From the seed bundle to the picking stage , you ’ve done everything to raise a carry on harvest of kinky , sweet cukes . You ’ve water , fed , weeded and kept diseases and harmful dirt ball off . Your efforts paid off with sweet-scented former cuke , but your late varieties have some disappointingly biting fruit . We explicate why it ’s happening and how to ready it .
What Makes Cucumbers Bitter
Along with squashes and melons , cucumber go to the Cucurbitfamily . As a defense mechanism against vulture , all of them bring forth exceedingly acerb chemicals called cucurbitacins . In suitable turn conditions , these chemicals are limited to the flora ’ stem and leaves . But when thing go wrong , they may migrate to the yield .
About Cucurbitacins
In normal growing status , cucurbitacins are limited to a cucumber vine ’s tegument and root close . The amount a individual fruit contains is scummy enough to be almost undetectable . But when things go wrong , the acerbic taste migrates into the fruit itself . Three factors — watering , temperature and genetic endowment — are connect to increase cucurbitacins .
Inconsistent Watering
Any cucumber that often goes from being excessively dry to excessively wet is stressed . It may respond to the stress by releasing more justificative cucurbitacins . This is specially true of cukes in the flowering and fruiting degree .
Well - hydrate cucumber vine get between 1 and 2 inches of weewee each hebdomad , or between 6 and 12 gallons for every 1 square ft of soil . cucumber growing in sandy stain are likely to involve the higher amount . The destination is to keep the soil moist to the hint at all time without saturating it .
Expert gardener ’s crown :
Too Much Heat
Any Cucumis sativus loses its coolheaded when temperatures steady down above 90 ° F ( 32.2 ° snow ) . Besides developing bitter fruit , overheated cukes pop producing fewer distaff and more manlike flowersflowers . That translates to a smaller crop . To limit heat stress , provide your cukes with sink in good afternoon specter .
Expert gardener ’s tip : If your cuke plot of ground miss good afternoon shade , recompense by cloak them with a shade cloth available from your garden store . Look for one rated to choke up 50 % of the sunlight .
Inherited Traits
Genetics also dictates whether cucumber vines bring on bitter fruit . The ones with the dominant Bt-1 cistron produce the most cucurbitacins , and have an extremely bitter taste . Cucumis sativus with recessive bi-1 gene , however , have no cucurbitacins . They ’re not acerb even when severely stressed .
Expert gardener ’s gratuity : In between extremely bitter and bitter - free cukes are the burpless varieties . While bred to have fewer cucurbitacins , they lack the bi-1 gene . Under stressful conditions , their yield may be bitter .
consider on these cuke cultivars to render sweet crops :
Salvaging Not-Too-Bitter Cukes
In mildly stressed cukes , the bitter taste is limited to the skin and root word end . To salve them , slit a 1- to 2 - inch piece from the shank end . Using a circular movement , scratch the slash piece over the cucumber ’s undefended control surface . A bubbling white fluid will belch up . Keep rubbing until the foaming subsides . If the flesh is n’t virulent , the cucumber can be peeled and eat .
