5 Reasons Cucumbers Become Deformed or Misshapen

[@thorn9862]

I always add kissing sounds when I pollinate. It just seems appropriate.

[@linear7d]

😄 🤣 😂 😆

[@sweetearthfarm]

😳🤣🤣🤣

[@marialicandro7525]

😘😄

[@liberalinoklahoma1888]

Do you crave a cigarette too ??

[@seanharris5592]

Lol

[@jenniexfuller]

0:49 Main cause - pollination problem 5:08 Pollen problem - high heat sterilizes pollen, pollen got too wet and it molded, 6:11 - Disease - cucumber beetles, cucumber wilt, cucumber slugs 7:52 - Nutrient Deficiency - Nitrogen Deficiency 9:05 - lack of water

[@sceromakes7437]

10:29 Squirrel on the wire

[@sueeason275]

Too much water .

[@slhemp3556]

Thanks for the CliffsNotes. ✔️

[@billp3598]

Thanks for the time saver!!

[@spyralspyder]

@@sceromakes7437 Yeah I was just gonna post rofl.

[@lisagray5712]

This year I discovered that amaranth is a trap crop for cucumber beetles. I grew a variety of amaranth called “callaloo” that is for summer greens. The cucumber beetles loved it and I never saw any of the beetles on the cucumbers until mid August. I never did get any greens because there was a caterpillar that also loved the amaranth and the leaves were all eaten. But that didn’t deter the beetles so I just let it grow. Thanks for the great post.

[@catherinefaux6860]

That last few seconds when you found a perfectly shaped cucumber made me smile. Your love for gardening is infectious!

[@pamtnman1515]

You should see my wife’s smile when she finds one like this

[@twotonenavy]

THANK YOU!!!! I have been having MANY misshapen cucumbers over the last month. Water and fertilizing seems to be my issue. They've gotten better this last week or two with all this rain we've gotten in Roseville. It's seriously had me scratching my head. You, sir, are a hero!

[@codysmashey5901]

Thank you for explaining this. I’m a new gardener. I had a lot of irregular shaped cucumbers this year. I’ve also had tons of squash bugs.

[@BestGranny10]

I had a lot of those cukes! Changed to Japanese cukes, one is a complete circle smh

[@amyclark959]

Today I learned that there are male and female cucumber flowers and how to tell the difference. Neat. Thank you for all the information you teach me!

[@andrewm.7389]

Thanks for posting this. I was going to glance at the video and this comment made me watch the whole thing.

[@Lyddiebits]

Same applies to all in that family. Squashs, pumpkin, zucchini, all cukes:)

[@mobee7613]

You answered my question. I've had half of my cucmbers come out normal and the rest grow half the size and curl at the end. Thank you!!

[@MIgardener]

So glad this helped! Thanks for your support.

[@siry5164]

Hi thanks for this, I just harvest my cucumbers 🥒 maybe waited to long to pick them, but what do you do with the old dried up vine ? Will cucumbers still grow at some point? Please 🙏

[@cindyskillman544]

@@siry5164 The dried up vine won't produce any more cukes. You can put it in your compost. If you have a long enough frost-free season, you may be able to grow new cucumber plants.

[@janiceduerr620]

I planted cukes this year for the first time. All mine were mishapen. I remember this info for next year. Thanks.

[@siry5164]

Thanks 🙏🏼 the rest of my second crops planted where the first crops grew haven’t been growing well since the first batch, maybe something going on with the soil. I don’t know 🤷‍♀️ what’s going on? Can someone enlighten me please. In zone 9-10

[@franciscohernandez6163]

In a small amount of time watching your channel. Youve helped me learn and care for my garden beyond imagination. Glad to see these new episodes. I havent seen all of them yet but will continue to watch

[@Ebonyraeful]

Fantastic video. Thank you for continuously coming out with new content that still educates the fairly experienced gardeners. Love coming to your channel to keep learning new things that I just don't find on other channels. You're awesome!

[@MIgardener]

Thanks Jessica! That means a lot to hear!

