My cucumber and zucchini plants did not do well last season. Are there varieties that are self pollinating?
These plants have separate male and female flowers on the same plant and depend on bees or people to carry pollen from the male to the female flowers. In a small garden bees may not notice the flowers or weather may be cool. Bees are scarcer now and they also are less active when it is cool and wet.
Hand pollination is easy for gardeners to do: when the male flower has pollen on it transfer some to the open female flower on the one day that it is open using a small brush.
There are varieties of plants which set fruit whether or not the flowers were pollinated; these are called parthenocarpic. These varieties are gown in greenhouses or poly tunnels to avoid pollination as this can cause fruit to become misshapen and bitter.
As an example, West Coast Seeds carries the following parthenocarpic cucumber seeds: Roxynante, Socrates, Tyria, and Ishtar.
Varieties of parthenocarpic zucchini include Partenon, Noche and Dunge.
Sources:
Gilkeson, L. (2011). Backyard Bounty, The Complete Guide to Year-Round Organic Gardening in the Pacific Northwest. New Society Publishers.
Gilkeson, L. 2013. West Coast Gardening Natural Insect, Weed, and Disease Control.
West Coast Seeds Gardening Guide 2019.
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