Temperature is among the factors that determine the amount of female flower cucumber will grow.
Irrespective of the species of cucumber, temperature plays a major role.
Lack of this information makes some people concentrate more on monoecious cucumber than the Gynoecious cucumber.
Understanding the weather conditions of your area is very important. This will guide you to know the types of species of cucumber to plant more.
The male flower thrives more in a higher temperature, while the female flower grows more in a lower temperature.
The question is can you control temperature? Mother nature will definitely have its way of affecting your cucumber.
Cucumbers will grow more female flowers when the temperature is between 40 to 60 degrees.
When you notice the temperature is around 65 degrees to 90 degrees then just know that male flowers will come out more.
You may not be able to control temperature but you can determine the number of female flowers it will produce.
Plant more Gynoecious species and with a little mixture of monoecious when you’re in an area that has higher temperature.
No matter how high the temperature is, you will have more female flowers than the male. The gynoecious will produce more female flowers than the male flower.
Another way to have more female flowers production in cucumber is to know when spring will fall to plant more of gynoecious than the monoecious.
With this, you will increase the female sex flower in cucumber to the male flower.
2. Water and Mulch Effect on Female Flower
The female flowering sex of cucumber grows much in moist soil. But when the soil is not moist enough it will either produce more males than females.
Neglecting to water your cucumber will make the male flower sex come out more even though the temperature is low.
How often you water the soil will determine how moist it will be. Female flowers in cucumber require moist soil to produce much. It’s recommended to use the HOMENOTE self-watering pot (on Amazon) to water effectively.
You can increase the female flowering in cucumber by providing at least 2 inches of water twice a week to enable soil moist which will make female flowers come out more.
Then adjust the amount of watering when there is rainfall. The male flowers like when the soil is not moist.
If the soil is moist enough to produce female flowers, it will not, even though you plant more Gynoecious species.
It’s advisable to water only in the morning to avoid overwatering. Most times, wet foliage can lead to cucumber disease.
Weed is another factor you need to take care of in your cucumber. Female flowers don’t have much strength to withstand weed.
Weed prevents soil-moisture evaporation. This deter female flower production. To ensure you much female flowers wee your cucumber.
Weed free cucumber will allow the cucumber to spread a layer of seed-free on the soil. They promote the growth of female flowers in cucumber.
3. Does Excess of Nitrogen Fertilizer Affect Female Flower in Cucumber
Soil management increases female flowers in cucumbers. It matters how you treat the soil.
Outside watering, mulch, and temperature another factor you need to consider is nitrogen fertilization.
The amount of nitrogen fertilization you apply on soil will determine how much female flowers it will produce.
A high concentration of nigeration fertilization will delay the growth of female flowers in cucumber. And heavy nitrogen fertilization might lead to lack of female flowers in cucumber.
Before you apply nitrogen fertilizer to your cucumber, understand the component of the soil.
Sometimes, higher nitrogen fertilization is good to improve soil that lacks organic matter that cucumber needs to grow more female flowers.
This is a very important aspect when it comes to the increase in female flowers of cucumber.
Nitrogen fertilizer has both an advantage and disadvantage effect on cuucmber. Likewise, under nitrogen fertilization affects female flowers also in cucumbers.
4. Using Sowing and planting to Increase Female Flowers in Cucumber
It takes approximately 3 to 5 days for cucumber seed to germinate. Especially when it is planted at a favorable temperature.
Cucumbers need 80° to 90°F to germinate at the early stage. Once it sprouts out of the ground, the temperature needs to change to encourage more female flowers.
The weather conditions you subject your cucumber to at the early stage have a significant effect on the production of female flowers.
Sowing cucucmber seed indoors before transplanting is not bad. When transplanting, care have to be taken not to disturb the roots.
What delays female flower in cucumber sometimes is the tempered root during transplanting.
You can possibly avoid this problem by planting directly in your garden. If you’re bothered about the weather conditions, you can cover your nursery cucumber with black plastic mulch.
The black plastic mulch will help you regulate the temperature that will be favorable to the female flowers.
Seeding and planting is another way to control or increase the female flowers in cucumbers.
5. Does Spacing Affect Female Flowers in Cucumber?
You plant Gynoecious cucumber to have more female flowers. So you shouldn’t plant it anyhow — you’ve got to be deliberate about it.
Spacing is very important if you want to have more female flowers. The male flower can survive in crowding planting. But the female flower can’t do much in a crowded environment.
How spacious the inbetween of the cucumber is determines how vibrant the female flowers will sprout out or produce.
The perfect planting spacing to have more female flowers in cucumber is 18 to 24 inches apart. Or you can maintain 24 to 36 inches in row feet apart.
