Cucumber plant is sick again

I've had 7 cucumbers so far and then the problem starts. I have this problem every year


As you can see from the photo, there is oozing liquid at the flower end of the fruit. If I cut the end of the fruit off it will carry on growing as normal, so it's not a big deal as far as fruit is concerned. However later this oozing syndrome will occur on the stems and tendrils. The plant never dies due to this condition, but it looks very messy. Also there are black fungal bodies, of which I gather as much as I can before they fall the the ground.

So the question is what is it and how to deal with it? Any help and advised will be received with thanks.

 

Could it be 'Black Rot' HsuH? it says to remove infected fruits and decrease damping down for a while

 

Are they a Ridge type cucumber variety but under cover? (Bit of a long shot over-interpretation from the photo!!)

 

What kind of Cucumber are they? What else have you tried?
Oddly, they look a little over watered to me but I'm not sure why.
Do you keep them in the same place every year?

 

Just googled 'black rot' on cucumber and this doesn't look like that.

This is a variety from China, I don't know if it is ridge type or not. Since China is very hot in summer I always grow this inside just to get the heat similar to where it came from. Each year I change the growing position from one side of greenhouse to the other, every 3rd or 4th year I grow it in grow bags in another greenhouse. And they get watered every other day only at the moment.

 

Its no a very exact science! but:

Do they have knobbly bits on the outside (when mature for picking) - Yes -> Ridge (probably!)

Do you have to leave the male flowers on for Pollination - Yes -> Maybe Ridge

 

I have been growing cucumbers both indoors and outdoors for more years than enough and I have never seen this before. I agree that it doesn't really look like black rot and it doesn't look like overwatering either.
When you say that you have this problem every year is that with this particular variety or with all cucumbers that you have tried? Just wondering if it could be an issue with the seed, because you don't know the variety I am presuming that you are using "saved seeds".
Just to clear up the pollination issue, always remove all male flowers from indoor cucumbers if you are not growing all female varieties, in my experience pollinated cucumbers will always be bitter.

 

Ni hao HsuH. Here's a long shot. Is it a disease that only occurs in China? Know anyone over there that could ask?

 

Here is a photo of the cucumbers I picked yesterday

They look pretty knobbly to me

There are male and female flowers on the plant. I've heard about some varieties where the male flowers have to be removed to avoid bitter fruits. Since there is no hint of bitterness in the fruits I just leave them alone.

So judging from these two criteria, maybe I've got a ridge variety? Could a ridge type be grown in the greenhouse or by doing so am I causing trouble?

Don't remember having this problem for the first 2-3 years ( that was nearly 10 years ago). Initially I was given some seeds by a farmer in China which, though loose, looked like they had anti fungal/disease treatment because the seeds were coloured. The seeds I'm using are saved seeds from those about 5 years ago (by growing one plant in a grow bag in the different greenhouse). So it is possible that I've got some disease embedded in the seeds now. I do grow gherkin next to the cucumber and they are British and they will develop same problem as well.

I've got 2 little books about 'how to grow cucumber' in Chinese. Because there are no pictures, it is very difficult to visualise the word descriptions to compare with what I've got here. Maybe next time I visit China I'll make some enquiries and get some new seeds as well.

Assuming I've got some kind of bacteria/ fungal disease, I suppose the best thing I can do is change the soil in the greenhouse and get new seeds?

 

You can grow ridge types in a greenhouse, the only trouble you will have would be if you also had an indoor variety in there as well because the males from the ridge could pollinate those.

[quote="HsuH, post: 821051, member: 12924" The seeds I'm using are saved seeds from those about 5 years ago

Because you are growing from saved seed I wouldn't be surprised if that isn't the cause of your problems but I have to be honest, I cannot say that with 100% certainty.

 

Usually they prefer to be grown outside. I don't know if that is because you get less pollination inside (e.g. Bees have to go into the greenhouse), or because there is potentially too much heat.

Have they cross-pollinated over the years perhaps?

If you haven't been doing that then I think you should! I change the soil in my greenhouse every year - probably more frequently than strictly necessary, but erring on the safe side ...

 

Just out of curiosity,if you have the Dr Heesayon Veg expert have a glance at the 'Black rot' in Cues...the description..."rotting ends of Cucumbers,and the oozing of gum in the shrivelled diseased area"...when I then googled 'black rot' it came up looking totally different

 

The fruit look a bit like the Natsuhikari that I grow. I have never come across this problem. However I had a look in Pests Diseases and Disorders of Garden Plants (Buczacki and Harris) the closest in there is Cucumber Stem Rot caused by Didymella byroniae. This infects through wounds from leaf removal and small black fruiting bodies appear. Fruit can be infected through flowers when a soft wet lesion develops turning black as fruiting bodies form.
Treatment is to reduce humidity and temperature. Good hygiene and ventilation. I would also disinfect greenhouse over the winter.
Hope this may help

 

I probably should have done it more often. I've only done it every 5 years or so. Will make a note to change soil before the next growing season.

In the past few years I've done a lot of reading in an effort to identify this disease, sometimes I thought I'd found the answer but when I google it, the images just don't fit in with the words. So I know exactly your feeling.

I don't know about the Natsuhikari, but some of Chinese and Japanese cucumbers are very similar in look and taste.
Yes, the description of the problems caused by D. byroniae is pretty close but the google images don't fit in to what I see.

I googled Chinese sites and came up with this

However it is classified as grey mould. From my experience grey mould only appears after September. So this is not much help to me.

I agree with NigelJ that reduced humidity and temperature may help to ease the problem. My dilemma is: less humidity results in a greenhouse full of spider mites ..... all for growing a few cucumber.....

 

I agree when I looked at Google images it was difficult to find anything fitting picture and description. Most of the Google references I looked at came from warmer more humid parts of the world and involved melons and watermelons. It is possible that these are affected in a different manner to cucumbers.

I tend not to suffer too badly from red spider mite despite keeping things on the drier side.