[@Steve-sp7qu]

Dude I learn so much from you it’s insane. Thanks for all the amazing details

[@rosezingleman5007]

IVF explained! Be the Bee! Thank you soo much Luke. I’ve had nothing but misshapen cukes so far, and just moved my second wave plants to the trellis area and they’re starting to flower. Now I know what to do next.

[@clo8281]

I needed this answer right now!!! Right on time!

[@avelsgard78]

Me too!!!

[@slycooper3938]

Same!

[@lynettebodiford3525]

Me too!

[@chinetap9599]

Same here!!

[@rosezingleman5007]

Yes yes yes!

[@JeromeBeeFarm]

I had this problem big time this year and I suspected it was poor pollination. What's crazy is I have 30 bee hives about 200' from my garden. What happened, in Oklahoma, was it rained like crazy in the spring, probably when all the cuc's were blooming and the bees couldn't get out to forage. It was a huge impact to honey harvest as well.

[@b.williamchapman9774]

Squirrel running the power lines at 10:31 got my attention!🙈😆 My favorite snacking cucumber to grow is lemon cucumbers. I'm really surprized that most urban farmers don't even know about these. My hint for harvesting lemon cucumbers is to pick them before they turn yellow.😉 Yellow means the seeds are maturing. And the smaller ones can pickled whole.👌

[@jakobtrahey846]

I just picked a cucumber that looks like it has a little belly button in the middle! (Not pest damage, it's just bent with a pinch in the middle)

[@thegatheringfarms]

Thanks, Luke! We’re building our aquaponics system. So if cucumbers do great in hydroponics, they should do great in our aquaponics system, too. You discussed hand pollination so that should give us a leg up since our system is inside…fewer bugs, etc. (Rob)

[@ljmosski]

Sitting here eating two sliced cucumbers from my garden watching you to find out why my cucumbers aren't growing in quantity and shape. Thanks for the info Luke!!

[@lrg613]

Last year, I had plenty of bees but almost no cucumber crop and what did grow were very small and shaped in a circle. I think it was the seeds so I purchased from several small seed companies this year. Thank you for the pollination info because this is my first year growing in a greenhouse. We built a bumblebee box and I’m hoping to attract them in with flowers growing amongst the vegetables.

[@324kca]

Thanks brother. Much appreciated. I'm in southern Ontario and we've had lots of pollinators (as well as a little hand pollinating) but I've noticed a lot of issues with the rain we've had this year. Has effected my watermelons, canteloupes and honeydew melons as well. The ants have also been stealing the pollen. 😖 You've answered my question fully. Thank you! Keep up the great vids!!

[@lilal3753]

I'm assuming they are still edible. I sort of tuned you out once the squirrel ran across the wire at approximately the 10:30 mark in the video. I had to watch it 3 times. LOL So cute!!

[@clancarney2541]

lol, so you are saying you squirreled.

[@lilal3753]

@@clancarney2541 OMG YES!!! lol

[@23ofSeptember]

You can do this with tomatoes too to help with pollination. Give the flowers a bit of a shake, I call it "diddling" the flower (I know, sounds like something Michael Jackson would do). But yeah, diddle your flowers for better pollination.

[@kimby81]

I do the same

[@karenabrams8986]

🤣.

[@RiversideHomesteadLife]

Our homestead channel likes your garden vids!

[@grannygct]

Thanks for a wonderful informative video on cukes. I am growing two plants for the first time and they are producing like crazy in my garden. Such a refreshing veggie to eat on a hot day! Glad I saw your video and now I understand why cukes can be deformed at times. Keep those videos coming, love to learn more from you! Happy Gardening!

[@hellokimmy68]

We have tons of bees (I have a pollinator garden next to my veggie garden), but I always hand pollinate cucumbers because the bees seem to only want the male flowers!

[@MR-ul6bc]

Good information. Beautiful sunflowers in the background.

[@RobKinneySouthpaw]

I've lucked out because there is an urban farm with beehives a few blocks away.

[@MIgardener]

Lucky you! :)

[@taxigirl5637]

Interesting because bees usually stick very close to their hives like 15-20 feet max

[@nathanpotter8569]

@@taxigirl5637 not really at all. Each wiggle a bee gives in their communication dance is about 50 yards. They travel up to 3 miles for nectar and pollen, unless there is a dearth going on , then they may travel further. They may find close resources, but they have no way to communicate to other bee's where it's at.

