Alexandra Zakharovna addressed us a question: “For what reason do cucumbers grown in a garden or in a greenhouse have a bitter taste? How can I fix the problem?"

Growing cucumbers is not an easy task. To get an excellent harvest, you have to work. It happens that bitter cucumbers may appear on the plant. What to do? There are several ways to solve the problem.

Causes of bitterness

Bitter cucumbers are often found in household plots. Such they are due to illiterate cultivation. Why else are the fruits bitter, how to deal with it? Many novice gardeners and people who have long been engaged in such a business as growing cucumbers are asking this question. The appearance of bitterness is due to the presence of cucurbitacin. It is an indicator of unfavorable conditions for growing crops.

Why are cucumbers bitter? Due to genetic predisposition, some varieties in the greenhouse may have an unpleasant taste. If the fruits are not ripe or overripe, they may be bitter. How to deal with it? Adhere to maturation dates.

If we talk about the weather, the most favorable climate is a warm environment with high humidity. Thanks to her, cucumbers begin to actively grow and ripen, do not accumulate cucurbitacin. Watering should be carried out actively, lack of water can cause bitterness in the fruit.

Important! In appearance, sweet and bitter cucumbers in the greenhouse are no different. Let's summarize why cucumbers are bitter. This fact is affected by:

• poor watering;
• dry air;
• a lot of sun;
• lack of nutrients;
• low-quality seeds were purchased;
• genetic factor.

What to do to eliminate bitterness

Illiterate selection of seeds can cause bitterness in cucumbers. If you prefer your seeds, there are some rules to follow when planting in a greenhouse. Scientists breeders have bred sweet varieties of cucumbers that grow non-bitter. What is the reason for success? They have a special gene that prevents the accumulation of cucurbitacin. Bitter cucumbers, on the contrary, abound in this gene. It turns out that in order to remove the unpleasant taste, you should purchase sweet varieties in advance.

Vegetable growers who are independently engaged in harvesting seeds should be aware that you need to take seeds from the first third of the fruit. Seeds closer to the back will be bitter. Is there any harm from bitter fruits grown in the open field, how to properly use cucumbers for food? In fact, there is no harm, and with proper processing, bitterness goes away.

Cucurbitacin is located mainly in the peel, if you remove it, bitter cucumbers become pleasant to the taste. You can pour vegetables with water for 45 minutes, the unpleasant bitterness will go away.

You can grow cucumbers that taste good, but you need to water them in a timely manner. This could be the reason for the bad taste. Open the film on hot days and close it on cold days. Excessive exposure to sunlight while the vegetables are growing should not be. You will also have to do the following - feed the cucumbers in time so that they do not become bitter.

The best option for growing will be sweet varieties, they completely lack bitterness:

• "Electron";
• "Abundant";
• "Topolek" and others.

Attention should also be paid to hybrids growing in open ground:

• "Marina Grove";
• "Clean Ponds";
• "Buyan", etc.

Rules for the care of cucumbers (video)

All presented varieties have a pleasant taste. They have no bitterness.

Reviews and comments

Valentina Ivanovna 09.07.2016

I also grew bitter cucumbers at first. I thought about quitting this business and growing only flowers in my garden. But then I bought a sweet variety of cucumbers “Poplar”, began to water them more and I finally grew normal tasty cucumbers! It's good that this was advised to me by a neighbor in the country, I myself would not have guessed in my life to buy a different kind of seeds. I thought the seeds were all standard. Now I'm thinking of trying to grow different varieties to find the best one for me!

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Kira Stoletova

At the end of the gardening season, many summer residents are wondering why cucumbers are bitter. Even with the right care, gardeners are faced with the fact that they do not get the quality of vegetables that they would like. There are a number of reasons why bitterness appears in cucumbers, but the measures taken in time allow creating such conditions to avoid this.

source of bitterness

In appearance, a bitter cucumber is indistinguishable from a crispy sweet one, as a real fruit should have grown. An unpleasant bitter taste becomes noticeable only when eating cucumbers. The source of why cucumbers are bitter is a special substance found in vegetables called cucurbitacin. This inherently toxic element is quite abundant in greens, because the substance serves to protect young fruits from pests attacking them.

Cucurbitacin is produced and present in all varieties of vegetables, found in foliage, stems and fruits. But in order for the cucumbers to become bitter, it is necessary to exceed its concentration.

The reasons

Let's highlight the common reasons why cucumbers are bitter:

• insufficient humidity regime in closed greenhouses,
• low water temperature used for irrigation,
• lack of potash and nitrogen elements in the soil,
• an excess of sunlight or their lack due to excessive thickening of plantings,
• lack of moisture or waterlogging of the soil, as well as a violation of the regularity of irrigation,
• diseases of cucumber seedlings preceding planting,
• planting seeds collected in the back of vegetables.

