| Author | Content |
okieinalaska
Eagle River, AK
(Zone 4a)
June 15, 2009
03:22 AM Post #6688977
| Have a quick question. I have two female flowers blooming, the first flowers of the season. There are many males flowers but they are not quite blooming yet. It might even be another 3-5 days or so...is that going to be too late for these two particular female flowers to get pollinated? I know there will be others, but would love to have squash as soon as possible.
Thanks, : ) |
stephanietx
Fort Worth, TX
(Zone 8a)
June 15, 2009
07:49 AM Post #6689244
| Yes, they'll need to be flowering on the same day. |
okieinalaska
Eagle River, AK
(Zone 4a)
June 15, 2009
07:20 PM Post #6692490
| Bummer, that is what I thought. Thank you for the reply. |
jannz2
Pilot Point, TX
June 15, 2009
07:41 PM Post #6692588
| You can open up one of the male flowers...if it's mature enough and just happens to be closed -- then do the manual pollination of your female blossoms. |
okieinalaska
Eagle River, AK
(Zone 4a)
June 15, 2009
11:15 PM Post #6693619
| I thought about that but they don't look as mature. Plus checked them tonight and the female flowers are already closed, do they close for the night or closed and dead?
|
stephanietx
Fort Worth, TX
(Zone 8a)
June 16, 2009
08:31 AM Post #6694608
| In my garden, the squash flowers open in the wee hours of daylight and are closed up well before noon, so I have to act early and fast if I want to try pollinating them. |
Qinx
Fredericksburg, VA
June 16, 2009
08:35 AM Post #6694622
| Mine open before dawn and close mid-morning. I have to be out there early with a Q-Tip or Brush to hand pollinate mine. |
MissJestr
Kingman, AZ
(Zone 7a)
June 16, 2009
02:27 PM Post #6696340
| Question, I have flowers from guords that are opening up when the squash open up and there are bees visiting both plants... Is that ok?? |
Qinx
Fredericksburg, VA
June 16, 2009
02:55 PM Post #6696445
| Provided you don't want to try to save the seeds MissJestr it will be fine. |
Farmerdill
Augusta, GA
(Zone 8a)
 June 16, 2009
03:07 PM Post #6696490
| Depends on the gourd, many of the small ornamental gourds are squash ( C. pepo),. The hard shell gourds used in crafts and as edibles are Lagenaria siceraria and will not cross with squash or provide pollen for their fertilization. These will have white blossoms. |
MissJestr
Kingman, AZ
(Zone 7a)
June 16, 2009
03:09 PM Post #6696497
| My gourds flowers are yellow, I dont eat them, and I did not plant them, they grow wild out here. |
MissJestr
Kingman, AZ
(Zone 7a)
June 16, 2009
03:11 PM Post #6696509
| here is a pix of them 
Click the image for an enlarged view.
|
okieinalaska
Eagle River, AK
(Zone 4a)
June 19, 2009
10:36 PM Post #6713153
| How long does it take unpollinated flowers and the ovary part to fall off? (the part that would have been a squash falls off if it's unpollinated right?)
|
june_nmexico
Albuquerque, NM
(Zone 7a)
June 20, 2009
01:25 AM Post #6713670
| The unpollinated females usually shrivel up in a few days.
I just snip them off so they don't attract ants.
|
okieinalaska
Eagle River, AK
(Zone 4a)
June 20, 2009
11:38 PM Post #6717507
| I took this photo today, it's been more than a few days...Unless a neighbor has a squash plant somewhere I don't know how it could have got pollinated. -I don't know of any neighbors with a garden btw.
