Vegetable Gardening help

[Anonymous]

I'm a newbie gardener; growing a few tomato and squash plants in containers. My zucchini plant seems only to be producing male flowers. Any idea what might be wrong? They get full sun, 6-7 hours a day.

[Anonymous]

I am having the same problem with my cucumbers and I posted the question on a gardening forum. The response I got was that because of the hot weather the bees are not as active and therefore not pollinating as they should be.

[Anonymous]

Home gardeners across much of the U.S. include zucchini in their summer garden. This summer squash thrives in sunny frost-free areas, producing abundance of cylindrical fruits within 60 days. One or two plants typically produce more fruit than a family of four can eat. When this plant fails to produce fruit many gardeners are left confused and wondering what they did wrong.
Male Blooms
Unlike other common vegetables such as beans and peas, zucchini produces both male and female blossoms. Because the male blossoms appear first to attract bees, your zucchini plants may produce blooms for a week or more that do not set fruit. The male bloom contains the pollen necessary to pollinate the female blooms, but does not produce fruit on its own. Male blooms appear on a long slender stem.
Female Blooms
Female blooms appear several days to a week or more after the male blooms. These blooms contain a swollen ovary at the base of the bloom that looks like a miniature zucchini. These blooms must be pollinated before the young fruit can grow.
Pollination
Bees visit the male bloom where pollen sticks to their bodies. When they visit the female blooms, the sticky anthem inside the blossom attracts the pollen. When the pollen is deposited in the female bloom, the young fruit swells and begins to grow. If the female bloom is not pollinated, the flower shrivels and the tiny fruit drops from the vine.
Lack of Pollination
Sometimes, a lack of pollination occurs and the zucchini plant fails to produce fruit. This can occur for several reasons. Lack of bees due to environmental factors such as the use of pesticides that has killed beneficial insects, prolonged rainy weather, which reduces bee activity, or high temperatures which also inhibit bee activity and cause pollen to degrade. All contribute to lack of pollination.

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/zucchini-flowers-but-not-produce-26167.html

[Anonymous]

Maybe it's mosquito squad

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am having the same problem with my cucumbers and I posted the question on a gardening forum. The response I got was that because of the hot weather the bees are not as active and therefore not pollinating as they should be.

That's crazy talk!!

My yard is full of bees. Try planting herbs that flower -- a pollinator favorite -- like oregano, thyme and calamint. Plant a couple of lesser calamints (nepeta calamentha) and when it blooms it will be covered in bees. Also gaura is a great bee attractant.

Bees slow down in cool weather, not hot.

As for females flowers, squash are very fickle plants! It's very common for the ladies show up later, about 2 weeks later. Be patient. There's not much else you can do.

[Anonymous]

Do you have a HOA where you live? Bee and HOAs don't get like each other.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you all for the responses. I am not sure why bees, or lack thereof, would affect the plant's ability to produce female flowers. Maybe the female flowers will show up later.
23:29: What is HOA? I am new to this.

[Anonymous]

How do you know if your flowers are male or female?

Also, my tomato isn't flowering. Why?

[Anonymous]

Bees are a serious issue when growing food. Without bees we will not have fruits and veggies. It is a global problem. Plant some flowering plants to attract them. What kind of tomatoes did you plant? Some produce one crop and others keep producing. Different varieties take longer to flower and produce fruit. One of my favorites is yellow pear toatoes. Once they start producing you will get hundreds of those tasty little things. Check out some garden forums/blog for recommendations on types of tomatoes.

[Anonymous]

PP again. Fertilizer will speed things along. You are probably trying to grow it organically but a lot of rain will take the nutrients out of the soil. If you don't want to fertilize put some compost on. I also add a little epson salt when planting and some worm castings.

[Anonymous]

pp again. Here is a link about the Epsom salt.
http://gardening.about.com/od/organicgardenin1/f/Epsom_Salts.htm

[Anonymous]

Forgot to ask the most important question. Are they getting 5 hours of full sun daily? That is the most important thing with tomatoes. Don't give up.

[Anonymous]

I am having the same problem with my zucchini -- also only one plant. Last year, same variety, I planted two and had no trouble. My tomatoes and cucumbers are producing insanely so it's not a lack of bees in the area. My zucchini plant is enormous, covering about 5 square feet, and gets tons of sunlight, and has lots of flowers -- but no fruit. From the description another PP posted, it appears the flowers are all male. It's been doing this for a month now. I've pretty much given up.