I prune and tie up my all vine plants to trellises. That’s Cantaloupe, butternut squash, cucumbers. Tomatoes and bell peppers I also prune lower leaves and branches to promote air flow and cut back on disease. We have to pollinate everything. Very few bees here.
I had very few bees. Last year I planted a couple of sunflowers. The bees came in like crazy! They’re back this year, and I’ve planted sunflowers again.
@@lindalockhart1266 We have a chaste tree near the garden which is in full bloom right now. So we’re getting some bees. But in the past years we were getting fewer and fewer bees. We were thinking about getting a box with bees for honey and set it next to the garden.
I grow a variety of flowers to encourage pollinators to visit my garden. I grow borage, calendula and alyssum, primarily. The borage self sows and comes up everywhere but it is easy to pick out the seedlings when they first appear. I leave a patch to mature in several places around the vegetable patch until the flowers start to die back and the plants look messy then they are simply pulled out and composted. They grow back. At times my garden is fairly humming with bees. My squash flowers often have two or three bees stumbling around inside them. Alyssum is a great ground cover for shading the soil, choking out weeds and attracting pollinators. It's also sweetly scented.
Lord, I didn't know how big squash/zucchini/pumpkin plants can get... And ENTIRE corner of my yard has turned into a patch of thick plants. Happy, healthy, huge!
With some good soil, temps and water, they can get pretty big! Vining squash take up even more (like butternut, or tromboncino). Those vines can be 40 ft long!
i grew zucchini and had never even heard of pruning so i am very excited to try it this year. last year was the first time with squash bugs, horrible little things so i have been reading up on tips about them also.
For squash bugs, check the leaves daily for the little egg clusters and remove those. For the bugs themselves, you can use a tablespoon or 2 of regular dawn dish soap (not the antibacterial kind) in a spray bottle of water. Spray directly on the bugs but avoid getting it in the blossoms. Normally kills them within 20 seconds or so. I walked my garden every day last summer removing eggs and spraying them. Never got rid of them, but helps reduce the damage.
@@wendyburston3132 not sure. I've only ever used Dawn, but I guess as long as it has similar ingredients and not antibacterial, it would work the same way. Just have to be sure it's not something that could negatively impact the plant.
Thanks for tips. Its my first year growing zucchi plants and has become very successful but the problem is i literally have no idea how to maintain it except water it thats all lollol! Iv searched so many youtube videos and but yours seems to be more helpful to me and pretty much the same size as mine at the moment. So far no mildew or any sorts of disease but before it gets to that i think i will cut some lives off for more air flow and space to grow more zucchini flowers and to become more visible for flying creatures to come pollinate it. Thanks a bunch! Xo
So glad you have found the videos helpful! Zucchini takes minimum maintaining, so if you are on a regular watering schedule you are good most of the time! The pruning is something you can do from time to time to help, but I went for years without doing it. This year my biggest challenge to keep up with our squash bugs. I am removing egg patches almost daily and catching and killing as many of the flying buggers as I can. Best of luck with your crop this season!
Yep, I HV zucchini plant growing n the leaves are massive but not much female flowers..n I have seen the female fruit rooting..sad. now I will also prune the leaves away
This is so helpful. I live in Zone 9a central FL and have been having a tough time with my zucchini & squash plants. They start off doing great and then decline such as rotting baby plants, white mildew, etc. your tips are very helpful. Maybe it’s not too late to salvage them!
To prevent mildew and rot I've heard from nurseries and growers that removing the leaves closest to the ground is a must, encouraging younger leaves and increasing fruit yield tremendously. Then reassess the plany and thin selectively for air flow, removing leaves that cross over to other plants. I notice in this video you left quite a few older close to the ground leaves. Your thoughts?
Agreed. I think I may not have caught it all on the video, but I normally do remove the lower leaves that lay on the ground, since those are the first ones that tend to have issues.
I heard that zucchini leaves are edible Squash leaves are rich sources of minerals such as iron, potassium, zinc, calcium, and magnesium. They are also a good source of essential vitamins A, B and C, which have immune-boosting benefits and are beneficial for overall health.
Yes when the leaves are younger I think they are supposed to be better (more tender). I haven't tried them myself, but recently started doing research into different types of vegetable plant leaves that are edible that you wouldn't normally think of eating.
