My yellow crooknecks are having trouble. Have tons of blooms and fruits start but they just get nobbly and don't grow. They are woody and inedible. We have had miniscule amounts of rain but have watered and everything else - zuchini, corn, beans, cukes - are doing great. I've searched for information but haven't found anything on this particular problem, which we've never had before. What's going on?
Summer squash trouble
Borers? Check the stem close to the ground, and if you see what looks like wet sawdust, you have borers. You can get rid of them with some minor surgery and the plants should recover just fine. Are the leaves nice and green?
Have you seen bees pollinating the blossoms? If not, you might need to help pollinate your plants, using a Qtip to touch the inside of the male blossom and then the female (the one with the tiny squash).
No - I'm waiting for the borers to hit - I get them every year and spend more time than is reasonable trying to battle them. No frass showing yet. Soil test shows PH is ok, they just won't grow. Any other ideas?
mine get this way when they get too much rain. or get watered too much, they get dark and knobby looking. a couple days of sun and the rest of them are fine. there's no hope for those nobby ones though LOL their tough inside too. I find that my yellow crooked neck don't need near as much water as the other summer squash, so when I do have to water, I don't include them in the watering unless their really bad wilted.
We'll try the pollination theory. My husband is wondering if it might have to do with the nitrogen level - haven't tested that. Just seems strange that everything else is doing well.
Doesn't sound like nitrogen if everything else is growing great.
We've definitely been watering a lot - we're in drought conditions here. The rest of the yard is dead but the garden looks great!! We'll back off on the watering and see what happens.
Potash, maybe? Fish fertilizer would help.
I would back off the watering too. sqaush is suppose to thrive in the heat. and I always over water mine too. My squash isn't doin g well this year. (the yellow crooked neck anyways) t he rest is doing marvelous. I have a case of powedery mildew under neath the leaves from the 2 days of rain we had. and the heat from the sun has already taken care of the powder mildew on top, a few more days and I'll be back to normal probably.
here's today 's pickins, you see the yellow sqaush is almost nill, but that zepher and patty pan is in abundance, even after the rain.
that other is my newly picked asian sweet melon and yard long beans.
crud, forgot the picture.
I'm not saying that too much water is causing that, just that , it seems to happen to me when I get too much water on the plants. or in the ground.
there may be other troubles too. But it won't hurt to slack off the watering on tht yellow sqaush.
It also would not hurt to try a different cultivar, or at least a different source for the Yellow summer crookneck. The op has several variations, but if you get a good strain it is a tasty squash, The fact that your other squash are doing well, triggers bad cultivar vibes with me.
Thanks for all the input - we plan to cut the watering and I'm starting some different seed for another try. I loves my yellow squash and I'm missing it badly!
Thanks again, all!!