Pollinating Squash flowers -
In order to get a harvest, you have to watch for the female squash flower to open.
top view
The way to tell if the flower is a female is to take a look under it!
You will see a baby squash starting to grow and the flower coming out of it.
My first squash is growing ten feet up in the air on the second layer of netting that I have for the tomatoes. It is a heavier netting because I was planning to cultivate squash. When the plant starts growing it heads upward and starts growing flowers (all male). When I see a male blooming, I cut it off and put it in the freezer. Today however, I saw the female in full bloom and when I followed the vine down, there was also a mail flower open. I got lucky.
These flowers are huge - Here is the male one in my hand as I put a q-tip inside to get the pollen.
You can see some of the pollen that got loosened and fell onto the petals as I cut it off and brought it inside.
Then I only needed to put that pollen into the female for the reaction to take place. If this does not happen during the six hour window in which they are open, the baby squash will shrivel up and die. I lost two of them like that because I had missed their blooming and no bees had come. You cannot count on bees finding them at the right time - these days nature needs a hand.
The last pick is the same bunch of cherry tomatoes that I keep posting - update - we have red. This is not all of them. I continually pluck them off and eat them - YUM
Earlier posts on my garden build
Hydroponic System - Part One
Hydroponic System - Part Two
Hydroponic System - Part Three
Hydroponic System - Finishing touches
