Zucchini: I am the only person who cannot grow it

I know, you're all going to have a good chuckle on me over this but I cannot grow zucchini.

Last year, I planted 4 plants at the end of March. I'm in Zone 9a or 9b (on the side of a mountain so that might affect that some). They were the most beautiful things, lush and green and like a mini jungle! Then the fruts started and I'm like: "OH BOY!" Then they just shriveled up and turned yellow when very small. I got one teeny green zucchini because I picked it when it was little and I ate it right there in the garden. (desperate sounding I know but I was at that point).

Then it got too hot and the spider mites went beserk and I yanked them all up and threw them away.

Don't know what happened. Everyone I told about this got a good chuckle, since zucchini is supposed to be the most prolific thing in the garden.

I was able to grow tomatoes all through the heat and picked from May and even had a tomato on Christmas day. Same thing with the Japanese eggplant and my okra was still going strong in November until a gopher decided to have it's way with the entire row. The rabbit ate my lettuce I was growing in a pot back in April.

But it was a lot of fun! And we did get a lot of food.

I just don't understand about the zucchini disaster. Maybe I watered it too much. It was in a raised bed. I have to water about every day when it's hot here because the temps can go from high eighties to 114 F at times. Last summer was mild compared to most summers, usually around 98 to 102 or so in the shade. Spring is ideal for veggie gardening.

Simple, You had great plants and the fruits aborted, means lack of pollination. squash are insect pollinated, even if you have insects like bees, many times thet will not bother with a couple of squash plants. Honeybees in particular like to work one type of flower at a time. So if a flower bed or flowering tree is making them a better offer, the squash are of luck. You have two choices. Hand pollinate, which is quite easy with zukes, or plant a parthenocarpic cultivar like Surething or Partenon. It is a common problem for backyard gardeners and you will find a mulitude of how to articles and postings on hand pollination.
This one is pretty good http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/gourds/msg0611545713356.html?32

Thanks so much Farmerdill. I wasn't even going to try anymore zucchini this year, but now I will.

Hand pollinating is the way I will have to go because my space is so limited.

This was a fascinating article, and with visual aids, too!
I've not experienced problems with pollination of squash, but I truly appreciate the information. I may need it down the road, or with another crop.
Thanks so much for sharing it with us, Farmerdill!
Pugz - if you venture into squash growing again and use this method, please post your results / thoughts: I would like to know the outcome.

Squash readily cross pollinates. If you want to save squash seed then the linked post is very useful.

Zeuspaul

I'm another hapless zucchini grower - I can grow anything BUT. I can even grow pattypan, pumpkin, etc., just not zucchini, which is fine for my family, who can't stand anything resembling squash, but always irritates me. I'll have to get into that article on hand pollination, or find a different cultivar - but I really wanted to let Pugzley know that at least one other gardener has had no luck at all with zucchini.

Keep trying!
Our summers are typically cool & wet, which messes with my attempts at Tomatoes every year. But even with limited success, the first one you eat is always the sweetest & puts a smile on your face!

You're not the only one who has had nothing but trouble with Zucchini. And I have gotten to have pretty good results with tomatoes and peppers.

I planted Zucchini in the spring, and got nothing. The plants looked great, then they declined really fast. The plants just looked like they gave up. I have also tried them in the fall. I didn't get even one fruit out of either time.

Last September I planted 2 kinds of zukes using some seed from 2007 and some new yellow squash seeds. The zukes germinated poorly but I had 3 beautiful plants. I picked 5 zukes and gave them to my neighbor because she likes them and I owed her a favor. All of a sudden the fruit started aborting and I never got a single one for myself. The yellow squash did very well up until frost. This is a big mystery for me since they were near each other and if one got pollinated, so should the other.

my grandfather use to say it time to go to the garden and fornicate my squash well he was hand pollinating and then use them when they are about 8 inches long if you want continuous supply because if you let them get real big the plant thinks its done its job of providing seeds. then the plant starts to die.

do not forget to add lots of compost to your zucchini plants since they grow big and need lot of compost to keep them fed

Yes you are right about needing to keep them picked and well fed. I have new seeds and hope to do better this spring. If they start aborting, I'll start hand pollinating. I'm using heirloom varieties and hope to save my own seeds. I want freedom from the grocery store as much as possible.

dont wait just do it the male flower is thin behind the bloom and the female has a bump so take the male carefully take the petals off and use what looks like a penis and just rub it on the female which has four little bumps inside the flower one male will do all the females use a fresh male and looks every day for new females and always use a new make it may only need to be done twice a week but check everyday if you are like me you check your garden everyday anyway

mona

I am so tempted to make a joke about this but I don't want to offend anyone. :)

I'll give it another try with the zucchinis and will report back my results.

I have hope again!

I find that in a garden that has accumilated the usual bugs and diseases that zucchini will die a quick over-nite death. Now that isn't so much from lack of picking them small. Occasionally I have had them last until frost or nearly so. By then they are 6 feet long rather than a bush.

Mine continued to make many male flowers but the few females with the little ones would just rot and fall off. The plants looked fine up until frost. Farmer Dill said that cool weather causes them make males more. The yellow squash was only 6 feet away and they did fine. I wonder if whatever was pollinating late in the year had a preference for the yellow.

twiggybuds, It could be that though bees, ants, and cuke bettles do pollinating and for me, I never seem to have much trouble with zucchini pollination. Sometimes when you have only one or two plants, it is hard to get both a male and female blossom on the same day!!

That makes a lot of sense Indy. There were only 3 plants and they weren't together because of poor germination. I feel like an idiot now. I bet that was it. Well it won't get me again. Even if the bees get to them first, I'll do them again for good measure. Thanks.

ok well the female is the only one that produces little ones so that was all your female flowers just look inside the flower it is four bumps the male has a penis man it is easy to pollinate since they look so different. if you have problems with bugs start from seed with a two liter plastic bottle cut top and bottom so you have a tube push tube into the grown about four inches plant seeds inside let plant grow this way till it gets to be a good size then cut out the tube always works for me I also use them for tomatoes and peppers that way you can transplants pepper two weeks earlier tomatoes also since tubes keep the heat for overnight. they stop most bugs and cut worms

We've had a good harvest with only one zucchini plant.....until this past year. The nights would cool down well into summer. I'm wondering if putting some fleece over the poorly producing zucchini plants might warm the plant up enough to let the lady blossoms loose?

The male blossoms are better for stuffing though. So if you don't get fruit, try making stuffed squash blossoms.

scicciarella I have to say that your easy summarization of hand pollenating was SO helpful to me!! Just rub male and female together and your done! You helped me quickly understand it in a way that 5 video tutorials really hadn't. All that taping and untaping had me confused. Thanks for the help!

I can sympathize because I've had more than my share of failure with supposed veggie "easys", but we do have a June/July joke that involves leaving zucchini in friends' mailboxes. I expect a dozen for each plant. Green beans are a close second for pulling the flag on the neighbors' mailbox. When you get this figured out, DM me. I should write a zucchini cook book.

I agree with Farmerdill re: pollination. Though small wasps pollinate much of my garden, I rely on bumble bees and honey bees for squashes. They love basils much more though and will spend all their time there when I plant them close. Look and see what's growing nearby for clues. Maybe there are distractions?
Laurel

my sibling and other relatives shop in my garden all summer they say its the best deal on vegies since they are free hahahah

well I tell them do remember I will call on you when I need some help with the manure lol

this past summer was the worst summer since I have been gardening the tomatoes had to much water in them and nothing tasted right the garden was muchy till mid august hoping for a better season this year