Zucchini that only has male flowers?

This is the first time this has ever happened to me...all of my zucchini blossoms are males. Huge plants, lots of blossoms but they are all male and no zucchini. Strange problem not having zucchini squash but I'm hungry for zucchini bread and cake!!! LOL! Anyone else have this problem and if so what can I do?

If your plants are young, then having all male blossoms is "normal". Female blossoms come along later.

And the plants seem to be able to "read" the weather. In my experience, if there is not good rainfall, or there is heat stress, the vines will keep producing male flowers until conditions are right. The guys keep showing up and waiting and waiting and...

I-Ann, go ahead and enjoy those male flowers. Batter and fry them. It'll hold you over till the real stuff comes along.

Shoe (just saying you have a "normal problem", no worries.)

Or, for those of us figure conscious types (not Shoe of course), just chop them in salads. They are delicious.

It has been extremely hot here. I've never fried the blossoms so I guess this is going to be the year to try it since we have plenty of male blossoms! Thanks all!˜

Wow - I was just asking this very question.

My 2 Zucchini I planted are HUGE... the leaves I mean. And LOTS of yellow flowers. I have had ONE Zucchini squash this year ! I almost never found it too....

Can you really eat the flowers? i thought ya'll were joking. (Beginner here.. so be kind !) LOL....

Can someone explain further this male /female thing?

Squash require pollenators like bees or wasps. They first produce male flowers with a slim stem. This gets the pollenators hanging around the plant. As the plant matures and conditions are right, the plant produces flowers with the miniature fruit at the base. These are the females. Now there are lots of pollenators on hand to bring the pollen from the male to the female flowers.

This message was edited Aug 7, 2011 9:16 PM

Thanks Maypop... we've certainly had plenty of bee's around... however not in that particular spot...

we've also had very weird weather... drought then monsoons... and Heat Advisories....

Zucchini's also spent a lot of time protected (from the pup) by a plastic fence.. maybe that "HID" the flowers?

Another quick question... Would it help (this year or next) to plant "Bee attracting" annuals near the zukes? Marigolds or such ?

Thanks so SOmuch for your help !

Mary

I hand pollinate early in the morning, especially early in the season when the bees have not woken up yet. I have planted dark opal basil amongst pretty much everything and let it bloom as it is pretty and attracts pollinators. I also like the smell. They don't grow too well in the shade of the giant squash leaves, but they put out a few flowers, and apparently, that is enough to draw in the bees. I have ants in my squash, too, and they don't seem to be doing any harm (no aphid farms, anyway). They crawl across the blossoms, so I wonder if they also help with pollination.

Thank you Kmom!.... I have been planting Lemon Basil near my Tomatoes and having NO problems with bugs in them... so will try that with the zucchini....

The color yellow attracts honeybees, so don't worry about hiding the flowers from them. As long as they can see them from above, they'll find them. They also see ultra violet, which humans cannot. Some flowers have ultra violet centers to attract honeybees.

Planting too many other flowers in the garden will actually draw honeybees away from your target blossoms. A better approach is to plant lots of what you want the honeybees to pollinate. If trees are in bloom, honeybees will gather nectar/pollen from them before turning their attention to vegetable flowers.

Bumble bees and Native bees are great assets to the gardener. Unlike honeybees, they will flit from one type of flower to another. So if your garden has lots of these bees, as opposed to honeybees, then planting lots of other flowers near your vegetables is a good idea.

Do some research on the internet to find out how to get bumble bees and native bees to build nests near your garden. All bees raise young near their food supply.

Do not, however, place a honeybee hive near your home - they protect their hive by stinging anything that comes near it.

Ants do pollinate flowers.

HoneybeeNC (I used to keep honeybees many moons ago)

Squash blossoms are good sauted without batter or stuff them with soft cheese, twist the end, batter dip if wanted and fry or don't batter, cover with tomato sauce and bake. Sopa flores de calabasa is a delicious soup. This one takes a large amount of flowers to make and uses cream, chicken broth, garlic, onions and squash blossoms.
The batter fried blossoms taste like mushrooms.
Segev zucchini is parthenocarpic and does not require pollinators for those in areas without adequate pollinators or in areas with heavy pest problems and want to grow them under row covers. It is not your typical zucchini, but is an Italian type and is grey, but has a nice flavor.

Wow - Honeybee - that is some Great information! Hm... the zucchini I planted are right next to the orange and satsuma trees... so I'm thinking based on what you have taught me above that might be the reason for lack of squash .....

I try to plant all sorts of flowers... and the back yard has a pool... so unfortunately the bee's aren't always desirable... so maybe I move the zucchini garden around a bit next year....

Thanks Calalilly - wow - I never thought you could eat Squash much less in so many different ways.

This is why I LOVE DG... learning so much on here... so appreciate you all !
Mary

MaryandLance - Honeybees place droplets of water around the inside of their hive (NOT in the honey) - and fan it with their wings. This helps to keep the inside of the hive cool in summer.

This is why you see Honeybees around your pool. If you place a shallow container filled with water and stones, they will take water from there - but your pool is saying "come and get it" so they will always be a problem around it.

Thank you Honeybee ! They also seem to be fascinated by the waterfall area... something must have accumulated around there... Limestone or some thing? Anyway... Thanks for taking the time to teach me... :o)

MaryandLance - I don't think it's the limestone they're after - probably just the water.

Okay Honeybee.... thank you !

I think many animals and birds like running water to drink because it may be fresher than something with green slime growing in it. Maybe the bees think the splashing means it's fresh water.

Thanks Kmom... I suppose that's what it is.... and hubs thought it was the rocks... but the pup Belle is crazy about the bee's....

LOL...

Will try to get a pic... (HUGS)
Mary