Q: Although the plants grew well, last year my cucumbers were curved, and I had lots of flowers but didn’t get very many tomatoes either. Is there anything I can do to prevent that from happening again?
A: It’s likely the issues you experienced with your cucumbers and tomatoes last year had to do with factors that negatively affected pollination, although other environmental factors like soil moisture and fertility could have also contributed.
With cucumbers, cool temperatures (less than 65 degrees) or high humidity during pollination can lead to insufficient pollination and resulting deformed fruit.
Tomato pollen viability can also be negatively affected by temperature (above 90 degrees daytime or above 70 degrees or below 55 degrees nighttime temperatures) and high humidity. While we can’t control the weather, planting at the recommended time for your area can help. The University of Missouri has an online vegetable planting calendar hereL , and the University of Illinois has one here: .
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Be sure to keep plants adequately watered and fertilized and keep an eye out for pests that could contribute to plant stress. For more information about pollination problems, visit .
Write to the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Center for Home Gardening at plantinformation@mobot.org or the Horticulture Answer Service, 4344 Shaw Blvd., ×îÐÂÐÓ°ÉÔ´´, MO 63110.
