Veg No female flowers

[parsonswife]

Didn't look like my zuccinni abd crooknek females didn't get pollibated (no bees so far this year) so I went out this morning to hand pollinate but no females only the dead ones.

Anything I can do to produce more?

 

[naturallysweet]

Time. It's pretty common when plants are stressed to produce only male flowers. Have you had funky weather lately?

 

[Txkstew]

Top dress around the plants with some Rock Phosphate, or Super Phosphate. It doesn't take much, and promotes flower development. My Ace Hardware store near me has it. A small bag is like $8.00

 

[packyderms_wife]

Top dress around the plants with some Rock Phosphate, or Super Phosphate. It doesn't take much, and promotes flower development. My Ace Hardware store near me has it. A small bag is like $8.00

Good idea, thanks.

 

[parsonswife]

Thank you all

 

[dioptase]

Iirc the first few blooms on any squash/cuke plant I see are male... female flowers come later.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Iirc the first few blooms on any squash/cuke plant I see are male... female flowers come later.

That is what I saw with mine this year. All male, and now female flowers have started. I have new baby squash, even without bees. We are seeing hummingbirds, though.

 

[Esto Perpetua]

You can fertilize the squash and zucchini yourself by peeling back the petals on the male flower and touching it to the female flower.

 

[Esto Perpetua]

Oops I meant pollenate yourself not fertilize. Doh!

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uJsJ4NNSoMY


Old Alabama Gardener on squash 3:22. About a minute in he tells how to hand pollenate. He uses a QTip type thingie though, I'm not that fancy and I'm cheap as YKW!

 

[dioptase]

Same here; if you are just pollinating a few flowers, easier to just pick the male bloom, strip the petals, and directly hand pollinate.

 

[Fairwillows]

How about epsom salts? start with 1 tbsp/per gallon of water.....site says you can use up to 2 tbsp/per gallon of water.

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Epsom salt helps improve flower blooming and enhances a plant's green color. It can even help plants grow bushier. Epsom salt is made up of hydrated magnesium sulfate (magnesium and sulfur), which is important to healthy plant growth.

And hydrogen peroxide can give plants a boost:

While it has also been used as a general “fertilizer” either added in during watering or sprayed onto the foliage, hydrogen peroxide is not fertilizer, but it can help boost plant growth. How exactly? Hydrogen peroxide helps encourage healthy root growth because of the extra oxygen molecule. Oxygen can help plant roots absorb nutrients from the soil. Therefore, this extra bit of oxygen better enables the roots to absorb more nutrients, which means faster, healthier, and more vigorous growth. And as a bonus, hydrogen peroxide can help discourage unwanted bacteria/fungi that may be lurking in the garden.

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