"Judith" wrote in message
...
I have seen thread where someone is getting much fruit on them.

Not for me: I have Venus F1s growing in raised bed and have much reduced
crop
compared with previous years.

However, I have noticed there seems to be a dearth of male flowers this
year.
Consequently I think that the females are not being pollinated to the
degree
that they have been previously.

I have pollinated females when there has been a male available by
transferring
pollen.

I have wondered about cutting off the male flowers and trying to save the
pollen to brush on over say the next week until next male flower appears.
Any
views/comments?

Well you could try..

Mine are equally bad, spring was so late that they just didn't germinate.
Now they are planted out, the slugs are eating every tiny courgette as soon
as it forms.
My vegetables have been a disaster this year.
I got three runner beans yesterday. My climbing french beans I got 9 beans
from.
I still have some dwarf french beans coming along as they also failed to
germinate twice, but it's getting too cold for them to mature.
Worst year ever.

Tina