“ Maintaining the correct fruit loading balance is essential if good-sized and great-tasting fruit are to be produced .”
Seedless cucumber types often develop deformities ( like the bulbous ends shown here on the left ) if unwanted pollination occurs .
( which will then drop from the plant ). Once older fruit have been harvested from the plant , however , new fruitlets will set and start to develop . Apart from heavy fruit loading , other causes of fruitlet drop are related to factors like genetics . Some older heirloom types are much more prone to flower and fruitlet drop if growing conditions are not completely ideal . Low light , pest infestations , diseases , excessive pruning , nutrient deficiencies , and poor root health all contribute to weakening the plant , which will jettison its flowers and recently set fruit in these situations . Many modern hybrids , on the other hand , have been bred to resist fruit drop . However , under good growing conditions , pollination and fruit set may be so successful that too many young fruitlets develop on the plant . Allowing plants to carry more fruit than they can support not only weakens the plant for successive flowering but reduces the size of fruit that develop .
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