@@oneseedoneworld I just completed the thinning out, I started at the bottom with any that were touching the ground. thanks for giving me the nerve to cut the plant 😅 i
@@marthabradas8873 They'll be fine! I prune the bottom leaves on mine every year. Now you just have to survive the squash bugs and squash vine borer bugs. :)
Same here! Previous years plants have gone from gorgeous to white and dead within days. I wanted to prevent that this year and this is exactly what was looking for.
I have a different question I was on vacation and came back to utter destruction of my squash by wood chucks deer and or rabbits . I went through and trimmed of all the severely damaged leafs will this work or did I kill off my plants . What's your thoughts on this.
If your plants still have some decent leaves for photothensis, they have a good chance of recovery. They might take a while to recover, but give them time. Best of luck with them!
What about the tiny little black dots that accumulate all over my squash and zucchini leaves nobody seems to address those problems my first set of zucchini and squash have both died back because of these little black dots covering the leaves. Please help
I have not tried that with zucchini. I have grown a lot of other vining squash on trellises though. My cousin grew zucchini vertically one year and had great success with it. I will have to try it one of these years. :)
Zucchini leaves are safe for chickens to eat. However it will depend on whether your chickens like them or not! My chickens aren't fans of the leaves, but will eat some of the zucchini fruit and seeds. It could be because larger zucchini leaves can be pretty bitter.
I don't seem to have a pruning problem. I am having a problem with my plants not producing any zuchinnis. There are 3-4 pitifully small ones, but that is all. Plant itself looks very healthy. Any ideas?
If you are getting healthy plants with big nice leaves, but no flowers, that could be a nitrogen issue. Too much nitrogen in the soil will produce a lot of greenery, but not so great for producing blossoms/fruits. If that is the case, one way to reduce nitrogen in the soil is to mulch around your plants. As the mulch breaks down it will use up some of the excess nitrogen in the soil.
I live in the south. Once the warm weather sets in, zucchini start to struggle. Leaves droop and turn yellow and brown, drying up and dying. No amount of watering helps. It's so frustrating.
Hi..i planted a lot of squash plants but they are just producing male flowers...is that normal?I've seen a few fruits and I've been hand pollinating them..i haven't seen a lot of bees around the plants..do you plant any flowers to attract bees?if so what flowers?thank you
I have a video on the male flowers too that you can check out. But squash plants will usually start putting off male flowers first, so it is normal. Females will come along after and then you will get a mix. To attract additional things to attract pollinators, you can do Dill for an herb, and I also plant zinnia, cosmos or wild flower mixes around the perimeter of the garden or put them in random areas in and around the beds.
@@oneseedoneworld thank you very much...also another question..alot of the young squash fruits are rotting..do you think it's cuz of too much rain?thank you
@@mystiquerose620 It may be more likely that it is a pollination issue. If a female flower isn't pollinated, the plant will start producing the fruit, but then it will turn yellow and start to rot. If you are getting a lot of rain, generally pollination from bees and other insects will be much lower and may require hand pollination. I know you mentioned you had been doing some hand pollinating already, but could have missed some. To try and enhance your hand pollinating, try taking a male flower and gently rubbing it on the interior of an open female flower. Best time to do this is earlier in the day/morning when they first open.
@@oneseedoneworld I appreciate your help and advice...thanks a lot.. I've been gardening for 4 yrs now..and I'm always learning and hoping to progress and continue learning...thanks again🌹😊🌺
There are a probably three different things that can cause the leaves to turn yellow. 1) Too much water 2) Insects 3) Disease Finding which one of these (or a combination) can help you resolve the issue. Have you had a lot of rain recently or have you been overwatering? Have you checked the undersides of the leaves for squash bugs, aphids, or other bad types of bugs? Have you noticed powdery mildew? Sometimes more than one of these things can cause the leaves to turn yellow, so pinpointing the problem will help determine a remedy.
Bees or other bugs that fly into flowers (male and then hopefully female flower to pollinate the fruit ). Ask your mum or dad about the birds and bees-at least watch the whole video.
The blossoms require pollination from bees and/or other insects. By pruning the leaves, the flowers are more visible to these pollinators that may be visiting your garden and can increase chances of getting the female blossoms pollinated so that they will produce squash.
I found this a little funny, "I plant them too close together, and then prune them" can save a lot of time by just planting them at appropriate spacing so that air flow happens without pruning. Just my 2 cents.
I usually try to explain reasons on why I'm doing specific tasks in the garden. You might want to try TikTok for shorts. But thanks for watching and your feedback!
