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06-23-2008, 03:07 PM
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Cathy, small squash that rot like that usually are sign of poor pollination..
What happens is the overy (the squash, m'dear) remains unfertilized, and so, with no reason to grow, doesn't. If you lack pollinators in your area, than hand-pollinating is the solution. Pick a male flower, remove the blossoms, and rub it against the female reproductive organs. Using several males for each female improves the odds, BTW.     
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06-23-2008, 03:31 PM
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Thanks for the tip I do have many bees now working the area, and before they showed up I used q-tips to help pollination. The one problem with that is I am kind of ignorant as to which flower would be male and which female! So I just q-tip away and hope it helps, now that we have so many little bees and other insects visiting maybe the problem will aleviate itself. I hope so
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06-23-2008, 04:31 PM
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It's easy to tell them apart, Cathy.
Look at the base of the flower, where it attaches to the vine. Females will have a small, round bulge (looks like a miniature squash). That's actually the ovary, and will, if pollinated, grow into a squash. The males only have longish, thin stems connecting the flower to the vine. All cucurbits follow this same differentiation. So, whether you're growing squash, melons, or cucumbers, if you're having pollination problems that's how to tell them apart. BTW, it's also a general trend with cucurbits that the first couple of weeks of flowering only males are produced. I've never heard an explanation for this---or, at least, not one that made sense. But it's an observable fact.
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06-23-2008, 04:44 PM
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You are right!!! The majority of my blossoms have been and are males, I know exactly what you are speaking of now that you explained it to me! Thanks a mil KYH - you might have just put me back into the squash! I appreciate that!
And since it has been (up to now) such a sparse harvest I went Sat. and purchased more squash seed for our fall crop. I am a very determined gal, and I will have a big harvest sooner or later! I love squash!!! I wish folks would throw some in my car!!! Thank goodness we did better with our chicks than our squash, out of 12 biddies, we wound up with nine hens!!! I think that is pretty good odds!
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