I found this volunteer plant and have been taking care of it. It's been IDed as a summer squash of some kind.
It's been giving me flowers but no fruits. Questions:
1) Do these have male and female flowers?
2) Do female flowers usually come out later than the male ones?
3) Would special fertilizer help speed things along?
It has huge green leaves and lots of flower buds but I haven't seen any female-looking ones.
Great question, I have the same problem(s). I hope there is a positive answer to # 3, if not all of them. Also, how can you tell the difference between male and female flowers? Good Luck Quyen, I'll be checking back real soon. Danny
on my pumpkins femaleflowers are identifed by a swelling at the basof theflwer... the ovary and what will become the pumpkin. i don't know if it's the same for squashes.
1.Yes; females will have miniature squash behind the blossom.
2. On many cultivars the males precede the females by a couple of weeks.
3. No
I grow several types of summer squash. All of them started getting their male flowers about 2 weeks before the female flowers. They definitely have both types. The male flower has a large anther with a lot of pollen on it. The female flowers have kind of similar central structures but it splits into three "lobes" and they're sticky. Sometimes I hand pollinate from the male to female flower. The female flowers have what look like baby squash/zucchini at the base of them. It depends on the type of squash as to what form the baby veggie will take. My pattypan squash are like little yellow flying saucers, about 1 inch diameter. My zucchini are about 1.5 inches long in baby form. If they don't get pollinated, they fall off. If they do get pollinated, they get bigger pretty soon after forming and will make you summer squash. Your plant is kind of small compared to mine but I see it has a flower already. I would say give it another week or 2 for female flowers to come out. Hope this helps. I will try to remember to take pictures of male/female flowers on my plants at home to show what I mean. A picture's worth a thousand words!
This link will show you what a female flower looks like.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/43638/
Okay . I guess I'll have to wait. But in the mean time, what am I supposed to tell this guy? He wants to know why there are no women at this party.
Quyen, your squash is suffering from powdery mildew, those white spots on the leaves. I am in SouthernCali as well and having the same problem with my squash, no squash because of the powdery mildew.
Oh, no. What can I do now? Is it too late to spray it?
I hope its not to late to spray. I have been using a neem oil concentrate in a spray bottle. I was told to use it every 3 days. I am trying desperately to save mine. I started them from seed. The nursery that I go to Moneta's in Gardena says that everyone in Southern Cali is suffer from this and other fungus.
This message was edited Jul 20, 2005 7:10 PM
I'll look fo the neem oil. In the mean time, I'll be using the baking soda spray. I just cut off about half of the leaves on mine. The ones left are still healthy looking enough. Let's hope this works.
I've used whole milk to get rid of the powdery mildew, something in it, kills it. I had a supply of goatmilk forever, now I have a friend who gives me the milk. Neem oil will burn the leaves if it's still on the leaves when the sun comes out and gets hot. I 've burned leaves so many times. That I quit using it on anything. But themilk works. Goats milk, cow milk, if it's fresh it's better. I can't say weather the store bought milk works or not. Never used it.
kathy
I found three female flowers on my squash today. Hooray!!! They've not opened yet but I will be watching and waiting to pollinate them.
I've used the baking soda spray and it's been great. I just have to spray it in the evening to avoid the leaf burn. Will try the whole milk when I can get my hands on some. It's hard to find fresh whole milk in the city.
No fat milk will work just the same. I use it on my huge collection of houseplants when they start getting the mildew. I have also used it succesfully on my roses outside. The nofat milk doesn't seem to leave a residue or smell (from the fats) like the other stuff can.
Good luck. :)
I have some zucchni and squash plants. I have only gotten about 5 zucchini and 1 squash. WHat could be wrong ?I see all kinds of blossom .
Thanks for the tip, wildflower525. Would reconstituted powdered nonfat work or does it have to be fresh?
Straight milk or diluted?
I wonder if a strong chamomille tea would work for the fungus?
-Juli
answers to the last two questions in the organic gardening forum ,but i'll save you a trip (this time) :-)
http://www.ghorganics.com/page15.html
What a great link. Thanks, TamaraFaye.
concerning milk, Baa in the OG Forum said it is bad to use, go to thread "5 organic essential tools" wow, i had no idea...
UPDATE
Still have problems with the mildew and have to keep on top of it with baking soda spray every 2-3 days. The milk spray didn't seem to work for me. Had to cut off a whole bunch of leaves. The older ones seem more prone to the mildew. I also lost 3 female flowers.
Now for the good news.
My plant didn't stay contained in the container but...it has 1 squash now. Here's a pic of it a few days ago. I just don't know what kind it is. Whadda ya think?
And this pic was taken today. It's bigger than a golf ball.
looks great! i am no good at id-ing though...
IF it is a summer squash, it is one of the round zuchinnis. I believe you stated earlier that it is a volunteer, so there is no way to give it a positive ID. An F1 Eight Ball would be much darker, but F2 could be the light color. Two round zuchs that I grow: http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/61055/
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/92339/index.html
Of course if it turns out to be a winter squash all bets are off.
Ohhhhh! It could be a winter squash. The stem is thick and long, not at all like the ones on your zuchs. The coloring it different, too. The plant is also spreading, not bushy. It 'climbed' out of the barrel that it was in.
Perhaps it's a watermelon?
Not watermelon; Totally different type of stem. Wrong leaves too.
It's a..........PUMPKIN!!!
I guess one of the seeds went a stray last October when the kids and I were carving pumpkins.
Just a slight comment on lack of squash being produced....the pollination is almost 100% dependent on the insect world...especially honey bees and similar insects. If you don't have a good local population, then you won't get many squash. I have the same problem here in Florida...so much insecticide of every description. So I get a feather or small tipped art type paint brush and goose the male blooms and get the pollen then stick the brush into female blossom and rub her fruit area(use your imagination...I forget the technical names...lol) This results in a significantly greater production. Do it every couple of days, depending on how often you have a new female bloosom open..also, you hopefully will have help from some of the local insects. Hope this helps.
JIM
You can actually pop off a male flower by the stem, peel off the petals and you'll have your own pre-made pollen applicator... sort of like a green and yellow Q-tip.
