Expert: C.L. Fornari - 7/10/2004

Question
Hi,
I live in Eastern Pa. This past spring I planted small (GREEN TYPE) Zuchinni plants. Now,.....these plants are HUGE. Tall, and huge green leaves! For about 6 weeks now I have been noticing several yellow flowers on these plants but as I speak, July 10th, there is NOT ONE zuchinni to mention. Can you please tell me why this is?
I never grew zuchinni before. Is there something wrong here? Or is it still too early for the zuchinni to start coming in?
Please let me know when you can!
Thanks!!

Answer
Tom,
Most of the time, gardeners have TOO MUCH ZUCHINNI... but every once in awhile we have NO ZUCHINNI.  Usually, this summer squash forms zuchinni's every day that grow from mini-zuchinni to baseball bats in a day or two.  But zuchinni has both male and female flowers and only the female form the zuchinni we love to eat.  Your problem could be due to one of two situations:
1) the flowers are not being pollinated.  This could be because there are not enough bees to pollinate, or because the weather is too rainy at the right time for the bees to be flying and pollinating.  If this is your problem, you could hand  pollinate using a paintbrush that is brushed in each flower one after the other to fertilize the female flowers.  Or you can wait for favorable weather and more bees.
2) Occasionally there are zuchinni plants that make only male flowers!  Yikes!   If this is your problem, there is really nothing you can do except what the Italians do.... pick the male flowers, either stuff them or dip them in batter, and fry them in hot oil.  

If I were you I'd take a paintbrush and brush it in each flower over the pistol and the stemens - if you don't know what those look like, just swish the brush around and  over the ends of the thin things that are growing inside the flowers - after three or four days,  if you still see no zuchinni forming, start picking the flowers and frying them up!

all the best,
C.L. Fornari