Squash not producing

CPN 6/12/2010, 2:41 pm

I was able to find the vine-like squash and zucchini though mail order. The bush type required to many squares. I have only gotten one squash so far. I can remember years past where I would have squash and zucchini coming out my ears from just two plants of the common bush type. I am wondering if these are going to produce like that? Maybe it is still early? Anyone grown these in the past?

CPN

**camprn** 6/12/2010, 2:56 pm

I'm curious if you are seeing any bees in your garden and if the plants are actually producing blossoms.

CPN 6/12/2010, 3:31 pm

I have not especially seen any bees. But doesnt mean they aren't coming. I have had blossoms. Some of them look like they are going to produce but then just fall off.

sceleste54 6/12/2010, 3:41 pm

Mine did that for the longest, lots of blooms but no squash. It appeared that most of the flowers were male flowers, I've now had 2 squash develop, kinda disappointing.

**WardinWake** 6/12/2010, 4:35 pm

CPN wrote:I was able to find the vine-like squash and zucchini though mail order. The bush type required to many squares. I have only gotten one squash so far. I can remember years past where I would have squash and zucchini coming out my ears from just two plants of the common bush type. I am wondering if these are going to produce like that? Maybe it is still early? Anyone grown these in the past?

CPN

DPN:

Do the vines appear vigorous and growing at a pace that you expect? If not let us know and the forum members may be able to recommend something.

God Bless, Ward and Mary.

Retired Member 1 6/12/2010, 4:52 pm

I always hand pollinate squash, especially when growing in a SFG. In traditional hills, you have three plants per hill and a much better chance of both male and female blossoms close to each other. That might not be true when trellising vining squash. This morning, for example, there were two male flowers on one zucchini and only one female on three other squashes. Since these are not next to each other, I hand pollinated to be sure of fruit setting.

CPN 6/12/2010, 4:56 pm

They vines seem to be growing fine. How do you hand pollinate? HOw do you tell male from female flowers?

Garden_State 6/12/2010, 5:11 pm

Look at the photo below for examples of male and female blossoms...

female squash - Squash not producing Squash10

jeboo 6/14/2010, 6:57 pm

I had the same problem with my squash and cucumbers. Someone on the forun suggested I pollinate the blossoms myself and now I have lots of squash!!!

CPN 6/15/2010, 9:36 am

CAn anyone tell me how to hand pollinate?

Garden_State 6/15/2010, 9:42 am

Here is a link to a video on how the hand pollinate.

http://lubbock.tamu.edu/ipm/AgWeb/videos/peopleplace/squashPollination.html

CPN 6/15/2010, 9:46 am

THANK YOU!

Retired Member 1 6/16/2010, 4:02 pm

Garden_State wrote:Here is a link to a video on how the hand pollinate.

[url=http://lubbock.tamu.edu/ipm/AgWeb/videos/peopleplace/squashPollination.html

http://lubbock.tamu.edu/ipm/AgWeb/videos/peopleplace/squashPollination.html[/quote[/url]]

The link didn't work for me, so I'll tell you how I do it. Just pick a male blossom, strip the petals off and dab the stamen onto the female stamens. If you are not saving seed to plant next year, any squash will pollinate any other. For cukes I use a child's paintbrush and just dab it into all the blossoms. Works fine.

CPN 6/18/2010, 3:03 pm

Thanks. But one thing i have noticed on my one plant that is left is thier were two male blossoms and no female that were open. Now the two male blossoms are dead. and the females are open. SO what then? Also, I have not done anything with my cucumber, but have noticed that many blossoms dont produce anything. I have gotten a few cucumbers off so far. Can you tell me how in more detail you hand pollinate your cucumbers? THANKS!

CPN

graficow 6/18/2010, 8:21 pm

I only have male flowers - and lots of them at that. Now what do I do.?
Anyone want to trade a girl flower for two boys?

Retired Member 1 6/23/2010, 6:52 pm

One difficulty in growing only a couple of squash plants is they often have only male or only female blossoms at one time. I have 5 summer squash and three winter, so almost always can find a male when a female is open. As to pollinating cukes, use a small paintbrush and just dab each flower. That should double your yield. My experience is cukes really don't like to grow up -- I get much better fruiting when I allow them to sprawl or grow in half barrels cascading down.

happyfrog 6/23/2010, 9:48 pm

i think you'll be fine as long as you have blossoms and definitely try some hand pollination - it's what i do. . .

just get your child's artist paintbrush (or go buy one if you don't have young kids around) - it's the small paintbrush tip size - like what you'd find in a watercolor set ..

and gently swab each blossom of the plant - making sure to hit the original blossom after going around - i kind of jump around from blossom to blossom to make sure all are cross pollinated nicely.

last year i only did that once - and used a qtip actually and got 4 canteloupe on one plant.

this year, i am planning on hand pollinating a couple times/week to get as much abundance as i can. Smile

Glendale-gardener 6/21/2011, 11:05 am

Okay, I just read this whole thread for tips before going out and hand pollinating. My question is based on the video. The guy says that the flowers are each only open for one day and that you have to pollinate when the flowers are open. But then later in the thread, people mention pollinating several times a week. I had originally thought that it had to be done every morning after it flowered until the zuke had started to grow. Help?

I have several zuke plants and half are in pots and I do see bees on it, both honey and mason, but I have the others in a greenhouse so I definitely have to make sure I figure this out!

**Furbalsmom** 6/21/2011, 5:52 pm

My take on pollinating several times a week is that each blossom is only open one day,

So if you have more blossoms open the next day, they have not yet been pollinated. You would want to pollinate those too so you will have more squash maturing.

Did I say that correctly, does it make sense?

Reverend Curlee 6/21/2011, 10:08 pm

Wish I'd seen this thread earlier. I only have one Zuchini planted and it had two blossoms this morning! But there are others ready to bloom. I'm going to check when I get home to see if I had a male & female today or not. They were wilted this evening. But if I do have one of each can I carefully open the wilted blossoms are hand pollinate? Thanks again for a great forum!

RC

Glendale-gardener 6/22/2011, 1:50 am

Okay, so I check each morning and pollinate any flowers that are open that day. And once they close up I leave them alone and let'em finish? As of this morning, I have a whole bunch of male flowers and all the females are shriveley and have tiny baby zucchinis behind them, so I guess they did alright on their own?

**Furbalsmom** 6/22/2011, 3:35 pm

Rev ---I don't know if you can try to pollinate the females using the already wilted male and female flowers or not. Everything I have read and remember doing was with open flowers, and they are only open in the morning.

GG---Once the open flowers have been hand pollinated, and they close up on their own, I just leave them alone.

Just remember to start with a male flower (just a stem at the base of the flower) to gather pollen then swab the females (they have the fruit at the base of the flower)

Reverend Curlee 6/22/2011, 9:04 pm

Thanks Furbalsmom. I checked my blossoms and potential blossoms and they all appear to be male. That being said the plant is not that big yet. So as it grows I should get some females.

RC

lzalvis 6/27/2011, 9:39 pm

Thanks for this info, I'm having the same problem with my zucchini. I've never grown them before, so I really didn't know what to expect. I'll start trying to hand pollinate in the morning!

Reverend Curlee 6/28/2011, 1:23 am

It looks like I've finally got at least one female blossom. Now will it bloom at the same time as a male blossom? We'll see.

RC

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