Should I get excited if it hasn't shriveled by now? Maybe I should be asking "Whose your daddy?" |
okieinalaska
Eagle River, AK
(Zone 4a)
June 20, 2009
11:39 PM Post #6717511
| Forgot to add photo 
Click the image for an enlarged view.
|
june_nmexico
Albuquerque, NM
(Zone 7a)
June 21, 2009
01:38 AM Post #6717775
| ROTFL
| Quoted: | | Maybe I should be asking "Whose your daddy?" |
|
stephanietx
Fort Worth, TX
(Zone 8a)
June 21, 2009
08:55 AM Post #6718260
| Most of my plants seem to get pollinated by ants and butterflies or moths. I've seen a few bees in the veggie garden, but not many. Have tons of little bitty ants and lots of butterflies flitting around. |
okieinalaska
Eagle River, AK
(Zone 4a)
June 21, 2009
02:18 PM Post #6719367
| Stephanietx, I didn't have any male flowers on my plants blooming, I only had two females. The males still aren't open yet but getting ready too.
And if ants do some pollinating I should be ok as I have tons of ants. : ( They have taken up in my compast pile.
|
HoneybeeNC
Charlotte, NC
(Zone 7b)
June 22, 2009
10:57 AM Post #6722717
| okieinalaska - I was watching the bumble bees over the weekend working the melons, and noticed they would push their way into the unopened flowers - from this I assume there is pollen available even when the flowers are not fully opened. |
MissJestr
Kingman, AZ
(Zone 7a)
June 22, 2009
01:00 PM Post #6723302
| Hee HEEEE Well okie, did you find out who's the daddy?? |
jannz2
Pilot Point, TX
June 23, 2009
07:51 AM Post #6726686
| Hey Stephanie... I don't have any bees either...and my neighbor has a bee hive. Of course THEIR garden is doing wonderfully. The only squash that is doing the best is the 'Round Mexican Squash'. I've had to manually pollinate most of the plants I've got. |
stephanietx
Fort Worth, TX
(Zone 8a)
June 23, 2009
10:57 AM Post #6727299
| I've pretty much given up on hand pollinating and have decided to let nature, the bees, ants, and butterflies do their thing. We'll see what happens! |
okieinalaska
Eagle River, AK
(Zone 4a)
June 23, 2009
01:40 PM Post #6727952
| Nope, still don't know who the daddy is, LOL. But the squash seem to be doing fine. They look pretty much the same. I have to think they would have shriveled by now if they were going to... |
jamibad
Flagler Beach, FL
(Zone 9b)
June 24, 2009
04:32 PM Post #6733267
| how do I go about this hand pollinating thing, I have loads of squash but I don't see any squash yet, I have loads of flowers on the squash and 1 more question, how to tell male and female, I'm headed to my garden to look. Thanks for some new information, wow, just good to know things. Thanks everyone |
Farmerdill
Augusta, GA
(Zone 8a)
June 24, 2009
04:38 PM Post #6733309
| All females will be sitting on defined baby squash. Males just have skinny stems. 
Click the image for an enlarged view.
|
june_nmexico
Albuquerque, NM
(Zone 7a)
June 24, 2009
08:05 PM Post #6734144
| You can take a small artist's paint brush and gather
the pollen, then brush it lightly on the inside of the female
blossom. It doesn't take much so whatever you transfer
will be fine
|
jamibad
Flagler Beach, FL
(Zone 9b)
June 26, 2009
05:08 PM Post #6742558
| thanks for the info, I'll be out in my garden doing this, as I do have 1 nice size squash, and have seen others rot into black mush, I didn't realize why, this is my first time planting them, and I have several different kind in the garden, this one is an acorn squash, I think, as I just sometimes eating something throw the seed in and see what happens. the others i used seed from the packets. as soon as i download the recent pics I took I'll post a picture of the squash. Have a great !! |
okieinalaska
Eagle River, AK
(Zone 4a)
June 26, 2009
10:58 PM Post #6743936
| One of mine is going to shrivel up. I gave it a little squeeze and it's squishy. The one in my photo above though feels fine.
Earlier in the week I had another female flower and no males again. I tried to open a male to hand pollinate but it just wasn't ready yet.