Bitterness in greenhouse vegetables

Those varieties of cucumbers that are intended for cultivation only in closed greenhouses are considered rather capricious plants. They do not like a lot of sunlight and cannot stand the heat, and here summer residents make a common mistake by placing greenhouses exactly where the sun shines all day.

With the existing differences from a hot day to a cold night, the cucumber crop is subjected to significant stress, and this becomes the reason why the cucumbers begin to taste bitter.

The main factors for increasing the concentration of cucurbitacin in greenhouse-grown cucumbers are:

• restriction of living space by the design of the greenhouse, due to which the plants cannot grow freely and tangle and damage the lashes,
• excess of sunlight entering through the walls of the greenhouse,
• carrying out ventilation with a significant difference in humidity and air temperature inside and outside the greenhouse,
• missing humidity level in the greenhouse,
• incorrectly selected temperature regime during the period of active growth, which at the initial stage cannot be above 18 ° at night, and above 20 ° during the day, and at the fruiting stage should not fall below 28 °,
• insufficient fertility of the soil and the low content of the components necessary for vegetables, nitrogen and phosphorus must be present without fail.

Bitterness in the open field

Why are cucumbers bitter when grown outdoors? The same reasons provoke a bitter taste in cucumbers as in greenhouse conditions. However, there are a number of additional reasons:

• plants receiving a lot of sun, which is much higher than that received by greenhouse plants, leads to the appearance of an aftertaste,
• irregular watering or unheated water is another reason why bitter cucumbers are obtained in open conditions,
• sudden temperature changes in open outdoor conditions affect the plant more than when they are grown in a closed greenhouse, and this increases cucurbitacin,
• sowing seeds on low-equipped beds, which warm up worse and are more exposed to temperature changes,
• the location of sown areas for cucumber crops near raspberry, strawberry and blackberry bushes, which are considered aggressors in agricultural technology, taking useful elements from the soil with water, becomes a factor provoking a bitter aftertaste.

Solution

Although they say that a bitter cucumber fruit is more useful than a sweet one, not everyone is ready to put up with a characteristic aftertaste. Given the reasons that lead to bitterness in cucumbers, a number of activities can be carried out.

Place to land

A correctly chosen place for planting a cucumber crop means that the beds on the open ground or in the greenhouse should be where it is not direct, but diffused sunlight. Many summer residents successfully use the shade from corn or from the branches of trees on the site, cover the beds with spunbod and paint over the walls of the greenhouse with chalk solutions.

Also, when growing cucumbers in the open field, it is important to correctly select their plant neighbors, who would not take mineral nutrition and all the liquid from the soil.

Suitable soil

To grow cucumbers so that bitterness does not appear in the fruits, it is recommended on loose soil or peat, diluted with ash, which reduces acidity. Clay soil is not suitable for cucumber culture.

Watering

Regular watering is the key to sweet fruits, since the alternation of excess with a lack of moisture causes serious stress in the plant and leads to an increase in the concentration of cucurbitacin and, as a result, the appearance of a bitter taste. In addition, it is necessary to water the cucumber bushes with water heated to room temperature.

Climate

Excessive heat with dry air leads to the appearance of bitterness in the fruit. As well as too cold conditions. During the period when the temperature drops, the greenhouses are not opened so as not to create stressful ventilation for the heat-loving culture, and covering materials are used on the street against the cold. For vegetables grown on open soil in the hot season, sheds are made of white material, and for greenhouse plants, mirror reflective films are created.

mineral nutrition

Proper fertilization of the soil will provide the plants with all the necessary nutrients and prevent the bitterness in cucumbers. It is forbidden to make fresh organic matter, including fresh manure, which provokes the release of bitterness in vegetables.

The bitterness in cucumbers is due to the production of a biochemical compound - cucurbitacin (a saponin from the group of glycosides), and this is a feature of the gourd family, genetically developed as a defense against being eaten by animals before the ripening period begins.

In small quantities, the substance is also present in non-bitter fruits - cut off the green butt of a 1 cm cucumber and rub it intensively at the cut site - a white foam will come out - this is cucurbitacin. Saponins are intensively produced from the moment of seed germination, and are present in all parts of the plant - stems and leaves, there are more of them in young, unripe fruits, but when ripe, the need for such protection disappears, and bitterness is not felt.

