Expert: C.L. Fornari - 6/22/2010

Question
I am growing my first garden. I have planted 6 Zucchini. Only 3 of them had flowers. The flowers withered and died but no Zucchini. I have yet to see new flowers...Is there anything I can do to help my plants?

Answer
Jackie,
My first question would be if your zucchini are in full sun - these plants need at least 6 hours of dead-on sun, including the noon hour, in order to flower well.

Next, be sure that the plants get a good deep soaking every three or four days - and that you've given them an application of liquid fertilizer after that soaking. You can use something organic if you'd like, but never fertilize a thirsty plant.

Third, watch to see if you get bees in your garden. Bees pollinate squash, and for this reason many gardeners plant a selection of flowers around their veggies in order to attract pollinators. If you don't see a lot of bees around, next time the plant flowers you might take a soft paint brush and gently swipe in each open flower to try and move the pollen from the male flowers to the female ones.

Finally, it does happen that sometimes zucchini produce only male flowers. This isn't common, but it does occur for reasons we don't understand. A male flower has a bunch of stamens but no pistil - females have the pistil but no stamens. If you can't tell the difference, just hit every flower with a paint brush and see what happens.

Note - if your weather has been cool and rainy, then the bees won't fly and pollinate the flowers.

I hope this helps!
C.L.