cucumber fruit abortion

Question

My Japanese cucumbers are producing wonderfully. However, my pickling cucumbers have lots of blooms and tiny fruits, but most of the fruit turns grayish brown and stops growing when it gets much larger than 1/2 and inch or so. What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

This is normally a pollination problem. When the flowers are not pollinated, the plant "aborts" the fruit because it will not make seeds. Yet, it is unusual that the other plants are producing fine. Nonetheless, you may need to hand pollinate. Cucumbers are identical to melons on how they pollinate, so this article will also apply to cucumbers: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/melons/hand-pollinating-melons.htm