[Tammy]

Zucchini should be about the easiest thing in the world to grow, right? Well, my two zucc plants are lush, full, large with lots of zucchini's growing. I've picked about 10 so far but only 2 of those are good. The other 8 went into compost because they get about 3-4 inches long and the ends start turning yellow and they are soft. What is causing this?

When I planted the zucchini, I added some veggie fertilizer, plus some lime (which I have to amend in the area I plant my tomotos in or they get blossom end rot - so I added some to the zucchini area also. not sure if lime is the reason but am throwing that out there incase anyone thinks added lime is the problem).

any ideas why my zucchini's turn yellow and soften before they are even ready to pick?

 

[montanagarden gal]

Tammy, it sounds like your zucchini aren't getting pollinated. the female flower has a small "baby" zucchini behind it. If it doesn't get pollinated properly, it may grow a little bit, then turn yellow, get soft and eventually fall off and rot. When a female flower gets pollinated, it will grow rather rapidly into a zucchini. Be patient, this will correct itself as the summer goes on and you get more male flowers. If you think you might have a lack of pollinators, (bees, etc) you can try hand pollinating. Good luck!

 

[angel1237b]

i think that is what is happening in my garden...i have nothing to pollinate...my tomatoes are all funny shapes...i am afraid for my cukes too..how do i pollinate them? thank's

 

[montanagarden gal]

angel1237b, tomatoes, as far as I know, are self pollinating. Sometimes going out and giving them a gentle shake will "knock" some of the pollin around a bit. I'm not really sure why your tomatoes would be funny shapes. As far as hand pollinating your squash or cukes, I beleive all you have to do is use a small paintbrush to take some pollin from a male flower and brush it on the inside of the female flower. the flowers are usually open the most in early morning. Do a search for "hand pollinating squash" on youtube and I'm sure you can find a video showing you how! Here's a link to a how-to from Veggiegardener. http://www.veggiegardener.com/how-to-hand-pollinate-your-cucumbers/

 

[angel1237b]

thank you...that was very helpful.

 

[Tammy]

thanks for the response on the zucc issue. I think you may be right on that. I'm now getting more good zucchini and haven't noticed any more "yellow" ones. I snapped off about 4 bad ones a week ago and all the ones that have been growing since then are good healthy looking ones.

 

[Gary B]

thanks for the response on the zucc issue. I think you may be right on that. I'm now getting more good zucchini and haven't noticed any more "yellow" ones. I snapped off about 4 bad ones a week ago and all the ones that have been growing since then are good healthy looking ones.

Tammy==more BEES==& don't chase them away.