Female courgettes(zucchini) withering

[syntheticbutterfly]

My courgette plants are growing lots of male flowers, but I've noticed that so far only one female flower has opened as the others are withering and turning yellowy. Any ideas or solutions?

[garden5]

Don't worry, just give it time. Zucchini plants tend to do a flush of male flowers and then send up the female ones. If you are really concerned about not getting enough fruit, you could try hand-pollinating them. All you do is take a male flower and rub the pollen on a female flower. It's best to do this in the morning right after they bloom. Supposedly, this is when they are most receptive to pollen.

[tedln]

Garden5 is right. Pull a male bloom on the long stem, strip away the outer bloom leaving only the center with the pollen. Insert it into an open female bloom and move it around a little. One male bloom can usually pollinate about three female blooms.

I've had to hand pollinate all my squash this year because I put netting up to keep the pests off that usually kill the plants in mid summer.

Ted