Allotments 4 All

I have two squash plants which are doing very well indeed, i.e. a good number of fruit has set and is growing well.

I also have five more squash plants, various varieties, which are only throwing out male flowers. not a female in sight! they are trailing well and have gone half way round their alloted slots already (i kind of try to grow them in the round on a bit of ground approx 4ft x 4ft)

the only thing i am doing different to last year is feed them occasionally with homemade green pongy brew - you know the kind. they love it lots - but could this be the inhibitor of the female flowers?
I almost think so but then again, my two courgettes, two cucumbers, and two aforementioned squashes are doing fine in the baby department.

any ideas?
the varieties in question are uchiri kuri, buttercup and three mystery ones (mystery as in 'out of wedlock, parentage unknown'  ;))

I have exactly the same problem and not one courgette to be seen so far.  I have been forcing them to have sex (hand polination) and still nothing.  Did I buy the only packet of infertile seed on the market? Next door have so many that they've got bloomin' marrows and I'm on hands and knees talking, inspecting, lifting leaves and saying: boy; boy; boy; boy; boy.

Boy-oh-boy...! ::)

I have that problem on two of my bush squashes. I think it's because they're too close together, so I may have to chop one down in order to get any squash out of the remaining plant at all!  :-\

Strange isn't it!! My ButterNuts are going crazy and are covered with little fruits...a bumper crop. On the other hand, my Courgette and other 3 varieties of Winter Squash are miserable...lots of males and very few females....there's no obvious reason. wheras last year I had Courgettes coming out of my ears... ???

yep, way too many males around :D

but the cucurbit family tend to produce loads of male flowers but that is to make sure there is at least one man around as soon as the much fewer female flowers arrive - snapping the males off might encourage more females - and I wouldn't want to feeding until the plants set, otherwise you'll have too much foliage at the expense of large fruits if you feed too early. Joy

The only explanation I could find for lack of female flowers was the following, which is not actually much help.

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0702/courgette_failure.asp

In addition to that, I have three courgette plants which are producing on average one courgette each per day and increasing. Perhaps the plants need to be stressed a bit to start producing fruit? eg ignore them?

Blimey!  I've got 3 girls and no boys so far on my solitary squash plant (another pressie).

How long before they're past it?! :-\

Qoute from the link that Curry posted:

"male flowers are produced initially by plants when day-length is short" ???

"Male flowers are also induced by low temperatures" ???

So that is it then, all the cold weather  :o and short spells of sunshine  8) have produced lots of male fruits! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

I have just had a look at mine today and its 'men only' I'm afraid.

Before seeing these post I had decided that next year I am going to sow at least a month earlier.

The reason I have decided this is; it is only just recently that mine were large enough to tip out, which in turn produces the fruiting spurs which in turn produces the flowers be they male or female.

My reasoning is; I want to get to this stage sooner!

Fingers crossed that I might still salvage something from my plants, but to be quite honest I don't hold much store in my chances.

apart from the time you sow them there is always the question about where to plant them and this brings in the possibility of companion planting and if there is no other logical reason why your squashes are not doing well (apart from sowing too late, soil not rich enough, poor watering/feeding, seed genetics) then you might consider the effect of surrounding plants. Squashes don't like potatoes being nearby and some herbs are detrimental such as Rue, Rosemary, Thyme and Sage but they love Borage. Just a thought  :)

PS are we allowed to mention books on this forum? Oh well, here goes, seeing as squashes seem to be so popular now - there is a beautiful book called "The Squash" and it includes history, folklore and ancient recipes - several contributors, published by Konemann.

interesting trivia about potatoes - they are in the bed next to the maincrop, in fact it's the early potato bed. however, those ones are doing just fine!
it's the other ones that dont. the only explanation i can possibly find is 'overcrowding' - they are planted so when they start rambling they will ramble over each other. such is the smallness of my garden.

i am not too worried, but was just wondering, is all.
there is some time yet, and those varieties i am sure off are small ones, so they wont need much time from setting to ripening.

Hi Svea,  :)

All my squashes - pumpkins, butternuts, patty-pans, marrows, cucumbers, melons and gourds grow though each other in a tangle. They grow up my brambles and into space vacated by harvesting other things. I just let them get on with it and I`m amazed at discovering new babies. I don`t think overcrowding is an issue for them and in this heat the level of ground cover probably helps)

(I may yet come-a-cropper with a load of bitter cucumbers but someone went into authurs greenhouse and stole all his cucumbers so if mine are bitter I`ll leave them for the thief)

Theres still loads of time for a big harvest as they can change completely in a couple of days. I moved two replacement plants outside last week after slugs got the earlier ones, if I don`t get pumpkins I`ll get compost.

Col

true enough, col.
i am just a little impatient - and i do love my squash :D

yes, me too, so much food for so little work  :)

I'm with you Svea, I think my males are due to overcrowding on my northern bush pumpkins. I was thinking of maybe taking one plant out to give the other some room. Then again, I'm tempted to just let them do their own thing, as last year I discovered a couple of squash I didn't know I had under all the foliage.  :D
I'm also trying to remain philosophical about the urchins who are swiping pumpkins and smashing them down our way. Hopefully they'll get bored soon and go back to stealing cars.  :P
What's not to love about squash? One of the main reasons we got an allotment was to give us room to grow them. Just lovely veg!

Personally I hope Curry is right about ignoring them  ;D

Ours got sown in pots, then ignored (but for occasional water) until they were so big they HAD to be planted out. Then got nice soil & a couple of weeks TLC to make sure they were OK - now back to being left to get on with it, I just keep an eye on them from the road as I walk past. :-[

Being late out, I expected them to do another couple of weeks' growing, but they are flowering already... we shall see. This week is absurdly busy, but I'll have to grab 10mins to get down and check.