[@ms.anonymousinformer242]

I have had only bumble bees pollinating mt cucumbers. They stay busy all day. Where do they come from?

[@nathanpotter8569]

@@ms.anonymousinformer242 bumblebees from my reading typically have their nests underground. In fact I had to pause my garden bed in one area when I noticed there were bumblebees coming out of the ground where the newly built box was going.

[@vanessal1893]

Thank you Luke, great informative video. Your seeds are THE BEST. Thank you to you and your team for all your hard work getting your seeds to us gardeners :)

[@TheOldSwedesFarm]

We had a few of those this year. We figured it was pollination or cucumber beetles. They are all over the flowers (at times) and don't let the bees in. Great video!

[@richardyeoh2327]

This video came out at the prefect time for me. Had blazing hot weather for the past 2 weeks and a lot of my cucumbers were deformed. Now I know and will take the steps to save the rest of my season. I still have a lot of bitter cucumbers though and yet to find out why some taste bitter and some don't.

[@mszstm7427]

I would be interested too, why some is bitter and other isn’t (within the same plant).

[@donnayoung5942]

Wow! Full of detailed information on how to grow healthy cucumbers! Excellent job, Luke! Thanks

[@ammorales1524]

I definitely got misshapen cucumbers from my garden sweet cucumber variety. Now I know what to avoid or to look for. Thanks Luke !

[@LaurieH57]

I planted two whole packages of cuke seeds a week or so ago. Only the MIGardener seeds came up the other brand didn’t. They might have been too old, but still. MIGardener seeds sprouted!

[@AlmostHomeChannel]

Will have to try hand pollination, very interesting episode, thanks for sharing!

[@BHarry-mx9py]

Had a bee keeper down the street last year. Now this year he is gone. Now minimal honey bees. It is a sad summer for me. Not seeing pollinators. Hope next year will be better. GOD BLESS.

[@dragonflygardens]

This was a great video. We had some great cucumbers come in on our trellis this season. Lately they have been a little misshapen. Tons of wonderful info. Thank you so much 🙂

[@hunnybunnyssunshineliving5155]

😂 was that a black squirrel running across the powerline... too funny. Thanks for the info it came in very handy🥒🥒🥒🙌🏽👏🏽👍🏼

[@heidevanness2788]

Now THAT was a beautiful cucumber!!!! Mine are mishaped and small... thanks for the info and biology class!!😁

[@simpsongreenhouseandchicken]

Awesome advice! I enjoy sharing your videos along with a few other folks to my farm customers who are trying their hands at growing their own produce! Along with recommending your seeds for their different likes! So I'm glad you are so detailed in your explanations!

[@GrinderCB]

Good helpful video. Always wondered what caused misshapen cukes. I did 3 plants this year, all in pots on my back patio. No sign of beetles or slugs but we did have high temps the last few weeks so that must be it. Good crop, I was picking 5-6 cukes a day for a while and the early ones looked great, but the ones during and after the heat were funny looking.

[@emmadalrymple4102]

A TON of information here! Thank you for sharing this!

[@HomewardBound961]

Diatomaceous Earth also referred to as DE. Sprinkle on top of leaves and make it into a spray to squirt under side of leaves. Reapply after rain. Hope this helps.

[@davisrob]

Perfect timing for this video. Thanks Luke. We just finished pickling our 17th quart jar of bread and butters from one 4x8' garden box! The plants are now producing a lot slower, the leaves are mostly yellow, and the plant stems are becoming dry.

[@lc5346]

Thanks for your video! I was wondering why my cucumbers didn’t do well at all this year

[@mamangisda1573]

I switched to drip irrigation and got much better results than watering with a sprinkler or wand. Now I need to dial in just how much to drip per hour per cucumber plant.

[@trishthehomesteader9873]

Thanks Luke! 🙂 I haven't grown cucs yet. Maybe next year. And I won't freak out if I have some wonky ones.

[@airhead8188]

Thanks for all of your hard work. I have learned so much from your videos. I'm in Kalamazoo. Please keep it up!

