No female flowers on my zucchini or squash???

Help, anybody, please. This is my first year trying to garden, and I have about 3 zucchini and 2 yellow squash plants in containers. They've grown well, and have lots of flowers. I looked online for info on how to tell the male from female flowers, so I could pollinate them.

But it looks like they're all male flowers! None of them have a tell-tale bulge beneath them that signifies a female flower.

What do I do?

Wait. The male flowers always show up first. When the weather's a bit more consistently warm, the females will show up.

Thank you stephanie! How long will the male flowers be around? some look likely to wilt. Will others continue to show up while I wait for the females?

They only stay open for a day. If you're adventurous, you can pluck the flowers and saute them and eat them. They'll continue to show up as they're a bit on the "adventurous" side and like to show off their stuff before the ladies arrive. LOL

Yea - what stephanietx said :) I'm having the same thing with my melons.

One thing I would point out - if you allow the soil that your squash is planted in to get too dry, you will have an over-abundance of male flowers!

Yeah, the males always show up first....I've had mixed luck with squash and zukes, mostly because of powdery mildew....but hopefully you won't encounter that problem.

really saute the flowers? I've never heard of that before. Just a bit of butter and over medium heat for 3ish mins? Wash them well to remove pollen or is that part of the taste?

I may have to try this but wish to know more before I procede (not even my male flowers have opened up yet, but should within the next ten days).

I find it better tasting to saute before they open.Those of you who had been in Europe they have them in the market.You can fry it with batter. Belle

Well, I'm about to give up on both my zucchinis and yellow squash. It looks like both of them are dying. I never got anything but male flowers. I took the watering advice to heart, and have been watering them about every other day. ... But I may have started that too late.

For next year, I'm going to look for seeds/plants that are self pollinating (if there are any such zucchini and squash that are).

Thank you, anyway. :-(

It's way too early in the season to give up! Just let them do their thing and wait it out.

I agree with Stephanie, there's still plenty of time to grow squash in Houston! I just sowed my back-up crop of yellow crookneck squash, zucchini, acorn squash, and cantaloupe about a week or so ago. The Harris County vegetable planning guide says that we have marginal planting opportunities through the end of August for summer and winter squash. It's basically open season the way I read this. So, if you are up for it, go for another crop and incorporate the knowledge you gained from this last experience.

Thank you for the replies. I didn't read them until now, and I pulled the plants yesterday evening and tossed them. The whole plants were dying. I never did get any female flowers (that I could tell).

I don't mind trying again... But other than watering them more often, I don't really know what to do differently. And I don't know why the whole plants died. I didn't see any bugs. (Doesn't mean they're not there, I know.) And I am using the same container mix for many different veggies and flowers, and they're all doing well. Grrrr......

And if I DO get some female flowers, and can recognize them in time, I read one technique where you have to catch them in the morning, tape them, open them up, pollinate them, tape them shut again, etc. etc. etc. I think if that's the only way (besides buying bees), I'll buy them from the store despite how they taste. I don't have that kind of time or energy.

Guess I'm kinda bummed. This is my first attempt at gardening, and they're the first plants I've had that out-and-out perished while I scratched my head in ignorance.

Any advice for me except more watering? Any good website that has a less ridiculous method of hand pollination?

Do you know of any true self-pollinating cucurbits, or any that don't need pollinating at all? I saw a reference to one of the latter in a BocaBob thread, but can't find it now.

Dear Houston: When I started gardening, the first plant I had was a squash. I learned early on, that it is the hardest to grow. So, next time, I started with the tomatoe, & green bean. These grew a little better. This is my 6th year, & I still haven't conquered the squash. We'll see what happens this year. They are flowering. I find that you can find different kinds of yellow squash. So keep trying until you find the one that will grow for you.

It was pointed out to me that yellow squash/ zucchini do not like to be watered overhead unless it's done early in the morning so that the leaves will have a chance to dry as the day progresses. Otherwise, the leaves will be much more susceptible to powdery mildew, and they will turn yellow, then brown and shrivel up and become useless. If this happens to enough leaves then you end up with a bum plant that never really developes.

Also, make sure you have a pot that is sufficiently deep to accomodate your squash. What are the dimensions or your pots? Your pot should be around18" deep (and just as wide) to allow good root development.

Finally, I honestly do not think you need to spend all that time using tape to pollinate. I've read that as well, but I have had some success by just picking-off the male flowers and walking around my vines, pollinating any female blossoms that I might find. I used this method last fall with my buttercup squash and my pumpkins because I did not have many pollinators to do it for me.

Not sure how practical this method of pollinating will be with fast-growing squash, though. Comments, anyone?



This message was edited May 13, 2010 2:21 PM

This message was edited May 13, 2010 2:25 PM

All you need to pollinate is something to transfer the pollen from the male flower to the female... A finger, a q-tip, a small paintbrush - all will work just fine. No need to tape and go through all that trouble;o) John, your way works just fine as well. From my experience it is best to do it as early in the day as possible, before the temps heat up and the pollen becomes clumpy.

I like to stagger plant squash of all types, every week to two weeks throughout the growing season. This gives me a better chance to beat the wearher and the buggies! Don't give up - you should be able to plant squash through August in Houston, just like we can here in Phoenix...

