Do You Need Male & Female Seeds to Plant Cucumbers?

Only female flowers produce cucumbers.

You may have heard gardeners talk about how members of the squash family--which includes cucumbers--require male and female flowers in order to produce fruit. Luckily, when growing cucumbers, ensuring the correct balance of girls and boys is Mother Nature's job, not yours.

Types

When talking flowers, botanists mention a few different types, and understanding them helps to best plan your garden. Monoecious plants include both male and female flowers on a single plant; monoecious means "one house," explains the Ohio State University Master Gardener training program. Dioecious plants have male and female flowers on separate plants. Cucumbers are monoecious plants.

Pollination

You can see a cucumber forming at the base of female flowers.

The first flowers you see on your cucumber vines are males and will drop from the vine without producing fruit. The next set of flowers contains males and females, pollination occurs and you see your first fruits. You can identify female flowers by the swelling beneath the flower that will mature into a cucumber.

Warning

According to the Ohio State University Extension, you can buy cucumber seeds that produce only female flowers. These seeds will be clearly labeled and include planting instructions to ensure pollination.

References

• Ohio State University: Monoecious and Dioecious Flowers
• Ohio State University Extension: Growing Cucumbers in the Home Garden
• University of Florida IFAS Extension: Hand Pollination of Squash and Corn in Small Gardens