many blossoms, few squash

[peppero]

for the last four or five as well as this year i have had many male blossoms, but very few female blossoms. i have great soil with much organic matter and it can grow some awesome plants, but this squash problem has me scratching the old head. this happens with my plants as well as bought plants. help!

[Mischka]

Do you use any type of pesticide or insecticide in or around your yard/garden area? Do you have any commercial farms nearby?

In agricultural areas where heavy usage of pesticides is the norm, neighbors for miles around suffer from lack of beneficial insect pollinators. Squash are among the garden crops that require insect help to pollinate blossoms for successful fertilization/fruit set.

The only other thing that I know of that could force a plant to put out more male blossoms are growth hormone regulators, such as gibberelic acid.

[peppero]

farms are some distance away and i do not use pesticides. thanks for offering suggestions. jon

[Stepheninky]

If it is like mine I think it has to do with the heat and humidity. I planted some yellow squash that did fine (not great but pretty good) and some zucchini plants. First time ever I have planted Zucchini and had any problems, with 6 huge healthy blooming like crazy plants I did not get a single one. Never made a single fruit. I got them from Bonnie Farms. They were called Gray (something) Next year I will plant from seed a variety that I know produces.

Might be a bee issue too, I do not think I have seen a single honey bee all year, We have plenty of bubble bees and wood bees but no honey bees and I always see them in years past.

[b54red]

I agree about the shortage of honeybees. I only saw two last year. This year they have been a little more numerous. I have lots of other bees but would love to see the honeybees comeback. I heard it was a virus that was killing them off.

[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