Thanks alot for this useful information.I was wondering how to pollinate without male flowers as it was blooming at different time.Lots of regards from INDIA🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳.
Glad you mentioned that “the first weeks only one of each flout type was present” I was kinda freaking out because my baby pumpkin vine only has female flowers and I was about to head over to a plant nursery with a sterile swab to “borrow” some pollen 🤭
Honestly, This is one of the most educational videos I've seen in a long time! Really into plants and its good to see dope weed content on youtube, thank you for posting
Thank you so much for this video! I'm having the problem of having the male and female flowers opening at different times. Now I know that I can keep the male flowers for when the females open!
I have 6 zucchini plants and no male flowers in sight…I hope in a couple of days the male flowers will make an appearance but I’m afraid I will lose some fruits in the meantime but I will definitely save the flowers after this to not have this problem!
Do you have any other summer squash plants? Crook neck, patty pan or the like? You can cross pollinate as long as you don't try to keep seeds from the fruit that is crossed. Maybe you have a neighbor or family nearby that is growing summer squash that you can get a flower from. Good luck with your garden.
I think one of your videos mentioned Texas. If you do live there, you should be able to grow another round of zucchini and maybe some other fast growing squash.
And I am feeling that anxiety right now! At this time of the season, when the season is going well, I have run out of new ways my family enjoys eating zucchini! I gave away the harvest a few days ago to an acquaintance walking by as I was finishing the harvest.
Patrice's Projects Have tons of zucchini now in the fridge. Have made zucchini balls that I marinated in home made tomato sauce, zucchini soup, stir fried zucchini, zucchini fries baked. Going to try zucchini lasagna next!🤩👍🏼❤️💚😍
I always grow one zucchs so I collect a male flower from my neighbour to use. I only use next day but I'll keep for longer in future refridgerated. Have a great new year xl
Great tip I will be saving Male flowers in the fridge. I had a problem with my zucchinis producing mostly female flowers this year, I wish I had known this tip allready I would have got so manny more zucchini
Thank you. I had seen a video quite a while back where someone showed this method, but I can't remember where I had seen it. Thanks for always stopping by.
It is also helpful to cover the male flowers with a sandwich bag, and if your zucchini plant has female flowers then cover those with a sandwhich bag over the night time. This method I used helped deter the famous squash bugs and the viciious cucumber beetles from eating on the fruit and flower buds. It might read overprotective to sandwhich bag the female flower for 2-3 days after hand pollination and sometimes with real help from bees, but it worked. The only times the zucchini fruit bud is not going to grow to maturity is when the hand pollination wasn't done properly, which in my experience happened with polen from less than two zucchini male flowers or where there was rain right after pollination. It works to protect both the female and male zucchini flowers from the rain. Sandwich bags is the cheapest and less invasive way.
Good video and very informative. Yesterday I have few female flowers and want to pollinate them but none of the male flowers are available Thanks for the video!
I'm having trouble with swarms of ants inside all the flowers; even if I manage to pollinate the females using a paintbrush gathering pollen from the male, it seems the ants are eating up or carrying away the pollen before it takes? The zucchini are turning yellow and dying!! I am trying to use a borox and sugar solution to get the ants away- spraying DE didn't seem to affect their numbers! I LOVE your idea to refrigerate a male flower to use just when the females are open. My question is: can or should you gather or force open a male (or female) flower that hasn't yet opened (before the ants have entered) or does it cause them to turn brown and die? I use to open some myself and hand pollinate them with success, but I never had the ant issue to deal with. I'm not sure if they are not taking to the pollination attempt because they were not yet ready to open and I forced it or if the ants are the problem. Any suggestions or ideas? Thank you for the great video demonstration and sharing your experience! I'd love to see a follow up!
I was going to suggest trying the board and sugar solution, but you already have. A few years ago I was having ant issues too, but maybe not as bad as you. I don't think they had an affect on the pollination on the fruits that I hand pollinated. My thinking is that the flowers just weren't mature enough for pollination when you forced them open. Maybe by doing that the stigma (the female part that gets pollinated) might have dried out and was unable to be pollinated when it was mature enough. Just my theory. Maybe try covering the female gently with an organza bag or plastic bag just before it is ready to bloom to prevent the ants from getting to it before you have a chance to hand pollinate. How many squash plants are being affected?
@@PatricesProjects You are brilliant!! I really think what you said makes a lot of sense. In the beginning of the season, I hand pollinated and had one very large zucchini. With this intense nonstop heat waves we're having in Italy, there are so many ants all over everything. I have managed to keep the plants healthy, watered, and mostly pest free, but I have this ant problem! I think it is a wonderful idea to put a plastic bag on the new buds, protecting them from the ants, and just wait for them. Meanwhile, I will try to get the ants under control. I've had so many buds nonstop (fortunately), but they are always covered in ants (inside all the flowers) and I can't even get the paintbrush inside with the pollen; the ants are in the way! Then, I notice the next day that nothing must have taken as the little zucchini looks like blossom end rot and I have to cut it off! I haven't been able to get ONE SINGLE zucchini pollinated since!! So frustrated.
