A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Vegetable Gardening Squash question

I got a bumper load of yellow squash coming in and I noticed that there are some that got 2 inches long and then shrivled up and fell off. Does this mean that I do not have enough nutrients in the soil? I've been side dressing my tomoatoes with 12-12-12 fert...should I do the whole garden like this?

Thanks
Tom

Hi Tom,

Shriveling of the squash fruits indicates incomplete or unsuccessful pollination.
If there are not enough bees around, you may try hand pollination.

Nah...I'm going to pull them I tried that last year for my pumpkins and was not successful. Maybe I'll plant something else...like butternut squash. I believe those are self pollinating.

Well I decided to play bee and it paid off. I now have 4 yellow squash and 4 zuchinni to pull off the vine.

Basically I go out before I leave for work and cut the male flower stem about 4 inches down. Peel off the petal from the base of the flower and use it to paint the female flowers. Works great and quick.

Squash update:
So after pollinating some of the squash and zukes, I started getting a few here and there. What really helped was clearing out one plant. This opened up the other plants and allowed the bees to get in.

Two things that I did and suggest to other:
1. If the female flowers are already closed, you can open them by creating a slit down the side of the closed flower and pollinate them with a male flower. Remember males have NO fruit below the flower, females will have a 1-2 inch long fruit on it.
2. If you determine that it is a pollination issue, you can open up the plants by pushing the leaves back to attract the bees.

I was told by a friend of mine that is a beekeeper and he said that when bees see flowers they see a sort of arrow pointing to the pollen and if they dont see the flowers then they don't see the pollen, so open up the plants.

One last thing, forget about the paint brush technique, just cut the stem of the male flower 4-5 inches below the bud. Peel off the petal so all you have is the male part, and rub it all around the female flower. You should be able to pollinate 2-3 females from one male.

(I know it sounds perverted but this is how it works when there are no bees.)
It helps to dress like a bee and buzz around when doing this....okay not really....but you may get a good laugh from your neighbors.

Happy squashing. :)