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The male squash flower pistil (the yellow polleny thing down inside the flower) sticks out like a.... you know.....
The female flower 's pistil is a cluster of turned back ridgy things. You pick a male flower, peel back the petal exposing just the ..... male polleny thing. Then stick that in the female flower and rub it around getting pollen on the female parts. This is plant sex.
Cucumber and melon flowers are different. The female flower has a little baby melon or cucumber at the base of the petals. The hand pollination proceedure is the same.
This is why you need many plants, I have 10. Sometimes you get all male, then all female. If the timing is bad you will never get anything from them. With mine in a greenhouse I am hand pollinating every morning and afternoon with a soft artists brush and we have been eating squash for over a week now.
I have no less than 19 squash plants - yellow crookneck, patty pan and zucchini- and ALL of them are covered with male only flowers. I have gotten 6 actually squashes off them in the last 2 or 3 months.
The male squash flower pistil (the yellow polleny thing down inside the flower) sticks out like a.... you know.....
The female flower 's pistil is a cluster of turned back ridgy things. You pick a male flower, peel back the petal exposing just the ..... male polleny thing. Then stick that in the female flower and rub it around getting pollen on the female parts. This is plant sex.
Cucumber and melon flowers are different. The female flower has a little baby melon or cucumber at the base of the petals. The hand pollination proceedure is the same.
LOL! X-rated! Thanks for not making me feel stupid.
I've always just taken care of the plants and reaped the harvest.
So, I also really am curious now, too - why would plants only produce male flowers? That does seem odd. Are they hybrids? What can cause this?
After a few misshapen squash and cucumbers, I just pulled all mine out today because they had either completely succumbed to some kind of disease or looked very sickly. I will not try to grow these again, because they have never been successful in my SFG.
Herbs do best, and the tomatoes and peppers are OK.
When we had heavy rains in Jersey a few years ago, my best friend's cukes and zukes really didn't produce much. Maybe after the rainy season has passed they will perk up?
I have noticed that under wet conditions, members of the cucerbit family tend to get mildewed leaves. New uninfected leaves grow. Pulling off these fungus leaves do not seem to have any effect whatsoever. Still, my plants have mostly to only, male flowers. You can pick flowers off squashes, dip them in cornbread batter and fry them but I am tired of eating fried flowers. WHERE IS MY SQUASH? WHY AM I INFLICTED WITH THIS CURSE?
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