Hi. I've got a healthy (no leaf damage, anyway) yellow squash plant that has had several tiny squashes growing but the first one grew to about 1 1/2 inches long and shriveled. The second one is looking like it's headed that way too. It is growing in a large container. Any ideas?
LiseP
squash shriveling
Pollination problem, you may to hand pollinate.
Oh thanks! That's a surprise. I would have thought that without pollination, nothing would have formed at all. LiseP
Squash and cukes have male and female bloosoms. The ones with the little fruit are the females but if they don't get pollinated the little fruit will dry up and fall off.
Lisa
Thanks, Lisa. After getting my first reply, I went digging and found this link, which might be helpful to others who are as new to this as I am:
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/gourds/msg0611545713356.html
My main problem now is that it doesn't seem as though a male flower and a female flower are both freshly opened on the same day. I took a 'yesterday' male flower and tried to pollinate a newly opened female because that seems to be my only option now, but I'll keep trying.
Someone said that if I put some honey in water out by the garden that that might attract some bees. Maybe I'll try that too. I've got both yellow squash and cucumber plants coming in and I definitely want them to produce!
LiseP
My question is....I also have both yellow squash and cucumber plants...but I pinch off all my blooms till my plants (vines) get bigger...but what size do I need to let my vines get before I let them fruit?....
LiseP, how long are your vines?
Not long. I've never pinched anything -- didn't know to! I haven't measured, but the squash seems to be maybe 1 1/2 feet long, and about that wide with leaves.
The cucumber is much smaller than that, the largest of them is under a foot and I've only just started to get the first 2 flowers on one of them in the last day or two.
LiseP
I've never pinched squash or cukes and if they're well tended surely wouldn't need it. The only pinching I've ever heard of is pinching melons or pumpkins in the attempt to get super large fruit for competions.
I was told to pinch them off till your vine is larger, you get bigger and better veggies and the vine is stronger to hold large veggies....but the person that told me never told me what (larger) is. ..lol
You may not want squash or cukes that are big. They get tough and bitter as they get big. I try to pick the squash as soon as the blossom falls off.
LisaP-The male and female flowers not being available at the same time made me LOL.
There are a lot of threads that discuss plant fornication and it always strikes me as comical. Good Luck!
1lisac, LOL, yeah, my plant seems to have a "guys' morning out" and then a "ladies' morning out" but not on the same mornings.
It also hit me like a V8 moment when I realized that I had my squash in a sort of cage made out of chicken wire. And while bees *can* get through the chickenwire, they may not want to! So I took the cage off yesterday and we'll see if things improve.
LiseP
You can always pollinate by hand using a Q-tip or make up brush.
Lisa
i have a question: I planted my tomatoes last week in the the evening and they are looking pretty yellow and it looks like they are not going to make it------i was wondering if put too much compost in--last spring someone brought over some soil which was made from old leaves, bark, pineneedles and then in the fall i added leaves from my yard so did i put too much compost on my garden--should i go buy some peat moss and put it around the plants or just wait it out
nawla, I'm an Oregon girl living in Alabama...go figure that one...lol....but pine needles are very acidic in Oregon...here in the south, they are called pine straw.....and they are put around flowers....they are not acidic here.....go and get you a ph tester..some are 5-6 bucks....and they work as good as the $100 ones...I have GH's and going from GH to GH....from golf cart to tractor, it doesn't hurt as bad when I leave them out in the rain or run over them as the $100 ones. lol lol lol
hope this helps....
Jody
Nawla-Did you put any manure in the compost? The nitrogen is what breaks down the organic material. It is my understanding that adding organic material uses up the nitrogen in the soil, which takes it away from the plants. This will cause the leaves to yellow and stunt or stop the plant growth. I would add a fertilizer that is high in nitrogen. I use horse manure and if you lived closer you could have all you want. Follow the directions when you use it so you don't burn your little plants. I sure wouldn't give up yet. I have had the same problem when my exhusband thought that putting saw dust in my huge garden would make the soil better, I put in bags of blood meal and it took me a year to get the soil back to normal again.
Lisa