Male Flowers only on Squashes and Courgettes

[Garden Manager]

Far from having a glut of crops from my squash and courgette plants, I have had zip all from mine, due to the plants producing only male flowers! I planted the things nearly a month ago and aside from growing very slowly (another mystery), not one female flower has formes on ANY of the plants. I have been feeding with a hight potash fertiliser but to no avail.

Any ideas how I can get the plants to produce the right kind of flowers it is most disapointing. I do nogt grow courgettes or squashes for their flowers!

[Garden Manager]

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

didn't we have this last year? Wasn't the conclusion either that they were Gay, or that they'd sort themselves out in a bit?

[amphibian]

One of my courgettes has been doing this, my squash are so dense amongst the sweetcorn that I have no idea what' going on in there.

There are specific varieties of Italian courgettes bred to only produce male flowers, the Italians batter them and fry them. That's what I'd advise to do with the excess males while waiting for the birds to turn up.

[PurpleHeather]

As someone who grows more that they can use I can say that they do sometimes get flowers on which just produce leaf.  Then for some reason start to go mad and produce loads of decent produce.

I was told to stop this, the first male flower should always be removed.

Since I find it difficult to know male from female with some humans, I have no dea who is which with plants.

[tricia]

The male flowers are on a stem while the female flowers are at the end of a tiny fruit. You can use a small artist's paintbrush to gather the pollen from a male and gently brush it onto the centre of the female flower to pollinate it.

Tricia

[Robert_Brenchley]

They sometimes produce a series of male flowers, then kick in with the females a bit later. You can see the evolutionary sense of this; a small plant can easily produce some pollen, and get its genes into circulation. When it grows a bit bigger, it will then have the energy needed to produce the fruit and the seeds.

[Garden Manager]

Is it just the first male flower you should remove or all of them untill a female is produced? I have been nipping off the males routinely  to encourage females. I am now wondering if Ihavce been making things worse by doing this?

On a side note I also have  a problem with mu greenhouse cucumbers. one of them produced a fruit early on (very nice!), then once harvested no more flowers let alone more fruit. Did i do wrong letting the first fruit develop? had this stopped further flowering? Variety 'Defender'.

Thanks

[manicscousers]

I've been pollinating the female flowers each time one appears, will let them get on with it now, we seem to have both  :)
one of our indoor cucs did the same, ga..the others are now producing and the early one is starting to catch up, no fruit since the first one but it looks healthier  :)

[Hector]

Can I revive this as at present I am getting only male flowers on my squash. Should I be removing these?

[allaboutliverpool]

Just leave them, mine have always produced female flowers eventually.

http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments_Vegetables_squash_butternut.html

[1066]

I had this problem last year with my courgettes - got practically nothing, so must have been males. MEN humph!  ;)
But this year seems better. I was checking both the courgettes and pumpkins/squash last night and some are romping away but as yet only have male flowers too. A few of the others have started to produce baby pumpkins  :D . I guess it's still early.

1066

[Tee Gee]

I have been feeding with a hight potash fertiliser but to no avail.

Why ??

If you have no fruit why feed what is not there?

Sorry to say it again but some patience is all that is required.

BTW; I never feed them with anything after the initial top dressing of general fertiliser at planting out time.



There is a bit here on pollination;

http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Pollination/Pollination/pollination.html