Allotments 4 All
Allotment Stuff => The Basics => Topic started by: small on June 27, 2010, 15:03:30
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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!
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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..
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I have, I use whatever male is around at the time ;D ;D
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;D..oh..you are wicked one... ;)
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Right, thanks, just won't tell OH...... ;)
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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
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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
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am impressed with your promiscuous knowledge!
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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!
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Yep, but I need to get a real life!! XX Jeannine ::)