not producing vegatables
hi my squash and cucumber plants are growing crazy! but only have produced 1 each. what can I do to get them to make more
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
Only thing you can do is make sure the conditions are right for it:
plenty of sun (at least 6 hrs a day direct sun)
plenty of water, but not waterlogged or wet all the time
fertile soil - but don't add lots of nitrogen, such as high Nitrogen synthetic fertilizer (nitrogen is the first number or the N in NPK), which will tend to encourage lots of plant growth at the expense of fruiting. Add compost instead.
Are they not producing flowers or are they producing plenty of flowers, which drop off without setting fruit? If the latter, are there both male and female flowers? Do you see any pollinators around your garden (honeybees, bumblebees, etc)?
plenty of sun (at least 6 hrs a day direct sun)
plenty of water, but not waterlogged or wet all the time
fertile soil - but don't add lots of nitrogen, such as high Nitrogen synthetic fertilizer (nitrogen is the first number or the N in NPK), which will tend to encourage lots of plant growth at the expense of fruiting. Add compost instead.
Are they not producing flowers or are they producing plenty of flowers, which drop off without setting fruit? If the latter, are there both male and female flowers? Do you see any pollinators around your garden (honeybees, bumblebees, etc)?
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
So the next question is about the male and female flowers. For how long have they been producing flowers? Are there male and female ones? It is typical for cucurbits (squash, pumpkins, cukes, etc) to produce only male flowers for the first couple weeks or so.
If there are male and female flowers, you can hand pollinate some of the females to be sure they are getting pollinated.
Otherwise, if you think all this is working tell us some more about the weather, the conditions they are growing in, soil, fertilizer, water, how you have been caring for them etc and maybe post a couple pix and we will keep working on figuring this out with you.
(See also https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38783 for people's similar issues with pumpkins)
If there are male and female flowers, you can hand pollinate some of the females to be sure they are getting pollinated.
Otherwise, if you think all this is working tell us some more about the weather, the conditions they are growing in, soil, fertilizer, water, how you have been caring for them etc and maybe post a couple pix and we will keep working on figuring this out with you.
(See also https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38783 for people's similar issues with pumpkins)