: (
|
jamibad
Flagler Beach, FL
(Zone 9b)
June 26, 2009
11:33 PM Post #6744062
| OK, here's the squash, and I guess I should have taken pictures of the flowers too, as i'm out there on the ground with a very small paint brush in the rain we had trying to pollinate plants, LOL, too funny, glad my hubby wasn't home to question as to what I was doing, as in maybe tryin gto paint the fruit on, hehehehe, too funny, but the truth is, I didn't know what I was doing, so I guess if I show pictures of what I think is a male, and what I think is a female, and than go from there, I may understand what it is supposed to be doing.Some of the flowers have a baby squash, very tiny, and I did see some flowers with the thin stem, no baby squash, I just want to make sure I have this correct. The plant I'm showing in the pic has some new 1" size squash starting so maybe it's the bird and the bee thing already happening, and won't need my help. Also can you do this with cucumbers, and any other veg plant, I understand some plants have too small of a blossom to try this with, but just wondering. OK, here's the picture, and a few others, of things I have taken off the plant already or still on, I pulled a nice size cucumber and never got a picture of it on the plant before i pulled it :( Till the next time, thanks for the help, Ciao, Jami 
Click the image for an enlarged view.
|
jamibad
Flagler Beach, FL
(Zone 9b)
June 26, 2009
11:35 PM Post #6744067
| here's another picture of bush string beans 
Click the image for an enlarged view.
|
jamibad
Flagler Beach, FL
(Zone 9b)
June 26, 2009
11:44 PM Post #6744094
| you'll laugh over this, before i thought about taking pictures, I already had pulled the fruit and here it is on a dish, LOL , this would be the first tomato, the first cucumber, the first radishes, and a banana pepper. I think there is some basil, and a hot pepper. 
Click the image for an enlarged view.
|
jamibad
Flagler Beach, FL
(Zone 9b)
June 26, 2009
11:45 PM Post #6744099
| a closer look at the string beans 
Click the image for an enlarged view.
|
jamibad
Flagler Beach, FL
(Zone 9b)
June 26, 2009
11:46 PM Post #6744106
| oh, I forgot, here is a picture of the 1"-2" baby squash, I have 2 of these starting. 
Click the image for an enlarged view.
|
jamibad
Flagler Beach, FL
(Zone 9b)
June 26, 2009
11:50 PM Post #6744116
| yellow banana pepper, and this is the second one, I pulled the first a few days ago, and never got a picture of it. 
Click the image for an enlarged view.
|
jamibad
Flagler Beach, FL
(Zone 9b)
June 26, 2009
11:54 PM Post #6744128
| a mixture of squash and cucumber vines, it's hard keeping them trained, and next year I'll know how to plant these buggers, this was a first, and it's hard to tell what's what, and I also have squash, the yellow long neck, and some green growing, that are going straight up ?? All of this is new to me, but I'm learning, and keeping everything healthy as I learn. 
Click the image for an enlarged view.
|
jamibad
Flagler Beach, FL
(Zone 9b)
June 26, 2009
11:56 PM Post #6744149
| the hot peppers 
Click the image for an enlarged view.
|
jamibad
Flagler Beach, FL
(Zone 9b)
June 27, 2009
12:01 AM Post #6744175
| And the last , some tomato's, and all of this being my first time. Sorry about getting away from the squash question, and high jacking this thread, I just got excited and love DG, so I'll go start my own first timer experience blog, maybe more in tune with what we're to do on here, I'm still learning and do go back and read the terms and rules quite often, I have to learn to tag, and than post in the correct forum, this way I can be in compliance with all of DG. Thanks everyone, this is the best site on the net for sure!!!!!! Ciao, jami 
Click the image for an enlarged view.
|
locakelly
Phoenix, AZ
(Zone 9a)
June 27, 2009
12:08 AM Post #6744199
| Hijacking happens often here - lol.
Nice job, Jami!
Kelly |
okieinalaska
Eagle River, AK
(Zone 4a)
June 27, 2009
02:44 AM Post #6744480
| That's alright. Great pictures! I am so jealouos of your harvest already. I only have a few green tomatos and one squash not ready to pick yet. Harvested only three small heads of broccoli and some lettuce. |
