Squash question

[wildWoman]

Anyone have an idea why my growing acorn squash inside the cabin experiment is not working? :( The plants keep growing and growing, putting out some flowers and little bobbles that look like they might turn into squash, but these all just wither away. Do they maybe need some fertilizer?

[GVan]

Sounds to me like they need insects to cross pollinate them.

[crashdive123]

I believe GVan is correct. Here's an article from E How on hand pollinating squash plants.

If your summer squash plants look really healthy, but the baby fruit have a tendency to shrivel up and die, you’ve got a pollination problem on your hands. Summer squash plants, including zucchini, crook neck and patty pan squash, are dioecious, which means that the plant produces both male and female flowers. In order for the fruit to develop, the female flowers need to be pollinated with pollen from a male flower. Bumblebees, honeybees and other insect pollinators usually do the job of moving pollen from the male flower to female flowers—but if your plants aren’t producing much fruit—you can hand-pollinate. Here is how.


Step1 In order to hand-pollinate, you must be able to tell the difference between male and female flowers. Female flowers have a tiny squash right behind the flower (and if your pollination efforts are successful that tiny squash will develop into a squash rather than shriveling up). If you look inside the female flower you’ll also see a stigma, which is a sticky, round female reproductive organ. Male flowers have straight stems and anthers (the male reproductive organ), which look like small cotton swabs dipped in bright yellow pollen.
Step2 Squash flowers open up in the morning and stay open for one day. Hand pollination works best if you do it as soon as possible after the flowers open. To hand-pollinate, snip off a male flower and peel back its petals, leaving the pollen-covered anthers exposed. Nuzzle the anthers onto the stigma of a female flower, leaving a dose of pollen behind.
Step3 Discard the male flower after you’ve pollinated three female flowers. You’ll know your hand pollination worked if the little squash behind the female flower begins to grow and the female flower falls off.
Step4 To encourage more insect pollinators, plant flowers that produce lots of nectar, including sweet allysum and bachelor buttons near your squash plants.

[wildWoman]

What an excellent forum where people also know about the fertility of squash plants! Thanks guys, I'll try that once there are open flowers on the plants again. I did have one little squash starting to develop, but the "branch" it was on got whacked too hard with dog tails and broke off. The challenges of indoor gardening....although, maybe the dog tails did the pollinating in the first place?!

[Chris]

acorn of course is winter squash, not summer.

I'm having problems with my winter squash righ tnow... they're only producing male flowers.

[Beo]

Hey WildWoman found this hope it helps, Beo.
Acorn squash, yes its a winter squash and needs fertile, aerated soil that is warm enough for germination (70°-90°) and warm enough for growing (65°-75°). Winter squash takes well to soil amended with compost or well-rotted manure. Winter squash grows best in soils with a pH between 5.5 and 6.5. Winter sqash needs moderate amounts of potassium and phosphorus and high amounts of nitrogen.
Grow winter squash in a corner of the garden and train the vines to grow outside of the garden. Give winter squash about 2' apart in rows that are 2' apart.
Winter squash needs 3 months of warm, frost free conditions to produce fruit. Winter squash plants are frost sensitive. Winter squash fruits will tolerate a light frost.

Most squash plants are generally started by seed but can be started indoors in pots. If you are starting indoors, start them about two to three weeks before you plan to set them out. Squash are warm loving plants and do not tolerate frost well so be sure that chances of frost are over usually in late spring early summer.

Squash will thrive in almost any soil as long as it does not become waterlogged for an extended period of time. It will also need to be watered daily as the summer heat builds. If transplanting, make sure the transplant has been hardened off first. Hardening off the plant involves placing the seedling in a well protected area outside first so that it gets use to the climate outdoors. Make sure that it does not get too cold during the nights the transplant is out.

If planting by seed, make mounds of dirt and place three or four seeds in the mound. If the squash are a bush type squash then leave a space of three or four feet between mounds. If they are a vining type squash, give five to six feet of space. The seeds need only be one or two inches apart in the mound. Squash are voracious growers and only a few plants are needed to keep a steady supply all summer and fall.

If the soil is too poor or if you want to grow squash in a space confined area, grow them in containers. Tires are a good alternative to the traditional containers. One, recycling tires is good for the environment. Two, tires provide extra heat due to their black color. Use a gardening soil, top soil or potting soil that is suitable for vegetable gardening.

Traditional pots can be used in place of the tire. Buy a pot that is big enough since most squash will bush out or vine. For vining squash such as acorn squash or spaghetti squash, a trellis or netting can be used to allow the vines to grow up thus, saving space. For bush type squash such as some winter squash and zucchini and scallop type squash, give space of about three to four feet around the pot.

Since squash are voracious growers they will produce a fairly big size of harvest. Pinching back some of the blossoms as they flower can sometimes help keep the squash in check. The more you pick the fruit, once they start fruiting, the more the plant will produce. Most squash can be harvested from the time they reach about three inches to a larger size dependant on the type of squash they are.
Summer squash take about two months to maturity and winter squash take three to four months.

[wildWoman]

Thanks Beo! Maybe I'll put a bit more compost tea on 'em and talk to them more. They sure are nice and warm in the cabin, I thought it was a good idea. But I should have thought about the bees and flowers thing!

[Ole WV Coot]

Ain't it wonderful, I finally learned about the birds & bees. Shame I'm not a year or two younger.

[Rick]

The only difference between the term summer and winter squash is summer squash won't last very long (not until winter) while winter squash will last much longer, usually until December. Our ancestors so named them to distinguish which could be stored and which could not.

[canid]

another distinction often used is the type of rind the squash has, with mature, hard rinded gourd-like squash such as acorn, butternut and pumpkins being considered winter squash and with young soft skinned types such as yellow squash and zuchini being considered summer squash.

[wildWoman]

Well by the time these puppies get going now, they'll definitely be winter squash!

[canid]

by the way, some summer squash such as yellow squash can be left to mature, harvested and then cured to toughen the rind [as one does for storing winter squashes], but i don't know how that effects the texture of the fruit inside. i know this can be done to produce gourds from them. i know this only from having seen the gourds.