many blossoms, few squash

[ireilly]

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/a...es/squash.html

The link doesn't reveal anything much besides what others have said, although it does mention nematodes as another possibility.

Also, the info about pollinting by hand is good. I have had a number of honeybees, wasps, hornets, moths, butterflies, a few bumblebees and even a hummingbird so far this year, even being in the middle of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, so I feel blessed. Something as simple yet elegant as a honeybee is so important to fruit production.

I read about a year ago where a village in China had to employ people to fertilize their crops because they had no honeybees (and presumably no other insect pollinators) due to environmental damage.

There's just something wrong with the idea of so many people and so few other organisms. Kind of soylent-green-ish if you can forgive the expression. Ah well. Charleton and Edward G. are both gone now so maybe it has little resonance.

The next thing I expect is that there will be a pollinating machine complete with AI programming flying around. They already use machines to achieve pollination in greenhouses when they deem it faster, cheaper, or better than natural pollinators released inside the greenhouse.

I never thought of myself as Luddite growing up but something about all this progress gives me a weird gut reaction. Later on, I usually regret ignoring those inner voices.

HTH.

Walter