The reason female flowers of cucumber require enough spacing is because of the fruit bearing.
Gynoecious species will not produce enough female flowers in an environment that does promote enough breathability.
For you get the exact spacing method, set pole or trellises before you embark on planting.
Enough air in between cucumbers limits the chance of cucumber being diseased — encouraging proper air circulation to have more female flower production.
6. How to Increase Female Flower in Cucumber Through Feeding
Cucumber is among the heavy feeder fruits you can lay your hands on. But most people don’t know it.
Especially the Gynoecious species. It requires enough aged compost or manure to produce substantial female flowers.
Proper feeding of cucumber behind from seed planting. Add some percentage of manure to the hole you plant before you plant.
The application of the manure into each hole before you planting will help the cucumber to have better start.
After 3 weeks of the seed manure planting when the first flower appears, feed the cucumber again with another compost tea.
You can also use a shovel to maintain the manure. A shovel will help you take exact measurements of manure.
Don’t as you add manure, make sure you water accordingly to avoid not functioning of the manure.
The right application of manure or compost will increase the female flowers in cucumber.
7. Pruning Increase Female Flowers in Cucumber
Cucumber that spread on the ground will produce few female flowers. Allow cucumber to spread on the ground to prevent air circulation.
Prune your cucumber if you want to have more female flowers in cucumber.
Pruning will allow air to penetrate very well.
You can use a stick or 4-foot wire cage to prune your cucumber. Pinch out the fully growing tip of the cucumber on the wire and allow it to spread by itself.
Make sure the wire is strong enough to carry the entire weight of the cucumber when it starts to spread all over the wire.
Prune of cucumber is not just increasing the female flower only but also help the fruit that would have bend on the ground to be straight.
8. Pest Control Will Increase Female Flower
How productive is your cucumber depends on how you are able to prevent pests from destroying the female flowers.
When it comes to pests control, many people are concerned about the weather conditions.
Because the easiest way to control pests is by spraying pesticides, which doesn’t result in high productive cucumbers.
Apart from spraying pesticides, which destroy cucmber, there are other ways to go about this.
You can use fine netting or woven material to cover the cover cucumber as it begins to grow up.
Because of heat, you can cover the planting area in the morning and remove it later in the day.
The cloth should allow passage of air to aid photosynthesis during the period it covered.
Gynoecious and Monoecious
If in your garden you experiencing more of male flowers than the female flowers chances are you have more of Monoecious than Gynoecious.
Monoecious is another variety of cucumber that bear both male and female flowers in the same tree.
Most times the factors that influence which flower will come out more are
- Temperature
- Soil
- Nitrogen fertilization
- Water system.
If these factors are not checked in the Monoecious species, more of the male flowers will come.
You need to ensure all these factors are controlled and balanced for you to have more female flowers.
Appropriate nitrogen fertilization will help the female flowers to dominate the male flowers in the Monoecious cucumber.
Female flower doesn’t thrive if the soil isn’t well moist.
Because female flowers in cucumber do not withstand the high temperature compared to the male flowers.
The exact soil moisture will help Monoecious to produce more female flowers than male flowers.
maintain soil moisture that will make Monoecious flowers produce more female flowers than the male flowers.
Watering system will help you make the soil to be moisture. But don’t water when there is rainfall.
Too much moisture of the soil might lead to cucumber diseases.
Gynoecious is another species of cucumber that produces only female flowers. This species is normally planted alongside Monoecious species.
Gynoecious will increase female flowers in cucumber if it’s well taken care of. One of the major issue with the Gynoecious is the temperature.
Gynoeciosus will produce litle or no flowers when the temperature is relatively high. Sometimes, poeple use excess nitrogen fertilizer to destroy the Gynoecious.
Another aspect people don’t really concern about is feeding. Gyneocious need much food to be able to produce many female flowers.
Manuring the soul will give Gynoecious the nutrients it needs to produce many female flowers.
Allowing weed in the midst of Gynoecious will definitely delay and destroy its energy to produce flowers.
Gynoecious are special species of cucumber that need much care compared to Monoecious cucumber. Even though it produce one type of flower.
Monoecious is a bi-flower cucumber that has the strength to withstand any temperature compare to Gynoecious cucumber.
Conclusion
By now I’m sure you know how to increase female flowers in cucumbers. Female flowers are not as strong as the male flowers.
Increasing female flowers in cucumbers is not as difficult as you may think.
Applying the right method, which you have read in this article will make you have more female flowers than male flowers.
The more female flowers you cucumber produced, the more of fruits you will harvest.
Increase your cucumber fruit by increasing the female flowers.