broken squash plants

[bcgpete]

I have a small garden in my backyard of squash, tomatoes, and some peppers. Nothing is being bothered except for my squash plants. I've had a few that will begin to grow under the flowers, and after they get about as big as the cap to a highlighter they suddenly disappear, like someone just cut it off with some scissors. I've read that this may be due to cutworms, however only the part with fruit is affected. I have not found any other stems severed in such a way.

This is my first time growing first time growing squash, so I really don't know what I'm doing.

Thanks for any help.

[applestar]

The squash flowers may simply be not getting pollinated. The female flowers have the baby squash behind them, but they won't grow into squash and will drop off if the flowers are not pollinated. Are you also seeing male flowers? Bees visiting? You may have to hand pollinate if your garden is not being visited by pollinating insects.

[bcgpete]

How do I tell between male and female flowers? And I'm pretty sure I'm seeing some fruit below some of the flowers.

[garden5]

The flowers with the fruit below them are the females and the ones with just a skinny stem are the males. In the morning or early afternoon, break off a male flower and rub it into a female flower, this should start the fruit-forming process. Watch these fruit to see if they still disappear.