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Squash has stopped producing MALE flowers??
Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 8:25 am
by alanmaierjr
My squash plant is huge, probably 6-8 feet in diameter, very thick with leaves and finally producing lots of female flowers. It is shaped like a bicycle wheel with maybe 6 secondary vines running along the ground. I have placed cardboard underneath the vines. Maybe I have harvested 6 good crookneck squashes. But all of a sudden I have 10 - 15 female flowers but not the first Male....
I installed a new drip irrigation system a week ago and all of a sudden...
No Males!!! Help?[/b]
Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 9:14 am
by stella1751
Do you have a gardening friend? Last year, I feared the same thing would happen with my pumpkins. I asked my neighbor if I could have some of her males to hand-pollinate, just in case it happened. It didn't, but I was ready
Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 11:28 am
by alanmaierjr
I really don't, I have had to hand pollinate to get the small crop that I have. Now the bees are around, but its kinda hard to get pollinated with only female flowers. The Male flowers were everywhere for 6 weeks and the Female flowers were scarce. I need a scientific solution
Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 11:41 am
by jal_ut
The "scientific" answer to the squash pollinating dilemma is: Plant several varieties (within the same species) of squash and several plants of each variety. In doing this, there will always be some with male flowers. More flowers also attract more bees.
I know, that is not what you wanted to hear, and it may be out of the question for small gardens. I would just wait and see if the bees do their job.