Getting Squashed

[Jolly]

I've got a few straightneck yellow squash planted. For the last couple of weeks they've been blooming and setting little squash. Then, the end of the tiny squash turns brown and dies.

What's my problem and what do I need to do?

[blackfeather]

Is it too wet?

[Txsteader]

I always thought it was a pollination problem.

Sometimes I see it happening when there aren't any male flowers open at the same time as the female flowers.

Do you have plenty of pollinating insects around? If not, you may have better fruit set if you hand pollinate.

[wildhorseluvr]

Did a bit of reading, sounds like squash get blossom end rot like tomatoes. Need calcium.

[farmrbrown]

My 1st thought was blossom end rot, and a soil test should tell u quick.
I didn't know about the pollination problem mimicking the same thing but here's a link that's short to read and might help fix that if the soil is OK.
freeplants.com/squash.htm

Squash plants are also fair weather friends. If the plants are blossoming and a heavy rain occurs, the rain can wash the pollen from the male flowers, preventing the female flowers from being pollinated.

Likewise, never water your squash plants with an overhead sprinkler early in the morning. Each male flower opens for only a few hours in the morning. It’s in the morning hours that pollination is most likely to take place, and a sprinkler can wash away the pollen.

You can help pollinate your summer squash but first you need to know how to tell a female squash blossom from a male squash blossom. It’s easy once you know the difference.

The female blossoms will have a tiny squash forming directly behind the blossom, while the male blossoms have just a stalk behind the blossom. That little squash behind the female blossom is the ovary, and if it isn’t pollinated it will wither and fall off.


To pollinate your squash blossoms, go out to the garden in the morning, before 10 a.m., armed with a cotton swab or small paintbrush. Now locate a male flower and gather some pollen by rubbing your swab or brush on the stamen in the center of the flower.


You’ll see the yellow pollen on your swab or brush. Then move on to a female flower and rub the pollen onto the pistil in the center of the female blossom. Voila! You have pollinated your squash and can consider yourself a success at growing squash. You will be duly rewarded with fresh tasty vegetables for your dinner table.

[Jolly]

I throw a couple of tums in the ground under my tomato plants, I guess I can do that with the squash. It's not been too wet, almost the opposite.

Insects? I have a herd of carpenter bees.

[Ozarks Tom]

May 5, 2022 20:16:41 GMT farmrbrown said:

My 1st thought was blossom end rot, and a soil test should tell u quick.
I didn't know about the pollination problem mimicking the same thing but here's a link that's short to read and might help fix that if the soil is OK.
freeplants.com/squash.htm

Squash plants are also fair weather friends. If the plants are blossoming and a heavy rain occurs, the rain can wash the pollen from the male flowers, preventing the female flowers from being pollinated.

Likewise, never water your squash plants with an overhead sprinkler early in the morning. Each male flower opens for only a few hours in the morning. It’s in the morning hours that pollination is most likely to take place, and a sprinkler can wash away the pollen.

You can help pollinate your summer squash but first you need to know how to tell a female squash blossom from a male squash blossom. It’s easy once you know the difference.

The female blossoms will have a tiny squash forming directly behind the blossom, while the male blossoms have just a stalk behind the blossom. That little squash behind the female blossom is the ovary, and if it isn’t pollinated it will wither and fall off.


To pollinate your squash blossoms, go out to the garden in the morning, before 10 a.m., armed with a cotton swab or small paintbrush. Now locate a male flower and gather some pollen by rubbing your swab or brush on the stamen in the center of the flower.


You’ll see the yellow pollen on your swab or brush. Then move on to a female flower and rub the pollen onto the pistil in the center of the female blossom. Voila! You have pollinated your squash and can consider yourself a success at growing squash. You will be duly rewarded with fresh tasty vegetables for your dinner table.

Now, that's the kind of "sex education" they need to be teaching in schools.