1/4 to 1/2 miles or far enough so bees return to the hive/nest after collecting nectar. If they go from patch to patch they will distribute pollen from one patch to the other.

Ouch, I was hoping for a little less distance, is there a way I could bag a few flowers and hand pollinate a couple to make my own seed?

How would I hand pollinate the cucumber though?

Dean

Are you planning on saving the seeds for next year? If not, don't worry about cross pollination because it won't affect this year's crop...or so I think.

No, I was planning on saving seed for next year. I would only need seed from one cucumber for myself and not trading.

It's kind of tricky. You can grow a single plant intended for seed saving in a container and then bag the entire container. Then hand pollinate.

If you do this with a plant you want to produce a lot of cukes you have to leave the cuke on the plant until the seeds are ripe and that takes a long time and will slow/stop further cuke production.

To each their own, but for me the seeds of the variety would have to be really hard to get or expensive to bother.

Also if you have a hybrid variety you may not get the same plant even with pure seed.