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Male butternut flowers not blooming

lauraevewhitelauraevewhite Posts: 3
in Fruit & veg
Hi all, hope you can shed some light on this problem I'm having please. It's my first year growing Butterbush butternut squash and I've had loads of female flowers bloom but absolutely no male flowers have bloomed at all. They get to the stage shown in the photo below, stay like that for weeks and then yellow and die. They never reach maturity and actually bloom. The plant is in a 40L fabric pot and I feed it once a week with tomorite. All my courgettes have been successful under the same routine, so not sure what's happening with this butternut. Has anyone seen this before or can explain why this is happening? Thanks.

Posts

  • Joyce GoldenlilyJoyce Goldenlily Posts: 2,933
    I had exactly the same problem last year with 3 butternut squash plants I was given. Didn't have a single fruit. This year I am trying spaghetti squash, they are setting fruits which drop off when about 4 ins long. Very frustrating. They also produced copious male flowers for several weeks before the female flowers started opening. No idea what the solution is.
  • matz1matz1 Posts: 6
    My courgettes have been growing fruit for a few months now without a greenhouse. Maybe next year spread there germinations two weeks apart? Know how frustrating it is when you see a female blooming and no male to pollenate!
  • Bevster13Bevster13 Posts: 4
    This too is my first time growing both courgettes and butternut squash. The former have been great and I've picked lots when they have grown to about 10cm long rather than letting them grow any bigger.

    My butternut squash have, however, been a non-starter. All of my plants are inundated with male flowers and have been for a while. The female flowers and fruit have only just started appearing. The flowers are quite small and un-opened so I'm not sure whether they will pollinate. Some of the female fruit has gone brown and dropped off (I'm guessing because the flower hasn't been pollinated).

    I've just read on another thread to cut the tips to encourage the plant to grow side shoots rather than carry on growing long so am off out to do this, as my plants are now about 6 feet longs and becoming entwined with the courgettes.
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