Topic: squash fertilisation

[small]

I may shortly be shot down for total stupidity.....hey, I'll risk it....annoyingly, my butternuts (Hunter) have female flowers but no male.  Can I use a male flower from a courgette to do the dirty deed? I have no intention of trying to save seed, of course. It does seem a shame to waste those embryo squashes!

[goodlife]

Untill we get proper experts on this issue to answer for that..I join your stypidity ;)..and urge you to try and see what happens..then you'll know if it is something that you wish not to repeat.. ::)..I would.. ;D..

[manicscousers]

I have, I use whatever male is around at the time  ;D ;D

[goodlife]

 ;D..oh..you are wicked one... ;)

[small]

Right, thanks, just won't tell OH...... ;)

[tricia]

Having no male flowers on either courgettes or squashes but several female squash flowers I ran to my neighbour (to whom I had given a courgette plant) to ask if she had any male flowers on hers. I was in luck and managed to pollinate two flowers of the three varieties of squash which, so far, are only producing female flowers. I now have a green hubbard and a crown prince swelling nicely  :).

Tricia

[Jeannine]

All squash,pumpkins , courgettes etc fall into basically 4 families, they will pollinate within the family but not outside it.

Courgettes belong to the pepo family along with many winter squash and some pumpkins..

Butternuts belongs to the moschata family .

So you cannot pollinate a pepo with a moschata,or visa versa, but you can pollinate with anything from the moschata family. If you did cross  with a different variety of moschata your fruit would be just like the mother plant but seeds from them would be different.

If you tell me what else you have growing I can tell you what family it belongs to.

It is possible that you have had male flowers and simply missed them, I have done that.

Crown Prince belongs to the maxima family as do the Hubbards, so Tricia your squash managed to  do the deed  themselves somehow.   Maybe  they got help from   a passing bee  who had been visiting in another neighbours patch,as  they cannot cross with a courgette.They can cross with eath other though and many others.

I love the promiscuity of squash ::)

XX Jeannine

[Karen Atkinson]

am impressed with your promiscuous knowledge!

[small]

I reckon I'm out of luck then - the only other thing of that sort flowering at present is courgette Green Bush, though I do have some Marketmore cucumbers on the way. And no, I'm afraid I haven't missed any male flowers - I only have three plants and I'm keeping a very close eye on them!

[Jeannine]

Yep, but I need to get a real life!! XX Jeannine ::)