So cool you can do that to pollinate the females😲😊😊 NICE cucumbers😊😊 Hope this help others, & this will be helpful in the future😊😊 I sent the envelope out today😊😊
Thanks I'll have to try this! I have not had any fruit yet because most of my squash flowers are male. Once I finally get a female the male flower dies off...I hope this helps. Thanks again!
Thank you. I was wondering about this and having a hard time finding information. I will save the male flowers now so that I have a back up if they are not blooming at the same time.
Good idea. Bummer for me these are the first flowers of the year. I have 5 zucchini plants, about 20 different plants of varieties of winter squash, 10 cucumber plants, with 6 beautiful female flowers and not a male flower in sight. Not even one that might bloom soon that I could force open. Ah, I hope I don't loose these first 6 fruits.
I hope that some male flowers have opened for you before the females all shriveled. it looks like the only summer squash you have is zucchini. They will start blooming males soon. Just try to keep a fresh one every week, just in case. The winter squashes can cross pollinate, for the most part, Butternut seems to be in a class of it's own.
First time growing zucchini and they started flowering yesterday. The flower that opened yesterday, the other that opened this morning and the next two that are coming up are all female... hopefully some male flowers start coming up soon. It's interesting because it seems like usually it's the opposite problem (especially early in the season) with a lack of female flowers rather than lack of males?
I have this problem on my cucuzza plants. I'm thinking it's the intense heat we have. My plants are just bridging the top of my support system in mid June.
Wow! I learned so much! This was great! New subscriber and friend here! We live on a ranch! I hope to become good friends! Wishing you all the success!
I always wanted to live on a ranch, but at least I have my own yard! Looking forward to becoming friends with you. Do you do much gardening, or is it all livestock?
@@PatricesProjects hi Patrice! We have mostly livestock. We'r also farm hay. I have chickens, horses, burrows and a husky rescue! Very busy life! Im planning on a garden next year! I know ill learn a lot from your channel!
There's nothing you can do except hope that a neighbor has some with male flowers blooming, and that the bees stop there before coming to your place. Just make sure to save a blossom when the male flowers are blooming.
Hi there, very interesting practice, I will have to do this next time. I've got myself in a pickle at the moment as both my plants are only producing female flowers now. I am new to growing and have been waiting faithfully for more male flowers to appear but they just won't come. I have no other way of obtaining a male flower where I am! Is it possible to encourage the plants to grow more male flowers? E.g. less sunlight, more nitrogen, anything?!? Or should I throw in the towel for this year? Thank you
Are you growing any other type of summer squash? You can cross pollinate with other summer squash. Are your plants thickly leafed out? If they are, remove up to half of the older leaves. Sometimes that works. Maybe fertilize with something high in potassium and lower on nitrogen.
@@PatricesProjects thanks for the quick reply! I am growing butternut squash which I believe is a winter squash? Will that do? It has just started flowering this past week! I have already thinned the courgette plants out, I will see if I can find a source of potassium
@@jasmincarmel1607 Yes, butternut is a winter squash, and it is in a different specifies of cucurbita. Most, if not all of the squash we call summer squash are in the cucurbita pepo species. Whereas the butternut is in the moschata species, which contains very few of the varieties we typically grow in our ggardens. Oddly, many varieties we call winter squash are in the pepo species like spaghetti squash, and regular pumpkins, not the mammoth ones. They are cucurbita maxima, as well as most really large squash.
Thank you! I didn't know you can cross-pollinate the squash plants. I will try this method as my 3 Zucchini Plants have all Female Flowers and no Males. I have a Butternut Squash Plant and a Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkin Plant and a Crooked Neck (yellow) Squash Plant along with Cucumber Plants. I wonder if any of these male flowers would work on each other? I have most of them grouped together in Grow Pots in my garden. I feel sad that I could lose all those beautiful little baby Zucchini ... I am still new at Gardening. Anything is worth a try, you know?
The crook neck squash can pollinate the zucchini, and the pumpkins can pollinate each other, but cucumbers can only pollinate cucumbers, and same with the butternut squash. Butternut is pretty much a stand alone variety.
What I'd like to know is when will the female flower open if it's already on a fruit? My courgette is already about 3 inches... and the flower isnt open, so do we even need to pollinate at all?
Unless there is some reason, like plant stress, the flower will open and will need pollination to continue to grow. If the flower doesn't open the fruit will stop growing and begin to shrivel. I have harvested some when the unopened bloom started looking sad and used them. They taste fine, just tiny.
Hi Patrice, can I use A zucchini plant's male flower to pollinate B zucchini's female flower? Or I have to use the male and female flowers from the same plant? Thank you!
Many people have this happen. With my cucumbers sometimes one plant will produce all female flowers except one or 2 males, while another is the exact opposite.
New subby here. I'm in California as well,, the Palm Springs area. I had 2 disastrous summers, so this year I decided to wait until the weather cooled down from the 115+to 100° or less. My garden is looking so much better this year. I was leery so I planted only 1 tomato and 1 eggplant. Inmaddirion I have several was and green beans. Radish. Bunching onion. Carrots and Dill. So far so good. Our cool nights seem to help. I was wondering where in CA you are.