Scientists have already identified nine genes responsible for the formation of this glycoside, and therefore we can definitely say that there are varieties that are not prone to the formation of bitterness. Cucurbitacin is a rather toxic compound, but at the same time it has antitumor, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties. The use of bitter vegetables in large quantities can cause diarrhea, rumbling and crampy pains in the abdomen. Biochemical substances from cucumber (not only cucurbitacin) penetrate into breast milk, this should be remembered by nursing mothers.

By the way, you know that cucurbitacin is found in small amounts in sweet watermelons - the pulp of a ripe watermelon contains 0.5% cucurbitacin, but we do not feel this until we overeat these berries or eat a piece of unripe watermelon.

Causes of bitterness in cucumbers

Why does bitterness accumulate in ripe cucumbers? It is possible to explain the bitter taste of greens, seedlings (cotyledon leaves are especially bitter), but the bitterness in ripe fruits depends entirely on external factors if it is not a stable hybrid. The production of cucurbitacin is a response to stress. For this crop - improper watering, temperature, nutrition, and it does not matter whether you grow vegetables in a greenhouse or open ground.

Cucumber comes from tropical and subtropical regions of India, places where the air is humid and there is no scorching sun. Therefore, it should be grown in a shady place, in diffused light. An openwork shade of fruit trees, specially planted crops, such as a row of corn, or a translucent material can protect it from the sun - for these purposes, the industry produces a special covering material - spunbond. Very often, gardeners use it to protect cucumbers from the cold, pulling it over arcs or a greenhouse frame, and as soon as warm weather sets in, they remove it. Of course, if you leave a greenhouse, on hot days the cucumbers overheat and, as a result, bitterness in the fruits, but you need to leave the spunbond if you have a sunny side, just don’t throw it over the vegetable bushes, but pull it like a screen for protection on sunny days.

Cucumber is stressed by heat and dry air. If such weather lasts for several days, a week or longer, the leaves of cucumbers turn yellow and dry faster, the fruits do not have time to accumulate enough moisture, they are characterized by curvature of the tips, and of course, they begin to taste bitter.

During this period, it is very important to water the bushes abundantly with warm water - the optimal time is early in the morning and in the evening at 17-18 hours. It is watering twice a day that is more effective. However, in the morning it is more difficult to get warm water - it cools down in bathrooms, barrels and a centralized system, and it is icy from a well. Therefore, gardeners usually water in the evening, when the water has time to warm up, but this may not be enough.

To reduce the impact of unprecedented heat, a canopy can be made over cucumbers in the open field, but only from white or mirror material. And for greenhouse cucumbers, it is convenient to use a mirror film - it is moistened and glued to the glass of windows in houses, it is transparent on one side and completely reflects on the other. So that the roots of cucumbers do not dry out, you need to regularly, once a week - one and a half, mulch the bushes with fresh earth, besides, this causes a new growth of roots and prolongs fruiting.

Do not plant cucumbers in dense clay soil, but plant in the loosest. If you have loam, do not be lazy, bring a cart of peat. Not sand, but peat. Lowland is better, but it is sour in its pure form, it needs to be weighed, for example, with wood ash - 2 cups per bucket of peat. Although, it is better to focus not on the eye, but on a litmus test - cucumber loves acidity pH 5.0 - 6.0.

There is an opinion that cucumbers respond very well to feeding with fresh manure. In fact, this is not so, and even vice versa - fresh organic matter can provoke the production of bitterness. These vegetables are very gluttonous and organic fertilizers are the best for them, cucumber, like pumpkins and zucchini, can grow perfectly right on the compost heap, but it is worth feeding with rotted, not fresh manure. It is more correct to prepare the ridges in the fall, laying fresh manure, by spring it will be “cooked” just right. If you so wanted to bring in fresh organic matter so that there was no bitterness, the bushes should be watered very abundantly, not allowed to dry out even for a short time.

For summer residents who visit the garden in races, the main cause of bitterness is uneven watering. And in greenhouses and hotbeds there is also overheating. Cucumber does not like the alternation of drought and abundant watering, he is historically accustomed to even conditions. For him, stress is extreme extremes in soil moisture, air and temperature. Therefore, sometimes, when summer is given out with changeable weather, cucumbers grow better on glazed balconies than in open ground - we close the balcony at night and plow it in the morning, water it as it dries - cucumbers grow and do not bitter.

