why do my squash blossoms fall off without turning into squash?

Question

Could it have to do with polination? although this seems to happen to my plants even outside. Would it be possible for me to pollinate the plant by hand?

Answer 1

If the blossoms are not pollinated they fall off without turning into squash.
Yes! You can pollinate by hand.

Gently rub the pollen of the male blossom onto the inside stigma of the female flower. Make sure to come in contact with all segments of the stigma. You can leave the stamen inside the female flower, but It's not necessary.

At the bottom of the blossom of a female is a tiny vegetable or fruit (ovary). If the blossom is male there is nothing there. Pollination will be more successful if several male flowers are used to pollinate one female flower. Pollination needs to be made to all segments of the female flower. Do this before 10 a.m. because pollination carried out at the end of the morning during warm weather has very little chance of success because the pollen will have heated up and fermented and will no longer be viable.

Pollinating squash by hand video:
http://lubbock.tamu.edu/ipm/AgWeb/videos/peopleplace/wmv/squashPollination.html

Since squash belong to the same family as pumpkins, this site illustrates & gives directions on how to pollinate your flowers:
http://www.pumpkinnook.com/howto/pollen.htm

Make sure you don't water overhead early in the morning so the male flowers can have a chance to pollinate the female flowers.
Male flowers are short lived. They will open up before dawn and will close completely by mid-morning.The male flowers possess both pollen and nectar, the female flowers only nectar. If the plants are watered from overhead early in the day, that may prevent all further pollination for that day. Everything gets washed off of the short-lived male flowers. Replacement flowers do not open then until the following morning.

There can be other reasons why blossoms don't set fruit & fall off. Sometimes, even if they were pollinated... the blossoms can also abort from the stress of high day and night time temperatures. Also, extreme temperatures during flowering... below 55 degrees or above 85 degrees... can also reduce fruit set. Too much shade or not enough light, plant disease, pest problems & even too much nitrogen can cause poor fruit set.

Good luck! Enjoy the video :) Hope it helps.

Answer 2

Squash Blossom Drop

Answer 3

You have hit the proverbial nail on the head - they're not getting pollinated. Sometimes mother nature requires a little help from us gardeners. Get a soft bristled brush (soft round cosmetic brushes are excellent). Dust the inside of a male flower or two, then dust the female flowers. The females are the ones that have what appears to be a tiny squash starting to grow just below the petals - that's exactly what it is; it just won't develop any further without pollination. I'm including a link with pictures of the male and female flowers (the link with pumpkins is on purpose, as they are actually just big squash). Good luck!

Answer 4

Squash produce male and female flowers on the same plant. Male flowers obviously don't produce squash, females do. Female flowers will have miniature squash beneath the blossom.

Answer 5

Wow this 'question' and it's 'answers' should remind use how valuable our honey bees are and what would happen if they died out. All the migrants and peasant workers in the world could never get the job of hand pollinating done. Time would come when everyone would need a nanny, cook, housekeeper, maid, butler, chauffeur, gardener and a dozen pollinators. That should keep the INS and Border Patrol busy. RScott

Answer 6

Thank God male and female blossoms have been adequately described! AND also several answers on what to do about rotting etc and hand polinating.! I am in the midst of worrying over them every morning. Now I can spring ahead and have both the fruit and blossoms to stuff and bake!

Answer 7

That is a sign of a pollenation issue. Yes you can pollenate them by hand. We used to do it with our pumpkins all the time. Depending on the plant there are male and female flowers. The male is usually on a longer stem and doesn't have a "bulb" at the base of the flower. We used an artist's brush.

Answer 8

pollination could be the reason. unpollinated flowers will not develop into fruits so the development will stop there & fall-off. hand pollination is advised. get a male flower, cut half the length of the petals & brush the elongated part inside the middle of the female flower. you can also leave the male flower upside down over the female flower. other reason could be fungal infection, or sometimes nutritional deficiency.

Answer 9

Here it's the weather. It got too hot too quick and before the fruit set some of it aborted. Don't give up. The bees could have fertilzed some of them. It happened here two years in a row for me. I have very few pumpkins.

Answer 10

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it could be any of those things, but you could try self polinating. just take the tip of a pencil and stick it briefly into the heart of each flower. it still may not work, but also remember that the fruits come in behind the blooms. check for a little growth before you mess with it too much.