I was thinking more along the lines of me damaging the flower before pollination occured when I was using the q-tip. The q-tip was quite large compared to the flower, so I did have to put some extra force just to apply it to the inside of the flower.

This paintbrush is perfect size. If they shrivel up again, I'll know it's something else going wrong.

Great point about the vertical growth though! You may be on to something. Only downside is I can't more my trellis horizontal now without breaking the plant.

I guess if this doesn't work, I could always try a horizontal grow next time.

cucumber scrog. lol