Unfortunately, if one bitter fruit appeared on a cucumber bush, then the whole batch will go bitter and the crop from it is suitable only for processing. If you notice the deformation of the fruits on the greens, you should already think about what is wrong - this is one of the signs of heat, insufficient watering or excess fertilizer. Deformed fruits are more often bitter than well-formed ones. To summarize all that has been said, in fact, all the reasons can be reduced to a short reminder for the gardener. Cucumbers are bitter because:

• insufficient moisture in the soil
• alternation of overdrying and abundant watering
• too much direct sun on hot days
• combination of dry air and high temperature
• watering with cold water (in any weather)

There are other answers often given by experienced gardeners, such as lack of nutrition, especially nitrogen and potassium. In fact, this is far from an indicator, few fruits are tied due to a lack of nutrients, cucumbers grow more slowly, the bushes are small, but this affects bitterness only together with other factors.

You can’t feed a cucumber if it has already experienced stress - in extreme heat or from drying out, wait a week or two, as it departs. Someone does not understand why bitterness arises from the sun. In fact, not from the sun as such, but from the heat, i.e. cucumber is not afraid of a lot of sun in the morning, before 11 o'clock, or in the evening after 17 o'clock. During the day, the sun is dangerous only on hot days, when the temperature in the shade is 27-28 degrees, and in early summer and late August, when there is no intense heat, any sun is good for cucumbers.

In addition to the main reasons, there are those that many people forget about, but in vain. For cucumbers, the composition of water is very important - they do not tolerate excess iron and calcium, they do not tolerate chlorine and sodium at all. These elements inhibit any melons, but cucumbers in the first place.

Varieties of cucumbers without bitterness

In some varieties, the tendency to accumulate cucurbitacin is stronger, in others it is weaker, and there are varieties that nothing will make bitter - no delay in watering, no heat:

• April
• Benefit
• Ginga
• Zyatek
• Emerald earrings
• Quadrille
• Claudia
• Kolyan
• The Little Humpbacked Horse
• Connie
• Corinna
• Merchant
• Courage
• madam
• Mazay
• Matryoshka
• Goosebump
• Ant
• Othello
• Diva
• spring
• Santana
• Shchedryk
• Khrustik and others.

By the way, there is an opinion that varieties of cucumbers for pickling are practically not bitter, unlike salad ones. This is not so, among lettuces there are many varieties without bitterness - the most popular, Chinese varieties that are sold in stores, are long like sticks with small seeds. These varieties are: Chinese Heat-Resistant F1, Chinese Cold-Resistant F1, Chinese Farmer and others. They are suitable not only for salads, but also for canning, only because of their large length, you have to marinate them in slices, cut lengthwise or across.

Bitter cucumbers - what to do

You have harvested and found bitterness, naturally such cucumbers are unpleasant to eat in a salad, there are three options left:

• cut off the buttocks and soak for 12-24 hours, changing the water periodically,
• cook salted cucumbers,
• pickle cucumbers for the winter.

Whatever spices you add to the salad, if there is a bitter cucumber, it will be felt, so for a fresh salad, only a long soak. But if the cucumber is not all bitter, but only from the tail, you can try to reduce the bitterness in this way: cut off the green ass 1-1.5 cm and rub it strongly at the cut point until the foam stops standing out. Now wash the cucumber. Not sure how, but it helps. But you can pickle according to any recipe, cucurbitacin is destroyed during heat treatment, there will be no bitterness. The bush from which bitter cucumbers were collected should be given special attention:

• shade from the bright sun in the heat,
• water abundantly, but only with warm water (20–22 ° C), the guideline is this: the earth should be moist at a depth of about 15 cm - here the bulk of the roots,
• protect from heat or cold
• hill up, but not loosen - the roots of the cucumber form a continuous bast, you do not need to tear it, just rake up the earth.

Those who constantly grow cucumbers on their plot know how much work needs to be invested in this horticultural crop. And what a shame it is if the resulting crop does not please with its taste. Instead of crispy and appetizing fruits, we collect bitter cucumbers from the garden. What is the reason for this, and how to prevent the appearance of bitterness?

Causes of bitterness in cucumber fruits

Cucumbers belong to the gourd family. These plants have genetically developed one feature: they contain the substance cucurbitacin.

What is cucurbitacin?

This is a toxic compound, which, however, has a number of useful properties (antitumor, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory). Plants need it to protect themselves from being eaten by animals, at least until it has fruit and seeds.

Cucurbitacin is produced in plants constantly, from the very moment it was planted, and is contained in its stems, and in leaves, and in fruits, in the peel. Scientists were able to establish that 9 genes are responsible for its production. But if the plant is under stress, then the production of this substance increases.

Why can cucumbers experience stress?

In the event that ideal conditions were not created for them. This garden culture came to us from India, where a subtropical and tropical climate reigns. Therefore, cucumbers grow well where there is no scorching sun, and the humidity is high.