[@alisonwarner7555]

This year did turn out to be a great year for cucumbers 🥒🎉. Even down here in Peoria AZ 👍

[@suecave7139]

I’m on my third batch of 14-day pickles; I’ve already made several batches of bread and butters as well as dills. We only put in three plants, but we’ve had more cucumbers than I know what to do with. They seem like English cukes but they are deeply striated and enormous-several over two feet long, with very few seeds and really tender skin

[@jturie]

I was lazy and didn't get my cukes to climb....they just sprawled all over the place in a tangled thick mess. Guessing that made pollination difficult. I also think I need to plant more flowers in my garden to attract bees.

[@steverdms]

I always use an electric toothbrush to manually pollinate when short on bees.

[@denisegirmer4550]

Never doing cukes in pots ever again only in ground! Huge difference!

[@MIgardener]

Cucumbers in pots definitely have issues.

[@cyhomer]

For the past two years I have grown cukes in hanging baskets off my deck…now, granted i didn’t get dozens from them, but enough for us!

[@john-smith.]

4 in an earth box work great.

[@ginamac9112]

Making me nervous. I’ve got a space master bush in a pot on my deck. Lots of flowers coming so fingers crossed. 💚

[@magapickle01]

I grew some in food grade 55 gallon drums full of water and compost tea and they are growing amazing . Never need to water either

[@MrMattDat]

I remember you did a video some time ago where you picked a male cucumber flower, plucked off the petals, and used it to manually pollinate the female flowers. Going to give that a try this season (WAY too much rain here in MA in July!!)

[@MIgardener]

We are right there with you, we have had so much rain.

[@stephaniez2]

Good video, thanks. What cucumber variety are you using ?

[@vicwickgardens9174]

Straight Eight cucumbers are my favorite 🥰

[@GraftingTactick]

You are such a green thumb man, great sharing 👌

[@mimidroy725]

Hi Luke, I just planted cucumbers inside egg shells...to be transplanted later. Just experimenting.

[@TheNewtMC]

i've done that... dunno if its worth the work though. i never really noticed a difference

[@aristokat1344]

You can also use the tubes from toilet paper rolls :) although the egg shells add in extra calcium, cool ideas either way! 😁

[@kristaln135]

So I have thought about pollination all wrong. I thought you needed to have pollination before a fruit ever formed. I didn't realize that they continue needing pollination when they are growing.

[@Mmbohn1]

Me too!

[@smooshiebear80]

And me!

[@lisabowman5282]

Ha. Love the squirrel running across the power line behind you 😄

[@jjwideawake.9397]

I did hand pollination and do have flowering trees by my garden so had bees. My problem is the plants leaves started curling and staying small to very small and adark green. So plants have some cucs but are misshapen. I did reseed cloth pots because plants on way out. I have fertilizerd. Used neem oil. The cucs are short and some almost round. Water not a problem. I water daily. Its hot here in SW Louisiana with thunder storms EVERY afternoon. I have never had problems with cucs before. I have never

[@denisebrady6858]

Luke Thanks for this informative video as I have struggled in the past with mine. I am currently in the last month of Winter but temps are around 24C so I have started my Spring seeds so wish me luck. Cheers Denise- Australia

[@MIgardener]

Good luck on your garden! Thanks for watching :)

[@rebekacarr6002]

I Believe on this video you answered one of my questions about my cucumber plant, my first and single plant that I have in a bucket is that it's too hot for it to produce any good cucumbers. I have tried to pollinate the flowers myself as I do not have bees in that area of our yard. We live on an acre and they don't come visit where I have my vegetables. We live in the Mojave Desert, so my poor cucumber plant has been attempting to grow in partial shade since May, and has produced exactly one cucumber. My question which was not addressed on this video, is why is it white. It started out green, now it's full size, but it's pure white. It does get up over a hundred almost daily here for the last couple of weeks and into the 'high 90s previous to that for over a month. I'm not even sure if the white cucumber is safe to eat. The plant itself grew really well initially then a lot of the leaves started drying up and falling off along with the tiny little beginner cucumbers about an inch long. Although pollinated by me, they didn't continue growing. A couple of them became the size of a large grape, then turned yellow and eventually just fell off. But this one that actually grew to normal size is what I call anemic and I don't understand why. Thank you for your videos, they have been helpful, hoping you can answer this

[@penitoanikeve7288]

Thanks alot for this information, question answered. Cheers!!!

