I'm so sad. I'm new at gardening and have these great cucumber vines growing up my trellis with all kinds of flowers on them. They get tiny little cucumbers about 1-2 inches long with the flower still on the end. Then when I go back to check on them in a day or two, the tiny cucumbers have shriveled up and died. Any idea what's wrong and what I can do. I've tried to search the websites, but am so lacking in knowledge that I don't even know what to ask. Thanks for any help you can give me.

Welcome to the forum! Are the leaves yellowing or are they still green and healthy? Have you seen any bugs or tiny spots on the leaves? How often and how much do you water? My plants were just recently exhibiting the same problems as yours. Then I remembered that cukes LOVE water. So I've started watering them 2-3 times more water and they are putting on cukes like crazy and growing even better than they were before!!

Katica,

Can you tell us a bit more about the growing
conditions...
The soil, regular garden soil..
is that soil loamy or clay like?
or bagged soil.. if so, what kind?

Is it in a regular garden or a raised bed?

What kind of watering are you doing?
Hose, drip hose, watering can, when it rains/ water only, at night, morning or afternoon?

Are you fertilizing, if so, what kind..
Liquid soluable you apply at watering...
or granular type you apply to the top of the soil?
Foliar?

What kind of growing conditions, like full sun,
half sun, shade..

Have you seen any bugs on the plants??

I'm watering once a day, sometimes with a hose and sometimes with a cup from a bucket, usually in the morning. I'm trying not to get the leaves wet, and the plant is growing on a trellis, so it's not laying on the ground. We're using the square foot gardening method, so it's in a raised bed and we're using Mel's perfect mix of soil from his newest square foot gardening book (by Mel Bartholomew). The recipe is as follows: 1/3 blended compost (we bought 5 different kinds of compost, including manure), 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 coarse vermiculite.

I haven't been fertilizing.

As far as I can see, the plant itself is healthy. Therre are a few yellowed leaves down low. I've seen what look like yellow ladybugs on it, and when I reached out to try to pick one off, it flew like a ladybug. They had black spots and were yellow.

Any ideas?

Oh, I forgot to mention, it's in full sun.

First off, I LOVE MEL BARTHOLOMEW and Square Foot Gardening, I really like his info and knowledge...

I am only wondering for cucumbers it maybe a bit tooooo rich for them.
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Those are CUCUMBER BEETLES
They spread disease... and they are hard to get rid of, *well, organically* they multipy like the dickens...

They get tiny little cucumbers about 1-2 inches long with the flower still on the end. Then when I go back to check on them in a day or two, the tiny cucumbers have shriveled up and died
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I think they aren't being pollinated Katica. Is there any bee activity on the flowers in the mornings?

Does anyone know if there is such a thing as a yellow ladybug?
I had only one bug that I thought was a yellow ladybug-now I'm wondering if it was a cucumber beetle such as shown here.
I had recently let go a tub of ladybugs I bought at the garden center, so I thought it was a ladybug that had gotten alot of sun.
Don't laugh-I really did think that.
The strange thing is, I'm not growing any cucumbers or melons or squashes, just one tomato.
No neighbors are growing any either.

The "lady Yellow bugs" are cucumber beetles- and are a bane to cucumbers, pumpkins, squash, and melons. They can carry a disease that can cause the plant to wilt and die- spray some Sevin or some kind of pest control thouroughly, you dont want those on your plants! You prob should respray after a good rainfall as well. If cucumbers dont pollinate, they usally shrievel and fall off.

But wouldn't they not get fruits at all if they were not being pollinated? These have little cucumbers. Sounds like it's time for a pesticide like Pyola.

That's what I'm wondering, too. Can they get the little cucumbers without being pollinated? I haven't seen bee activity, but oftentimes I have the kids water the garden, so I'm not always aware of what's going on out there.

The female flowers will always start out with the tiny fruits. If they do get pollinated they will grow. If not they will shrivel up and fall off. It definitely sounds like a lack of pollination, but like any other curcurbit plant you can manually pollinate the female flowers yourself.

I'm such a beginner. Can you please tell me how to manually pollinate?

I too am experiencing the same problems with my English cucumbers and my zucchini. How do you manually pollinate? My zucchini has a lot of small zucchinis on each plant however, they are turning yellow and shriveling up when they are about 3 inches long. All other squash is doing fine. Thanks!

Houseonthehill,
Check your bugs..
#1. If you have a yellow cucumber beetle....
*on the cucumbers*
They can transfer Bacterial Wilt of Cucurbits...

#2. And also for the zuke's, check the stems for the Squash Vine Grub...*see if you have holes at the base and in the stem, and there maybe a sawdust like stuff at the base as well..*