Cucumber

 Curved cucumbers mostly appear on the first or last set fruits. Curved cucumbers not only damage their commercial quality but also reduce fruit weight, as fruit weight is inversely proportional to the degree of curvature — the more severely curved a cucumber is, the lighter it weighs. So what factors lead to curved cucumbers? Let’s take a closer look.

1. Incomplete fertilization: Only the egg cells on one side of the cucumber ovary get fertilized, resulting in unbalanced fruit development and curved cucumbers.
2. Physiological curvature: Curved cucumbers easily form under conditions such as insufficient fertilizer, drought and low temperatures.
3. Pests and diseases: Cucumber vines infected with scab will curve at the lesion sites.
4. Poor graft union: During grafted cucumber cultivation, a small graft joint with poor healing obstructs nutrient transport and causes curved fruits.
5. Mechanical curvature: Elongating cucumbers are blocked by external objects like leaves, tendrils or hanging wires, which prevents normal growth and leads to malformed bends.
6. Adverse climatic conditions during growth: High temperature, high humidity and harsh weather can trigger curved cucumbers. For example, sudden sunny weather after consecutive cloudy days brings intense high temperature and strong light, which causes insufficient supply of water and nutrients and results in curved cucumbers.