Unfortunately, these flowers are only males. I've done some reading online, and apparently within a week or two, I should be getting some female flowers as well.
You can differentiate a male from a female flower by the area below the flower. A female flower will have a small "mini-cucumber" growing beneath its flower. The male flower will have nothing special growing under it.
In addition, the male flower will only have long stamen at its center. These long protrusions are tipped off with pollen which will eventually fertilize the female flower and induce the growth of the cucumber. Thus, it is absolutely necessary to make sure that cross-pollination occurs between male and female flowers. Bees and insects do a good job at spreading pollen between flowers. If you live in an area with few natural pollinators, you can self-pollinate your flowers with either a cotton swab or your fingers.
It's also interesting to note that the Armenian cucumber is in fact a melon, not a cucumber.
Stay tuned for updates and more facts on the Armenian cucumber and all the other plants in my garden. I'll update the Armenian cucumber as soon as I spot some female flowers...
Below I've posted a video of my plant so far, in addition to some photographs:
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| My Armenian Cucumber growing in a six inch pot. |
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| A male flower. The closed flowers had bloomed the day before. |
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| More flowers! |
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| The male anther is clearly seen from this angle |
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