I planted five squash at the same location in my garden where I had a superb crop last year. This year, I'm get lots of blossoms, good growth, but no fruit. Why, and what can I do?
The squash family can be a little whimsical when it comes to flowering. Often the first flowers to show up are male and they serve no useful purpose until the female flowers arrive (on average) several weeks later.
Even once they do arrive, squash often abort the first fruit, so if you notice that your young squash are yellowing and dropping off, don't get too excited. You will eventually get healthy fruit.
It's rare for a squash plant not to produce fruit, so don't be too concerned that you haven't seen any yet.
Sometimes nutrient deficiencies can cause a plant to fail to form fruit, but there are usually obvious signs of distress when this is the case, so if you have plants that are healthy in every way except the formation of fruit, this likely isn’t a concern.
Also, flowers that haven't been properly pollinated either won't form fruit or will form fruit that's deformed. However, that's rarely a problem with squash since they display huge flowers which make excellent targets for pollinators.
If you're worried about improper pollination, you can always do the job yourself with a paint brush or cotton swap. Just transfer fresh pollen from a male flower to a female flower (the females are the ones with the bulb at the base) first thing in the morning on the day the flower opens.
Otherwise, everything should work out fine.
If you have any questions or comments, please send them to me at vanessa@gardenmuse.ca.
Originally published in the Creston Valley Advance.
