On Tue, 21 Jul 2020 12:23:23 David Hill wrote:

On 21/07/2020 10:55, David Rance wrote:
On Tue, 21 Jul 2020 09:32:58 Nick Maclaren wrote:

In article ,
David Rance* wrote:

This year I am growing squashes for the first time. They are
producing
plenty of female flowers which are now opening, but there are no male
flowers with which to ..... er, fertilise (is that the right word?)
them. There are buds of male flowers but they never develop.

So, do squashes need to be fertilised in the same way as courgettes? I
do have some courgette plants alongside the squashes which *are*
producing a few male flowers. Can I fertilise the squashes from them?

Most squashes grown in the UK are Cucurbita pepo, as are courgettes,
so it should work.* Hubbards, Crown Prince etc. are C. maxima,
Butternut and Tromboncino d'Albenga are C. moschata, and probably
won't.
Thanks, Nick. The seeds from which I grew the plants were saved from
a squash I bought in Waitrose in January. The label doesn't say what
variety they are (apart from the label saying "Golden Butternut
Squash" which I suppose is a description rather than a variety!) but
says they were grown in Greece. Well, we'll have to see what happens.
I don't think the first female flower was pollinated properly as the
fruit is two inches long and hasn't grown for a week. Two later ones
do seem to be getting larger and are between three and four inches
long. I don't expect them to grow to the proportions of the original
but anything will be worth having.
(I've just remembered the correct word - "pollinate". Age is
catching up with me but I won't make that an excuse!)
David

Try hand polinating them, nothing to loose.

That's what I'm having to do as there are so few male flowers and even
fewer bees, etc. I either use a paintbrush or else cut off the male
flower, pull the petal back and rub the anther on the female stigma.

David

--
David Rance writing from Caversham, Reading, UK