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My Zucchini grow really nice, but they do not bear fruit of any size. They get about 3 inches long and eventually shrivel up and never get any larger. Any ideas on why this happens??
Agree with Hemlock. Almost always a pollination issue. If you have numerous male flowers (flowers that are on a stem with no fruit behind them), which most mature squash and zucchini plants do, you could also remove one and just rub it into a female flower being certain that the stamen of the male flower comes into contact with the stigma of the female flower. Unscientifically, make sure the long stringy thingies in the male flower come into contact with the long stringy thingies in the female flower. That has worked for me in the past. I can't ever seem to get the brush thing to work..
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NickMan7
Agree with Hemlock. Almost always a pollination issue. If you have numerous male flowers (flowers that are on a stem with no fruit behind them), which most mature squash and zucchini plants do, you could also remove one and just rub it into a female flower being certain that the stamen of the male flower comes into contact with the stigma of the female flower. Unscientifically, make sure the long stringy thingies in the male flower come into contact with the long stringy thingies in the female flower. That has worked for me in the past. I can't ever seem to get the brush thing to work..
I love that description! The nice thing about the brush is being able to do several females with one male. Sometimes there are many females and few males or the other way around.
Of course lack of pollination is the number 1 cause for squash that does not really mature. this is a problem for many with the lack of bees in many regions. Most of us just do not take the time to pollinate by hand. I might suggest the problem could be squash bugs. Sometimes they are not something we look for, although they are easy to spot. The squash looks like it is going to be healthy and happy. After just a few inches in growth they dry up and are gone. I have been fighting this so long I have about given up. I did plant a little patty pan squash this year, just started getting a few blossoms, but I am not counting on getting a lot of squash. If I do, I will be very happy.
My first few zucchini and squash each year do that in the beginning. After that the plants go crazy and produce a lot.
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