What could be the reason my calabacita squash is growing fruit 2-3 inches and then dying off? New to gardening, plant is putting new female flowers out every day/every other day.
by drftlol
What could be the reason my calabacita squash is growing fruit 2-3 inches and then dying off? New to gardening, plant is putting new female flowers out every day/every other day.
by drftlol
2 Comments
It’s basic plant reproduction.
The fruit has a female flower at the end. If the flower isn’t pollinated then the fruit shrivels up and dies.
You can hand pollinate with any male squash flower (don’t save the seeds as you don’t know whether the cross would be edible, but the fruit you’d produce now would be perfectly fine to eat.)
Grab a male flower, peel back the petals and gently rub the center of the male flower against the parts in the center of the female flower.
Viola! Reproduction.
If they’re closed up, probably not. The lower left one may have been pollinated (by a bee, perhaps) but the upper left one doesn’t look long for this world.
It’s totally typical and frustrating that you initially get a ton of one sex of flowers at first. The plant will eventually figure it out and you’ll be flooded with squash.
Looks like a healthy plant. Be sure to trim away any leaves that are touching the ground.