Trouble with hand pollinating cucumbers

DocBrock · April 10, 2018

I've never grown cucumbers before and thought I'd try hand pollinating a few flowers because I hardly ever see bees in my yard. Do cucumbers typically have less pollen than other cucurbits? I've pollinated melons before and seems like if you rub the male flower on the stigma of the female, the stigma is caked in yellow pollen. I'm having a hard time noticing if any pollen is transferring even when using a small paintbrush that has white bristles to collect pollen from the male. Seems like there is no pollen in the male. Is it possible that the first set of flowers don't have pollen yet? It's been 2 days since I first tried and I can't tell whether or not the pollination took. The variety is Boston Pickling Cucumber. Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer!

April 10, 2018	#1
DocBrock Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2018 Location: Southwest Florida Posts: 111	Trouble with hand pollinating cucumbers I've never grown cucumbers before and thought I'd try hand pollinating a few flowers because I hardly ever see bees in my yard. Do cucumbers typically have less pollen than other cucurbits? I've pollinated melons before and seems like if you rub the male flower on the stigma of the female, the stigma is caked in yellow pollen. I'm having a hard time noticing if any pollen is transferring even when using a small paintbrush that has white bristles to collect pollen from the male. Seems like there is no pollen in the male. Is it possible that the first set of flowers don't have pollen yet? It's been 2 days since I first tried and I can't tell whether or not the pollination took. The variety is Boston Pickling Cucumber. Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer!