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No male squash flowers

Womble54Womble54 Posts: 348
in Fruit & veg
I have several varieties of courgettes, squash and pumpkin. The courgettes are doing well, as are the squash that are curcubita pepo (patty pan & delicata), my pumpkin (curcurbita maxima) has both male & female flowers. But my two Cucurbita moschata varieties (tromboncino and butter nut) have only female flowers, no males at all. There are a few male flower stems, but they’ve either dropped off or stayed green and not opened. 

I’ve tried being patient, but the tromboncino have had female flowers for over a month. The butter nut has only recent started having female flowers. All the plants look pretty healthy. The courgettes are clearly happy in the conditions.

Anyone else experienced this or have any suggestions about what could be the problem? Google searches pretty much say it’s probably the conditions and wait and see.

Thanks

Posts

  • JacquimcmahonJacquimcmahon Posts: 1,039
    Oh womb le if only we could do a swap I’ve been getting nothing but male flowers on my courgettes and now one of them has died from what I presume was stem rot. Not holding out much hope on my side that my remaining plant will get its act together and produce both kinds of flowers on the same day.
    Marne la vallée, basically just outside Paris 🇫🇷, but definitely Scottish at heart.
  • Womble54Womble54 Posts: 348
    I spoke too soon. Two male flowers turned up this morning on the tromboncinos. I’ve been out hand pollinating. Fingers crossed for some nice big squash.

    Hope your courgettes start producing for you soon.
  • Womble54Womble54 Posts: 348
    After all my worrying, once the male flowers turned up, the squash are doing great. The tromboncino are getting massive. I picked one that’s as big as my arm, as there were three big ones on the same area or vine and I was worried it would break under the weight. I’ve got no idea how big they’re going to get.



  • Womble54Womble54 Posts: 348
    The tromboncino ended up being the same size as the kids! I’d have let them keep growing but it looked like the arch supporting them was about to fall over.


  • steephillsteephill Posts: 2,841
    Only one of their 5 a day? :D
  • flowerpotgirlflowerpotgirl Posts: 29
    Wow, impressive! Cute kids Womble, lovely picture.
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