If they lack moisture, suffer from the sun or temperature changes, then the plants experience extreme stress, which leads to increased production of cucurbitacin, and this is the main reason that cucumbers get a bitter peel or a bitter taste in general.

Factors that provoke the formation of bitterness

1. The plants lacked moisture, watering was irregular.
2. There was too much water (because of the rainy summer).
3. They grew in direct sunlight, there was an overabundance of sunlight.
4. Low humidity and intense heat.
5. The plants did not receive proper nutrition (there was a lack of potassium and nitrogen substances).
6. For planting, seeds were used, which were taken from the back of the cucumber, but it was necessary to take from the front of the fruit.
7. The plants were planted too densely, because of which they suffered from a lack of sunlight.
8. The seedling has been ill.
9. Cold water was used for irrigation.

How to prevent bitter taste in cucumber fruits?

We found out why cucumbers are bitter. What can be done to prevent bitterness?

Based on the reasons that affect the taste of cucumbers, you can make a list of those actions that will help deal with the problem:

1. Choose the right place for planting so that cucumbers do not grow under the scorching sun. They need diffused sunlight. Cucumber culture feels great in the shade of rows of corn or under the branches of fruit trees. To protect from sunlight, you can use a spunbod (covering material).
2. Water the plants regularly. Many of us are in the country on weekends, so cucumbers are not watered every day. The alternation of drought and abundant watering causes stress in the plant and guarantees the appearance of bitterness. Therefore, do not forget about regular watering, and use only warm water that has warmed up under the sun during the day.
3. The correct arrangement of the beds. If you are growing cucumbers outdoors, avoid planting them near strawberries and raspberries. These plants will draw all the nutrients and water out of the soil.
4. Care. It is important to constantly look after cucumbers: mulch beds, remove weeds, loosen the soil. This helps retain moisture.
5. Protect from hypothermia. If you are growing cucumbers in a greenhouse, do not open it on cold days. Such ventilation will be stressful for a heat-loving plant. In greenhouses, for protection from the cold, they use the same spunbond that is pulled over arcs or a frame.
6. Protect plants from heat. Extreme heat and dry air are also detrimental to cucumbers. If the weather is hot outside, it is necessary to water them with warm water every morning and evening. In open ground, a canopy made of white material can be used to protect against heat. If you grow cucumbers in a greenhouse, then protect them with a mirror film, which is usually glued to glass. It transmits light on one side, but reflects it on the other.
7. Do not plant seeds in clay soil. Loose soil, peat is suitable for this crop. It can be diluted with wood ash to reduce acidity.
8. Fertilizers. Cucumber should receive all the nutrients it needs. Therefore, do not forget about fertilizers. But gardeners do not recommend using fresh manure, since fresh organic matter often provokes the release of bitterness. Therefore, feed the plants only with rotted manure, having prepared the beds since the fall. If you have already spread fresh manure, water the bushes constantly and make sure the soil does not dry out.

As we can see, you will have to work hard to prevent the appearance of bitterness. But you can go another, simpler way: buy varieties of cucumbers for planting that never taste bitter.

Some varieties do not tend to accumulate cucurbitacin, so they do not develop a bitter taste, whether you watered them or not, and what the weather is like outside. For example, these include the following: Berendey, Harmonist, Egoza, Quadrille, Horses, Courage, Midget, Masha, Ant, Shchedryk, Rodnichok, Khrustik and others.

There is also an opinion that those varieties that are intended for salting are not bitter, but this is a delusion. The appearance of bitterness really depends on the variety, but not on whether it is salad or was grown for pickling.

What to do if cucumbers are bitter? How to use them?

If you picked the first cucumber from a bush and it turned out to be bitter, then most likely you will have to come to terms with the fact that the entire crop of this variety will grow the same.

What to do? Is it possible to eat bitter fruits? They cannot be poisoned, on the contrary, it is even believed that they are more useful than ordinary ones. However, if you eat a lot of fresh bitter cucumbers, there is a risk of indigestion or intestinal upset.

How to remove bitterness from cucumbers?

If the fruit only has a bitter peel, just cut it off and eat only the sweet part. If the bitterness has gathered in the tail, cut off the green bottom (1.5 cm) and rub the cut until all the white foam comes out. After that, wash thoroughly, and the cucumber is ready to eat!

However, the most proven way to get rid of bitterness is soaking or heat treatment. Under the influence of water or heat, the cucurbitacin in cucumbers is destroyed, and their bitter taste disappears.

Soak cucumber fruits for a day or at least 12 hours in cold water (remembering to periodically change the water), then wash and eat or add to a salad. Or make lightly salted, pickled or pickled cucumbers from them.

Video: why cucumbers grow bitter and how to fix it?