zucchini flowers

[Julia Altshuler]

Not a question, not an answer. I'm bragging. I have 6 beautiful zucchini
flowers in my half whisky barrel planter. I'm so pleased, I thought I'd tell
the people who'd understand.

--Lia

[Cereoid-UR12yo]

Blooming them is only the first step.

Now you need to take the pollen from the male flowers and put it on the
stigma of the female flowers if you intend to get fruit.


Julia Altshuler > wrote in message
...
> Not a question, not an answer. I'm bragging. I have 6 beautiful zucchini
> flowers in my half whisky barrel planter. I'm so pleased, I thought I'd
tell
> the people who'd understand.
>
> --Lia

[Julia Altshuler]

Cereoid-UR12yo wrote:
>
> Blooming them is only the first step.
>
> Now you need to take the pollen from the male flowers and put it on the
> stigma of the female flowers if you intend to get fruit.
>

This afternoon they hadn't opened yet. If they've opened tomorrow, I'll go
around with a brush. I have lots of bees so I'm not sure helping is necessary
though I'm sure it doesn't hurt.

--Lia

[Suja]

Julia Altshuler wrote:

> This afternoon they hadn't opened yet. If they've opened tomorrow, I'll go
> around with a brush. I have lots of bees so I'm not sure helping is necessary
> though I'm sure it doesn't hurt.

Didn't think you had to do a darn thing to these plants. My neighbor
had 3 vines growing, and dozens of zucchini, which he was nice enough to
offer to all and sundry. Unfortunately, I have a hard enough time
figuring out what to do with one, much less a dozen.

Suja
P.S. Fancy running into you here!

[Julia Altshuler]

You don't necessarily have to do anything to the plants, but the flowers come in
male and female varieties so if there aren't bees to help out, one can take a
brush, poke it in each of the flowers in turn and thereby spread the goodies
around.

The other thing one might do to these plants is take precautions against the
dreaded squash vine borer. For two years, it killed my plants. This year I'm
checking daily for eggs,


What to do with lots of zucchini:
Zucchini bread.
Ratatouille.
My favorite: Zucchini fritters. (Recipe from Victory Garden Cookbook.)
Crude sex jokes.


Not at all crude zucchini joke: Two women were chatting while waiting for their
flight in an airport. One tells the other that the New England town she comes
from is so small that no one ever locks their car doors-- except in summer.
"Crime must increase with the summer visitors," the other says and nods
sympathetically. "Oh no!" corrects the first. "It's just that if you leave
your car unlocked, someone will come and fill it with zucchini!"

--Lia

P.S. It figures!




Suja wrote:
> Didn't think you had to do a darn thing to these plants. My neighbor
> had 3 vines growing, and dozens of zucchini, which he was nice enough to
> offer to all and sundry. Unfortunately, I have a hard enough time
> figuring out what to do with one, much less a dozen.
>
> Suja
> P.S. Fancy running into you here!

[Cereoid-UR12yo]

Wrong. Male and female are different sexes not varieties.

Actually squash plants produce both unisexual male and female flowers on the
same plants but you will need to cross pollinate between two different plant
to get fruit. It doesn't need to be the same squash cultivar though.


Julia Altshuler > wrote in message
...
> You don't necessarily have to do anything to the plants, but the flowers
come in
> male and female varieties so if there aren't bees to help out, one can
take a
> brush, poke it in each of the flowers in turn and thereby spread the
goodies
> around.
>
> The other thing one might do to these plants is take precautions against
the
> dreaded squash vine borer. For two years, it killed my plants. This year
I'm
> checking daily for eggs,
>
>
> What to do with lots of zucchini:
> Zucchini bread.
> Ratatouille.
> My favorite: Zucchini fritters. (Recipe from Victory Garden Cookbook.)
> Crude sex jokes.
>
>
> Not at all crude zucchini joke: Two women were chatting while waiting for
their
> flight in an airport. One tells the other that the New England town she
comes
> from is so small that no one ever locks their car doors-- except in
summer.
> "Crime must increase with the summer visitors," the other says and nods
> sympathetically. "Oh no!" corrects the first. "It's just that if you
leave
> your car unlocked, someone will come and fill it with zucchini!"
>
> --Lia
>
> P.S. It figures!
>
>
>
>
> Suja wrote:
> > Didn't think you had to do a darn thing to these plants. My neighbor
> > had 3 vines growing, and dozens of zucchini, which he was nice enough to
> > offer to all and sundry. Unfortunately, I have a hard enough time
> > figuring out what to do with one, much less a dozen.
> >
> > Suja
> > P.S. Fancy running into you here!

[Dwight Sipler]

Julia Altshuler wrote:
>
> You don't necessarily have to do anything to the plants, but the flowers come in
> male and female varieties so if there aren't bees to help out, one can take a
> brush, poke it in each of the flowers in turn and thereby spread the goodies
> around...




Generally, the male flowers appear first, giving the bees a chance to
cover themselves with pollen. The female flowers appear a few days
later. The male flowers are on an elongated stem, while the female
flowers are right up against the base of the plant.

For those who like squash blossoms in their salad, use the male flowers.
If you use the female flowers, you won't get a zucchini from that
flower.

