Pollination and squashes

[sunloving]

Hello all, because my tunnel is on a slope the space under my benches is only shaded when the sun is directly overhead and this leaves me with lovely planting bays.

I'm very temped to put the melons in the bays near the doors , because these do need pollinators to visit but am wondering about butternut squash and courgettes. Does anyone know if these require pollination to set the fruit? If so has anyone done it with a brush successfully?

They could be salad beds but this seems a waste.
X sunloving

[sunloving]

[tricia]

Squashes need to be pollinated which,depending on the weather, can be a hit and miss thing! I often go among my squash plants with a small paint brush taking the pollen from the males to the females. Patience is needed early in the season as it is often the case that the flowers are all male or all female. I grow parthenogenic courgettes such as Cavili and Parthenon which do not need pollinating.

Tricia 

[Jeannine]

There are several varieties of squash that don't need pollination just look on the net I am sure you will find a list, usually the green ones work best.

[sunloving]

Thankyou Tricia and jeannine, so I cantry parthenogenic or give them some help, that's great I'm going to give it a whirl then and see what happens.

[Tee Gee]

I never manually pollinate my curcubrits I leave it to the insects.

Another reason I don't bother doing it is ; why pollinate every flower to find that you have to thin out the number of fruit on each runner later?

I just let nature take its course, but that is not to say that you should not do it.

Best time to manually pollinate is when the sun is at its highest!

[johhnyco15]

i agree with tg I'm sure you will have plenty id let nature take its course and you wont have to scramble about on your hands and knees and feel guilty if you missed some yes indeed let the professionals do it  hope this helps

[sunloving]

The tunnel is 40ft long, I'm not sure that there will be a flow of insects in.