Might it be too hot to set fruit? I know that's true for tomatoes...

No, it's not about not setting fruit. It's about not producing flowers, which they were doing handily in the last couple of months of 100F temps. Tomatoes don't produce fruit in heat because their flowers can't pollinate themselves. But they'll produce lots of flowers in the heat.

That is odd. Maybe to hot, plant is "waiting" maybe try a little shade over a patch?

Well, as I said, it hasn't been too hot for the last three months, when it has been just as hot as it is now. Nothing I'm aware of has changed. That's what's mysterious. Now, that we're past the solstice, if anything there already is a bit less sun. I'm going to throw on some more P and K and see if I can kick up the flowering. P and K are important for flowering and while N leaches much more readily than P and K, the latter two CAN leach, and this burning summer, with lots of irrigation, is probably making my bed leach-city.

I wonder if they are taking a rest. ?

I think it might be time for a good drink of diluted liquid fertilizer. I just gave everybody a good soaking today with an appropriate liquid fertilizer, but then all mine are in pots.

Whatever the reason for this issue, it's probably an important lesson that with intensely hot conditions (and this summer has been by far the worst in a long time), fertilization is especially important, because of the rampant leaching of nutrients that you get with massive amounts of irrigation.

Now that the most vicious heat has subsided (and after some fertilization) the plants are coming back with loads of green and loads of flowers. But, duh, they are ALL male flowers. Every single one of fifty or so. Not sure what these plants are thinking ...

Well, well, well. Did you know that nutrient fertilization increases the number of FEMALE flowers, and not MALE flowers? Seems to be true for the common cucumber.

"Therefore, under the condition of sufficient nutrients, cucumber chooses to increase the number of female flowers to maximize resource income."

"The production of male flowers is easier and cheaper than that of female flowers; therefore, plants will produce more male flowers for maximum fitness when resources are sparse

https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/10/12/2819/htm

This is something that one might have guessed, but it's interesting that it is actually established in research. There is some controversy about whether MDPI is a reputable journal publisher, though.

Here it is three weeks later, and my Armenian cukes are healthy, happy, and greening up like crazy after what was, even for melons (which they are) a brutal summer. Still having trouble finding female flowers BUT, just found a cigar-sized cuke! They're back! Now, in the spring, male flowers always precede female flowers, to attract pollinators before the big guns come out. But they're behaving that way in the fall. It's as if they forgot about spring and are starting new lives. Now, I have another 2-3 months of growing season, so I'm good to go. I have thrown down some extra fertilizer, so that may also have something to do with it.

... and, I'll add an hour later ... make that FIVE! Several months with loads, five weeks with none, and now this. This is in a four yard bed.

Dan, how do Armenian cukes compare to typical Great-8's or other usual varieties? As in the taste, texture, seediness, sweetness? We usually peel our standard burpless type cukes before eating so the rind quality isn't important. Thanks

Good questions. In taste, texture, and internal appearance, they are EXACTLY like regular cukes, even though, horticulturally, they are actually melons (cucumis melo). Strange! But as a result, they adore high heat, which regular cukes do not. Now, Straight-8s are, er, pretty straight. They all look about the same. Armenian cukes can be somewhat curly. They are sometimes called "snake melons." I've planted two varieties, one with light green skin, and the other with darker green skin. Actually, I think you can even get striped skin ones. They grow explosively. It can be cigar-like one day, and fat and ready to pick two or three days later. They are naturally burpless as well. I let mine run along the ground, but I know they can be trellised up easily. Never seen any disease or bug problems. They can get huge, if you lose track of one, at which point they are still fine to eat, but need to have the large seeds scraped out.

Thanks Dan, my 2nd standard cuke planting in June struggles to survive here so I may give Armenians a try next year. Out of 8 burpless plants I picked just 1 malformed cuke this year before the plants died from diseases and pests. If you have Cuke beetles (spotted or striped) and/or Squash Bugs down your way do they attack Armenian cuke plants? They really take a toll on my late cuke plants here which quickly leads to their early death.

I've never seen cuke beetles or squash bugs down here, though we do have SVBs in abundance. My SVBs demolish squash, but have shown no taste for Armenian cukes. I believe Armenian cukes are generally afflicted by any cucumber pest, however. I believe the main advantage of these is their tolerance for very high temperatures. Regular cucumbers aren't happy with high temperatures.

Thx Dan, my late cukes are attacked relentlessly by the cuke beetles which by then are abundant and hungry. The wilt disease they spread is devastating by mid summer. Maybe the Armenians will hold up better, I need to put them on my want list.

I read in some places that that Armenian cukes are VERY unresistant to cucumber mosaic virus, which is what, I believe, cuke beetles transmit. But in other places, they say it is supposed to be resistant to CMV. So, hard to tell.