I just put in my garlic. This year was pretty minimal. I struggled with spider mites from early spring and all through summer. Have you started fall crops yet?
Hi, Patrice. Ooh, some flower sex.😋🤣🤣🤣You were shoving it in that female flower 😮 Your cucumber fence is really nice and neat. Your plant looks good too. Your gardening tip was great. I loved it all. Thanks for sharing and I gave you a thumbs up too.
I have male flowers I need to save. If I can't cut them on the morning. Could I do it in the evening? What time would best. And thank you f or this video
Both the male and female flowers bloom only in the early morning hours. Maybe in cooler climates they bloom longer, but I don't think so. Good luck with getting them pollinated.
Yes for the most part. Almost every one of them. The earlier in the morning the better, so the female is in it's prime, and the refrigerated flower being as fresh as possible. Less than a week, preferably less than 5 days.
What can i do if i didnt collect the male flowers and the female flower is just about to open up and i sont want it to die, will other types of flowers work to pollinate it?
Yes. Some of the other summer squash like crook neck can cross pollinate. Not butternut or pumpkins, they are in different families. I don't think kabocha either.
Yeah. The squash flowers curl up as soon as it heats up or the sun is on them for a bit. If the flowers was open this morning hand pollenating might have worked. It's worth a try.
I have one ash gourd plant. It only producing female flowers. There are nine female flowers but no male flower. That fruits are not getting bigger..what shoud i do mam. ? Can i use pumkin male flower to pollinate?
I have fertilized cucumbers across different varieties this way, and I think I fertilized a zucchini from a crook neck squash. I would try it. You have nothing to lose, and only gourds to gain if it works. Let me know if it works. Good luck. Thanks for stopping by.
They have to mature on their own. So frustrating when that happens. Usually it's in the beginning of the season when that happens to me. That's why I started saving flowers. I have heard that you can dry the pollen and use it later, but that doesn't help you now. Hopefully the females stay fresh and open until a male matures and opens.
The zucchini produced, but I can't say for sure it was because I pollinated it. There is always the chance that a bee or other pollinator did the deed. But, I have used older flowers several times, and I almost always have success with the squash plants.
I just had my first male flower bloom a couple days ago. It blossomed for that one day and never opened back up. How do i get it to open back up? Is it dying?
Squash flowers open up first thing in the morning, and stay open until they get too warm or the sun is on them for a few hours. Once they close they are done. They don't reopen. If you have spotty flowering, pick a nice male flower first thing in the morning and save it in a plastic bag or container so you can use it when you have a female flower to pollinate. I saw someone on RU-vid recently say that you can remove the pollen and dry it to use later. I haven't tried it, so I can't vouch for it.
Optimally you should pollinate when the female is wide open. But, if you catch it when the flower has closed for the day, you should be able to gently open the petals that day and get the job done. After that, it is much less likely to pollinate, though it's worth a try the following day. It's better than not trying. Thanks for coming by and watching my video.
When cucurbits, squash, cucumbers and melons, first start flowering, it is quite common for them to put out only male flowers for a week or 2. If the plant continues doing it much longer, or stops producing female flowers, it is often because of stress. Maybe the sudden rise or fall in temperature, or not enough or too much water, or some nutrient deficiency. If it's lack of water or nutrients, obviously either water more or fertilize or both. Make sure the NPK numbers on the fertilizer are pretty even. One thing I have heard, but haven't had reason to try yet, is that by continuing to remove most of the male flowers (preferably before they bloom so they aren't wasting as much energy) the plant will start producing more females flowers. I don't know if this really works. Let me know if you try it and if it appears to work, or not.
I planted six pumpkin the broblem is I have more female than males some times there a not even 1 femal for six plants there is a femal about to bloom wish that I get a male flower😂😂😂
I like your advice, but you are really waffling a lot! Short and sweet love! Also, you should trim back you leaves, apparently you can lose 30% of the leaves.
I have a tendency for waffling. It's a part of who I am I suppose. And you can lose more than half of the larger leaves as long as the plant is vigorously growing. Thank you for your suggestions. I appreciate you stopping by.
I am kind of embarrassed to admit that I have never eaten squash flowers. I think I have tasted part of a petal in the garden, and I recall a bland taste. How do you prepare them?
Patrice's Projects I’ve ate them raw. Make sure to to remove the stamen or else its bitter. Fried in tempura, filling in quesadilla, lots of dishes that require vegetables its great try them out you obviously have plenty
Thank you for watching and giving me that link. It is indeed a good article, and it might be where the person I saw on RU-vid got the information about refrigerating the male flowers. I wish I could remember where I saw this originally.
Even though I would like to know all about this, I will " NOT " watch another long winded American advert, sometimes lasting an hour, If you have something that will help, get to the point without all the waffle , TIME IS PRECIOUS , if I like the idea, i will buy it.
