Jeff Thies said:


A while back I was trying to identify whether I had cucumbers or
melons. Looking at the growing plant now, I'm thinking it must be
squash, it's not vining and the leaves are getting big. (shared seeds
with neighbor)

I grew zuchini last year and had a lot of flowers but little in the
way of the vegetable itself. I think this was a pollination problem as I
don't have many bees here. What to do? I had no intention of trying
squash again!

Squash is a whole lot easier to hand-pollinate than cucumbers or
melons would be! Male squash flowers are big enough to use by
themselves to do the pollinating.

Either use the male blossoms (stripped of their petals) directly, or
use a Q-tip to transfer pollen to the female blossoms. Best done
in the morning.

Were they summer or winter squash you had problems with?
Winter squash are likely to only set a few fruits per plant.

Either type will throw fewer female and more male flowers when
growing in less than ideal situations, as pollen is less costly to
produce than fruit.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI

"Vegetables are like bombs packed tight with all kinds of important
nutrients..." --Largo Potter, Valkyria Chronicles

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