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Hello from CT USA!
This is my first year gardening. I have several different plants but my main concern, currently, is that my yellow summer squash are beggining to bloom. However, none of the males have opened. They are just green buds. Morning after morning, I helplessly watch my squash go by. I read up and learned to hand pollinate, but to do this I had to pluck and open a green, immature male. The pollen inside it was yellow; but it was wet and clumpy unlike typical flower pollen. I'm afraid the males have not yet sufficiently matured.
Additionally, I pollinated by rubbing the pollen on the females with my fingers. The females wilted slightly shortly after.
Are my males matured enough ? Is this common? WILL they ever open? Is something wrong? Did I damage the females by touching them with my fingers and not using using a paintbrush or q-tip? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Any shared experience with immature males would be great.
Thanks in advance,
BMO
You get 7 male flowers for each female flower, don't pollinate by hand, they grow that way. The male squash blooms fried are a delicacy, ESP while waiting fruit to mature. Do not plant zucchini and yellow simmer squash together or they find a way to cross pollinate and change and abort, do watch for a blackish fungus or too much humidity and water to rot them, do not water every day, soak em and let em dry out, good luck
I am having a similar problem except my male flowers open just don't have any females. The few I did have I hand pollinated with a q-tip. I was told to wait and they will come lol...oh and also to start using liquid master bloom every two weeks. From what the nursery told me was it will help with flower and fruit production. So that is my plan for Monday. Good luck:)
