3 REASONS WHY YOUR CUCUMBER FRUIT IS NOT GREEN

There are many different species of cucumber today of which some are naturally bred to produce whitish or light green coloured fruits, these still have just about the same nutritional content, flavour and texture as those of their greener counterparts. As for the green-colored cucumber fruits species, a healthy cucumber plant will produce rich green stems and leaves and subsequently rich green fruits, in a case where you plant green specie cucumber seeds and you get whitish or pale green fruits, then it could be as a result of pest/disease infestation or a practical problem. The following are the top reasons why your cucumber fruit is not green:

BLANCHING

Blanching occurs as a result of the fruits being covered by the leaves, thereby preventing them from receiving sufficient sunlight. As we know, cucumber fruits like every other plant need sunlight to develop and maintain their green pigmentation. In this case, you may have healthy-looking vines and leaves due to their exposure to sunlight but pale-looking fruits due to the shading of the leaves, to correct this, one would have to reposition the fruits in a way that they receive sunlight or prune the leaves that are shading the fruits and expose it to sunlight. This also doesn’t mean that the fruits be completely exposed to sunlight, a little shading is needed or you end up with sun-scaled cucumber fruits.

LEECHING/EXCESS MOISTURE

Leeching occurs when there is an excess watering of the cucumber plant. In this case, the water washes away the nutrients from the soil, leaving the soil deficient of the necessary nutrients required by the cucumber plant for proper growth and development, which results in the cucumber fruits turning pale green or whitish. It is well known that cucumber plants require a lot of water to grow and produce well and so there is always a tendency to over water the plant, and so to avoid this, be sure to water your cucumber plants with just enough water and not excessively, a drip irrigation is the most efficient way of watering cucumber plants, on the other hand, when leeching has occurred, you can rectify it by supplying the plant with organic fertilizers rich in phosphorus and then taking the necessary precautions in watering the cucumber plant.

POWDERY MILDEW

Another reason for your cucumber fruits turning white and probably a worst case scenario is due to Powdery Mildew. Powdery mildew is a fungal disease that occurs commonly in high humid conditions and inadequate/poor circulation of air. Powdery mildew starts towards the upper surface of the fruits that’s attached to the vine and gradually spreads throughout the entire fruit. This fungal disease leaves powdery residues like that of fine powder or white flour on affected areas of the fruits. Powdery mildew can be treated by discarding the infected fruits away from the environment and not in a compost heap, also make the environment less hospitable to the disease to avoid reoccurrence, also plants can be pruned or thinned so that there is proper spacing between them to allow the circulation of air, drip irrigations come in handy here too, it supplies water directly to the soil and not all over the cucumber plant which is a welcome site for powdery mildew. You can also treat powdery mildew with recommended fungicides