We just take the male flower and peel back the petals and brush the pollen on the female flowers.

Do we need to have the squash vine borer conversation? Squash plants dropping dead for no reason sounds like squash vine borer.

I had never hand polinated anything in my garden. I have lots of bees and buttterflies. Belle

I'll have any conversation needed, dividedsky. (btw, I was born and raised in indpls!)

Will the squash vine borer get both zucchini and squash? Will they get them in pots as well as bed gardens? I still have the pulled-up plants. **Should I cut them open and look?**

The pots they were in were about 10-12" wide and prob 12-15" deep. That may or may not have been big enough, but when I pulled them, the roots were not root-bound by any means. They had reached the bottom, but were teeny-tiny, and had not in any way started curling around the pot.

I haven't seen a bee or a butterfly in my yard yet. -- Then again, we just moved in at the end of January...

Ah, well if you were still here, you'd just now be planting your squash!

Look at the base of the stems and see if there are any holes where they might have bored into them. And you could slice into them and see if the worms are in there. Just a hunch. In the past, though, whenever I've pulled up my yellow squash and zucchini, the base of the stem was so damaged that it would almost break in half. You would've noticed that.

Could be something else, but I'm not sure what it would be.

I grow Sure Thing squash http://www.burpee.com/product/vegetables/zucchini/squash+sure+thing+hybrid+-+1+pkt.+%2825+seeds%29.do I never have to worry about pollination(self pollinating). They just keep cranking out zukes all season. They're so productive that I grow half the amount I used to.

divided, it took a lot of strength for me to loosen and pull them out. They weren't weak at the soil line at all. Who knows -- maybe I OVERwatered them? Can you do that to cucurbits?

ray, I looked at your choice. They look good, but it's already hot here, so I'll have to wait until next year. I think they'd be too big to grow indoors. Ummm - I just noticed you're in CA, warmer than me. If I planted some now, would they have time to grow and produce?

Okay, I ordered them. I'll give a couple seeds a try, and save the rest for next spring (early!) If I lose them, I lose them. If I get a pleasant surprise, then cool. Thank you.

gilraen, good luck with your squash! I'm a newbie gardener too, and this is the first year that I've ever seen baby zucchinis on my plants before The Dreaded Squash Vine Borer killed the plants. Don't get discouraged! This is my fourth year and even if the squash doesn't make it I've learned something every year. Thomas Jefferson said "though I am an old man, I am but a young gardener," so we newbies should look on our first years as an exciting (and sometimes EXTREMELY frustrating) learning experience.

That's a good way to look at it, mgpaquin. I'll try to remain confident, and enjoy what *is* growing.

I've always found squash to be about the easiest veggie to grow. Throw a few seed in the ground and forget them.

Jim, I wish I could say the same! The SVBs got my entire crop of squash and pumpkins last year. Ugh!

stephanie, we're going to figure out this SVB thing eventually! what about Bt carefully applied at the base of the plant but not near the flowers?

looking for the sluggo plus that you suggested for my slug and woodlouse problem. nobody around here has it (of course). thank goodness it's so easy to order anything you want online!

sorry to go off topic, gilraen. I wish we could figure out what killed your plants. I do know, though, that if you don't see a lot of bees in your area, you can plant flowers to attract them. then when you do finally get female squash blossoms, you'll be all set.

Supposedly using silver mulch deters them. Also growing them vertically helps, too, because they don't like going vertically. I'm going to try hanging some old cds around to deter them, maybe put foil under the plants (or some kind of tarp that's silver and shimmers), and spray bt.

This might be the year that SVB's hit me but so far I have never had one. Setting with crossed fingers and hoping.

Jim, I'll post a sign out in my garden directing them to your house. :)

They probably won't like the humity here.

That's okay. Maybe they'll die. I just don't want them HERE!

Kind of like your in laws, Huh.

LOL I have great in-laws, so that wouldn't be true in my case.

I have a nice FIL; the MIL, not so much - lol...

I too have never had SVBs and hope I never do... Maybe my climate is not so hospitable to them - lol... Plus, I push the envelope and plant my squash early early early to try and beat them. So far it's working.

Okay, Kelly, I'll put a sign out telling that nasty moth to head your direction, too. lol

No need to point the SVB moth torward my direction. Also, I can't believe the SVB are not a big problem in Delhi, LA! You're lucky, Jim41.

I can definatly see how SVB can kill a yellow squash/ zucchini plant much easier than a vining squash plant. Since this is my first go at "bush" squash plants, I can see how difficult it would be to extract the SVB without killing the plant. At least other squash (like pumpkins) can vine and form roots elsewhere and just keep going, but with bush varieties it looks like you really have to catch them before they bore, right?

No sign of SVB in my neck of the woods...yet. Also, I find myself in the curious position of having many female flowers and no males. Note to self: use a q-tip to pollinate...do not pick-off the flower.



This message was edited May 17, 2010 8:05 AM

Keep your moth too, Steph - lol!

If it makes you feel better, I did kill a squash bug yesterday - lol... Only one I saw and he's a goner now.