[David Hill]

If you cut the flowers and dip them in batter and deep fry
they make an interesting garnish for a meal

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

[Cereoid-UR12yo]

But you will never get any fruit if you do that.


David Hill > wrote in message
...
> If you cut the flowers and dip them in batter and deep fry
> they make an interesting garnish for a meal
>
> --
> David Hill
> Abacus nurseries
> www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk
>
>
>

[Dwight Sipler]

Cereoid-UR12yo wrote:
>
> But you will never get any fruit if you do that.
>
> David Hill > wrote in message
> ...
> > If you cut the flowers and dip them in batter and deep fry
> > they make an interesting garnish for a meal



The productivity of zucchini is legendary, so stealing a few blossoms
occasionally will reduce production, which is probably a good thing for
most home gardeners. Depending on the temperature, the time from blossom
to fruit (assuming adequate pollination) is about 4-15 days (faster at
moderate temperatures, falls off at very high or low temperatures).

You could pur in an extra zucchini plant just for blossoms, but you will
have the same problem: the productivity of blossoms is greater than the
productivity of fruit, so you will be overwhelmed with blossoms.

[David Hill]

If you take the pollen from the male flower and brush pollinate if you need
to, then cook it you get the best of all worlds

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

[V_coerulea]

They're quite good that way and allow zucchini growers to enjoy the plant in
more ways. If you pay attention to the sex of the flowers out (the plant
usually overproduces male flowers) and pick only males, leaving about 2
males to every female left for fruit production, you won't have any problems
getting your usual bountiful crop.
"David Hill" > wrote in message
...
> If you cut the flowers and dip them in batter and deep fry
> they make an interesting garnish for a meal
>
> --
> David Hill
> Abacus nurseries
> www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk
>
>
>

[jhultman]

Should the zucchini plant produce consecutive crops all season or do
they blossom, produce some, then die out?

That's what mine are doing. I should've planted a few more weeks
later than the first batch.

Emil

Julia Altshuler wrote:
>
> Not a question, not an answer. I'm bragging. I have 6 beautiful zucchini
> flowers in my half whisky barrel planter. I'm so pleased, I thought I'd tell
> the people who'd understand.
>
> --Lia

[Julia Altshuler]

jhultman wrote:
>
> Should the zucchini plant produce consecutive crops all season or do
> they blossom, produce some, then die out?
>
> That's what mine are doing. I should've planted a few more weeks
> later than the first batch.
>
> Emil


They should keep producing until frost. Perhaps a bug is causing your problem?

--Lia

[Frogleg]

On Wed, 02 Jul 2003 15:24:23 GMT, "Cereoid-UR12yo"
> wrote:
>
>David Hill > wrote

>> If you cut the flowers and dip them in batter and deep fry
>> they make an interesting garnish for a meal

>But you will never get any fruit if you do that.

Au contraire. A single male blossom from time to time is all you need.
The girls produce the fruit. Deep-fry away!

[jhultman]

Thanks, I'll look for that.
Though this is the first time anything has been planted in this
plot. Before conditioning the area it was covered with plastic and
tan bark for 10 years...

I may be over watering...

Have a great Independence Day!

Jeff

Julia Altshuler wrote:
>
> jhultman wrote:
> >
> > Should the zucchini plant produce consecutive crops all season or do
> > they blossom, produce some, then die out?
> >
> > That's what mine are doing. I should've planted a few more weeks
> > later than the first batch.
> >
> > Emil
>
> They should keep producing until frost. Perhaps a bug is causing your problem?
>
> --Lia

[Julia Altshuler]

jhultman wrote:
>
> Thanks, I'll look for that.
> Though this is the first time anything has been planted in this
> plot. Before conditioning the area it was covered with plastic and
> tan bark for 10 years...
>
> I may be over watering...
>
> Have a great Independence Day!

Many bugs fly. They'd have no trouble finding your plants no matter what you
did with the soil. Consider the Squash Vine Borer. That's what has given me
trouble in the past.

--Lia

[Frogleg]

On Wed, 02 Jul 2003 17:25:00 -0700, jhultman >
wrote:

>Should the zucchini plant produce consecutive crops all season or do
>they blossom, produce some, then die out?
>
>That's what mine are doing. I should've planted a few more weeks
>later than the first batch.

Nobody knows. Nearly all squash plants are overtaken by mildew or
squash vine borers or some other pest well before their useful life is
over. :-) Seriously, squash isn't a crop with a single flush of
blooms and fruit. If your plants are disease- and insect-free, they
will continue to produce throughout your growing season.

[Julia Altshuler]

Just a week ago I was telling y'all how pleased I was to have so many zucchini
flowers. Now I have a problem I'd never considered: The flowers aren't
opening! I have even more flowers, but they're still nice, yellow, tightly
coiled, petally things, not fully blooming flowers that I could stick a soft
brush into for fertilization. The plant looks healthy. I've removed some
yellowing large leaves, but there's enough new growth in smaller green leaves
that I'm not worried. The last week has been hot and sunny. The whiskey barrel
is getting full sun. I've been watering daily. My half whiskey barrel has bush
beans planted around the zucchini. Any ideas on what's going wrong?

--Lia