Be Silly. Be honest. Be kind.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Squash flowers, but no squash
First time squash-growers become anxious when they see the
first squash flowers drop off without leaving a sign of a
baby squash behind, but there's usually no cause for
concern. Those first squash flowers are males, and their
only purpose is to pollinate the female flowers.
A week after the male flowers appear, you will begin to
see the first females. If the female flowers also drop off
without producing squash, they weren't pollinated. Squash
depend on bees for pollination, so if you don't have bees,
you won't have squash. Try pollinating them by hand. You
can do this with a q-tip or soft brush, or you can simply
pick a male flower, remove the petals, and whirl it around
inside the female flowers.
It's easy to identify the male and female blossoms. Males
have a single stamen in the center. Females have a large
swelling (the ovary) just beneath the blossom and a
four-part pistil in the center.
