Simulating Plant-Sex, Impersonating Bees, Why Don't My Squash Plants Actually Grow Squash?
Plant Sex
Squash comes in so many beautiful varieties. There are zucchinnis, pumpkins, yellow squash, acorn, butternut, spaghetti. They come in different shapes and sizes and flourish in different growing seasons, but they generally have similar planting and care guidelines. They grow on a vine and can spread out quite far. Make sure to have plenty of space for them. Each plant also produces a prolific amount of squash. Don’t be surprised if you end up with too much and end up having to give most of it away. They have both male and female flowers. The female flowers are easy to identify by looking for a tiny squash below the blossoms. Male flowers are borne atop a bare stem.
Why Don’t I Have any Squash Growing?
Do you have many flowers growing on your plant, but no squash seem to be forming? Don’t be alarmed if your plants aren’t growing any squash. This is a very easy problem to fix.... You just need to perform a little simulated Plant Sex. Female plants which require pollination by the male flowers have the help of the wonderful bees, dragonflies, ladybugs and other pollinating insects. But sometimes, these helpful garden critters just aren't around to do the job, and so a little human-pollination assistance is required. As stated, squash have both male and female flowers on the plant. The female flowers need to be pollinated by the male flowers in order to form the squash. If no squash is forming, this means that the female flower was not pollinated by a bee or insect. Luckily, it is very easy to hand pollinate. There are several ways that you can go about doing this. One way is to remove the male flower and rub it on the female flowers. You can also take a q tip or paint brush, and get the pollen off of the male flower and into the female flower. You can also just give the plant several good shakes and get the pollen moving that way.
So the next time you see those beautiful squash blossoms, but notice that squash are nowhere to be found, you need to just turn on the Barry White tunes, grab your paintbrush, and get busy friends....
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