Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:54:00 -0400
From: Al Cooke
Subject: Squash bugs? Probably not
Squash bugs? Probably not … or not yet anyway.
If you look carefully at the squash flowers, you can discover two types: male and female. The female is characterized by a small squash-shaped ovary below the flower; the male flower does not have an ovary.
Typically members of this family that includes squashes, pumpkins, melons, and cucumbers have separate male and female flowers on the same plant. And apparently in an effort to attract pollinators before investing a lot of energy in ovaries, the plant first sets only male flowers for a few days to perhaps a couple of weeks. These flowers will fall off and never set fruit. No ovary, no fruit.
Then you start to get a mix of male and female flowers. If there is pollen transferred from the male to the female flower, then the ovary becomes a fruit and may ripen. At that point if the ovaries are falling off, it’s a good idea to look about in the morning to see if there are any insects moving from flower to flower. Without pollination, the ovary dies.
If you don’t have insect pollinators, you may be able to achieve pollination yourself by using something like a small paint brush or Q-tip to collect pollen and transfer it to the female flower. A fairly tedious process that insects accomplish for us so easily. You may benefit from planting a diversity of flowers around the garden to attract pollinators. Some folks may even benefit from tolerating more of those annoying carpenter bees that collect pollen in their daily activities.
Good luck
Al Cooke
Extension Agent, Horticulture
Chatham County Center, North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service
N C State University
PO Box 279, 45 South Street, Pittsboro, NC 27312
Phone: 919.542.8202; Fax: 919.542.8246
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/chatham/staff/acooke/home.html
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