[@brucehepper2448]

Should you plant flowers around your garden to help the track bees

[@minnoux]

Thankyou….wow that last cucumber was perfect!!

[@kellyweinberg5482]

I have an INFESTATION of cucumber beetles and a lot of my fruit is deformed. What could I try to rid them of my garden? Love all of your content!

[@skittles9970]

I have the same problem. I just started a different variety that is parthenocarpic, which means they don't need pollinators. I am going to grow them under Agfabric so that the beetles cannot get on them.

[@kellyweinberg5482]

@@skittles9970 that’s a great idea!

[@HomewardBound961]

DE

[@skittles9970]

@@HomewardBound961 Unfortunately I have tried that, but I just got tired of it because I had to do it almost every day. I do still use it on my eggplant though! I actually made a mix of DE, Kaolin clay and Captain Jacks Dead Bug. It does kill them, but it seems like they still have time to chew holes in the leaves before they die.

[@josepharchambault8368]

Hi Luke, just found this video. It explains a lot. I just dont understand why the female flowers dont even open?? Hope you see this post Thank You

[@PigsDream]

I tried cucumbers in my 5 gallon earth buckets this year with excellent results. I had to make pickles to use them all.

[@VashtheStampede007]

Hi 👋, I have tried hand pollination with Q-tip. For some reason, I do not see any pollen (powder) on the cotton. Is it normal? I tried several male flowers, all the same. Yes, I got some weird shaped cucumbers just like in the video lol. By the way, my cucumber leaves are turning yellow. I suspect overwatering or over fertilizing. Which one? Any way to reverse it?

[@poolman8676]

Bring up the same exact problem. I can literally see the pollen on the q-tip from the squash but not from the cucumber. When I pollinate, I see nothing on the female flowers. The yellow leaves are probably due to a lack of nitrogen

[@smooshiebear80]

I’ve had the same issues, but only on my pickling varieties.

[@poolman8676]

@@smooshiebear80 use more bloom. After I did that I got about six cucumbers. I don't know if it was coincidence or what

[@southerncomfort971]

Question Luke. When you say wet, does that include humidity? we havent had a lot of rain but there has been a lot of heat and humidity, and my cucmbers didnt do well and there doesnt seem to be bugs or disease. Love your channel, always fun to watch and learn.

[@SiebMab]

Thank for your sharing video, great answer 💓

[@antoinettegainous4883]

Thanks. This video was awesome and right on time.

[@Peldyn]

“Temps over 105 can make pollen go sterile.” Oh I am so screwed.

[@SpicyBricy]

Same here!

[@RaspyOB174]

@@SpicyBricy Shade cloth will help your lives

[@stephaniesanchez676]

Same! I'm in Zone 9....I'm just going to wait until the fall to try cucumbers again

[@thebullwhisperer916]

I used baby pools & a tent cover

[@cryofpaine]

Same. But that's ok, it was so hot I didn't get any female flowers anyway. 3 plants and a ton of vines, but only 5 cucumbers so far.

[@dereklonewolf9011]

Thank you for your informational video young fella. My summer crop of toms/ cucumbers/ carrots/ hot peppers/ potatoes etc. This answers a question about my cucs. 73+🍁 Manitoba hunter expat/ gardener

[@rhondacobian5555]

What makes the cucumber spongy especially on the stem end?

[@hankdoughty4375]

Needed this also . Apparantly my problem is two fold possible three. The heat the dry weather and lack of nitrogen. Started watering and fertilized some are looking better but still have some strange looking ones.

[@janinebean4276]

10:30 that little squirrel is really going for it 😂

[@irmacheckley7373]

Great information,my vines have no male blossoms only females what can I do?any ideas.

[@TheCorey1734]

At first glance, I had to ask myself who “Miss Hapen” was.

