Zucchini Squash

[marytmorin]

I need some advice- I planted yellow squash - accidentally planted a butternut squash and I planted zucchini. My dilemma is; I have tons of yellow squash growing- I have 2 wonderful looking butternuts but my zucchini has yet to make fruit- it is flowering like crazy but no fruit yet??? My garden is a raised bed garden on drip irrigation and is in full sun several hours a day. I am fertilizing etc... Any advice or thoughts?

 

[897tgigvib]

To me that is very unusual.

For me, Butternuts, and all the Butternut squash relatives, are much slower to set fruits than Zucchini. The Butternuts are still busy vining while the bush Zucchini are blooming along.

That thought aside, your Zucchini may be getting too much Nitrogen fertilizer.

In general, many vegetable crops can be divided into 2 growing phases:
1) Grow phase
2) Bloom phase

(Many vegetables are harvested before the bloom phase)

Squash fit into the 2 phase cycle though.

During the "Grow" phase, the plant will be using generally more Nitrogen to grow.
During the "Bloom" phase, the plant will be using more Phosphorus and needing extra Potassium.

The Grow phase, as far as fertilizing goes, ends as the first small signs of flower buds appear, or a few days before they are actually visible. At this stage, fertilizers high in nitrogen are held off, and replaced with fertilizers high in Phosphorus.



Somehow it seems your Zucchini is getting too much Nitrogen.

If that is not the case, it might be:
a) Yours is an unusually poor producing, or late to produce Zucchini variety.
b) Perhaps the drip system is overwatering it, or the container drain hole is plugged.

 

[marytmorin]

Thank you so much for the great information. I'll will certainly take your advice into consideration. Have a great Wednesday.

 

[marytmorin]

Oh and I bet the calypso orchids are beautiful. We just finished our season of bluebonnets. Thank goodness we have had some recent rains as our drought continues.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't know how long this has been going on. Squash produce male and female flowers on the same plant. The female ones are the ones that produce the squash. The male flowers just fall off. If your yellow squash are producing fruit, that means you have pollinators at work, so that should not be the problem. But often, when they first start, they produce a lot of male flowers and no female flowers. The females are the ones with the baby zucchini attached. If they get pollinated, they produce fruit. If they don't get pollinated, they fall off too.

I've seen that before, but it usually only lasts a while. The female flowers should show up within a week or so from when they start to bloom. My zucchini was a couple of days behind my yellow squash this year, but only a couple of days.

If you see a female flower, you can always break off a male flower and rub it in the female to try to pollinate, but like I said I don't think that is your problem.

Marshall, if the zucchini was getting too much nitrogen, wouldn't that affect the yellow squash and butternut too? I know what you are saying about the nitrogen, but with the yellow squash producing, that doesn't seem like the problem.

 

[jomoncon]

I also planted Zucchini, yellow squash and winter squash. The Zucchini produced much later than the the other 2. I just thought this was normal.

 

[desertlady]

squash cookies !!!

 

[April Manier]

If your Butternuts are up then you are doing great! They should have enough time to grow to maturity.

When God gives you zuchinni flowers and no fruits, make squash blossom fritters! Yum

Pick your flowers when the tips are just opening in the morning, put in a bowl of water to get bugs to float, dry them off, dip in egg, drench in flour with spices in it and fry in butter! It's down near the perfect breakfast. you can stuff the bigger ones with last nights left overs. I think you are meant for fritters and no fruit.