Why can't I grow squash?

clematislover writes: I too have had the problem of no squash developing. There are both male and female flowers. I just pick off a male flower and strip off the petals and pollinate the female flower by rubbing the middle of the flowers together. I did have a problem one year when no male flowers developed until late in August, then there wasn't ime for the squash to grow before we had a frost. If you become the pollinator, you know you will have squash, if you have both male and female flowers.
Posted: 10:04 am on July 22nd

BasilBaby writes: Okay - I'm doing the ronniejo and it is quite enjoyable, and I have a pomegranate tree planted near the squash with a ton of bees on it and my cherry toms are growing like weeds. Some squash is coming through but some are still shriveling and dieing. Also my leaves are pretty dried up. Hubby's thinks it's not getting enough water - well when I increase irrigation (by me) I get more loss. Still looking for your advice.

Thanks to rhowdy for your comment.

Thanks very much! Happy summer.
Posted: 3:49 pm on June 22nd

rhowdy writes: Yep, it's a pollination problem. Follow what ronniejo suggested and you should be getting fruits glalore.

Have fun!
Posted: 5:14 pm on June 10th

BasilBaby writes: Thanks all - 1st it's not a rain problem. I live in the SF bay area and yes, don't water leaves. This year hubby cut out the bottom of the wine barrel and that seems to help a bit. ronniejo - your solution sounds promising and fun. I'll start today.
Posted: 5:55 pm on June 7th

mcfar73 writes: I have had similar problems when there is significant rain fall through out the season. Seems as if the blooms do not tolerate excessive rains. I will also water under the leaves, not on top of of them. Not a cure but will help prevent the smaller ones from rotting.
Posted: 2:19 pm on June 7th

ChrisMcLaughlin writes: Exactly! The little fruit at the base of the flowers tell you that those are female flowers and they need to be pollinated. If not, they shrivel up and die. We like to think that mother nature will send the cavalry (bees and the like) but, sometimes, we have to lend a helping hand!
Posted: 3:07 am on June 7th

ronniejo writes: I had the same problem years ago-came up with this solution, and have always had more squash than we could use ever since! Study the blossoms carefully. There will be some with a stamen covered in pollen-looks like a big fuzzy brush in the middle of the blossom. These are the male flowers. The female flowers have what kind of looks like several fingers pinched together. There really aren't a lot of insects that pollinate squash with any regularity, so you have to act like a bee-just take a clean finger and gather pollen on it by rubbing it on the stamen, then transfer the pollen to the middle of the 'pinched together' pistils(Spelling is shaky-)
rub the pollen in, and you'll soon have a squash. Just do this every day you see new blossoms-there will be more male than female, and they open at somewhat different times of the day, but you can carefully separate the petals and pollinate the females. The other good news is you can cross pollinate squash too, if you have more than one variety growing, as long as they aren't new hybrids. Hope it helps!
Posted: 9:06 pm on June 3rd