[@guylamullins3602]

Here around Peru Indiana it’s either been really hot and dry or it’s rained for days. It was a good start for cooler weather crops but tomatoes and zucchini are suffering this year. I bought a zucchini seed packet that sprouted one zucchini plant and the rest were something else. Larger round squash. Maybe spaghetti squash.

[@CFPSWD1993]

Have learned alot from ur videos, great and helpful info. Quick question because ive seen it on another video, is it safe to pull the dead end of the flowers off after they've been pollinated?

[@Earthy-Artist]

Squirrel photo bomb again! My cucumbers producing perfectly formed fruit heavily = lots of half sour pickles. THEN.... leaves began to get yellow spots & some cuc's look deformed, production slowed. I now have an idea of why thanks Luke. I also thought it might be spider mites?? Pollination tip also great👍!

[@KDM129]

Thank you! This is really helpful. I definitely have cucumber beetles. Do you recommend an insecticide? Any one in particular?

[@wardfuller1169]

Luke, picked up some Muncher Cucumbers from MIGardener this year and they are producing beautiful great tasting cucumbers

[@naeemjaved8594]

Thanks. Why some cucumbers are bitter. Is it because of seeds or some other reasons and remedies if any ? Shall appreciate your expert opinion.

[@donnasteward7670]

I just received my order of Beit Alpha Cucumber seeds from Baker Creek. They are supposed to have only female flowers. I'll be planting them today as a second crop.

[@charlestucker7701]

Hi Luke I was aware of the m/f pollination thingy when it comes. However this year the leaves all became spotted. Some kind of disease? OR, lack of nutrients. I've been cutting the leaves off all summer. I did however have an abundant crop of straight eights and market more with a couple of pickling varieties. What to do?

[@jocelyn6247]

Thank you Luke. I never knew why my cucumbers would grow like this

[@LifeIsMessyImLearningAsIGrow]

🥒🥒🥒🥒🥒🥒🥒🥒🥒🥒🥒 Thank you for sharing Watching cucumbers grow is so fun. 🐝I just love to see how they vine and bloom. All the hard work is worth it to me to get to see the new growth everyday it brings me so much joy! 🌻Your garden is inspiring! I appreciate your tips, tricks and advice! 👨‍🌾I look forward to learning more from each other as we grow! 🥒🥒🥒🥒🥒🥒🥒🥒🥒🥒🥒

[@sharadaswaminathan2528]

This just came out right on time. I have cucumber beetles. My plant is dying. What's the best way to get rid of the beetles? Please help! 🥺

[@natishaking6824]

Cut back some leaves and spray neem oil on both side of the leaves and followers

[@lostmoose7352]

Great info, appreciate ! Know what? The misshapen my pickles are, the more I like them. Am I crazy? Same with artisan breads...

[@isobelmunoffilm5694]

I learned several new things. Thank you.

[@mneraasen224]

Thanks to trifecta and the cattle panel, I have finally had a very successful cucumber season 💗💗

[@thelazynortherngardener7607]

Hey. Help those cuke vines up the trellis. Pollinators see the flowers better that way and the trellis helps hold the weight of the cukes. See the tendrils? They want to grab something :)

[@bexxsubisti3957]

Goodness, thank u so much for this info! I live in a suburb of Denver and it gets super dry hot down here. I have some seriously crazy looking cucumbers, some in the shape of swirls and question marks. 😁

[@cgc1581]

1. Lack of bees and pollinators 2. Disease 3. Pests 4. Nutrient deficiency 5. Lack of water

[@Sendarya]

My cucumbers are born this was. I mean that the tiny females form this way before the flowers open, curled like this. Clearly not a pollination issue in my case.

[@ralsharp6013]

Yes I think I had a pollination problem this year with our cucumbers and only got 5

[@thebullwhisperer916]

Perfect timing. My cucumbers are huge & not very green....almost not very tasty either. Mom said they were trying to "go to seed"? but idk. I wonder if i waited too long to pick them.

[@andrewm.7389]

Are the male/female flowers similar for squash?

[@vee5032]

This is an awesome video Luke, it was what I needed to hear to understand what was going on with my cucumbers 💚😁

[@MIgardener]

So glad this helped!

[@vee5032]

MIgardener always