What causes poor fruit set?
Poor fruit set on cucumber plants generally results from planting seeds too thickly, resulting in a tight canopy of leaves which discourages bee activity. Excessive cool weather or rainy weather also slows bee activity. First flowers on cucumber plants are male flowers. After this, the plant produces male and female flowers in cycles. Gynoecious cultivars produce only female flowers, so plantings of these cultivars need a few plants of a standard cultivar to produce male flowers for pollination.
