zucchini- 2025

I want to address squash flower pollination. All squash including zucchini have separate male and female flowers and need pollinator bees to pollinate them to produce the fruit. The bees visit the male flowers collecting the pollen and then go over to the female flowers where they brush off some of the pollen on their legs. Without bees, we would have to hand pollinate but lucky for us, they do the work.

SQUASH FLOWERS
Zucchini produce the male flowers first-about 2 weeks before the female flowers arrive. I just noticed the flower buds starting. You can tell the difference because male flowers have the flower on the end of a straight stem while female flowers have a tiny (future fruit) attached at the base of the flower. Very easy to tell the difference.

It’s stamen not staman

The inside of the blossom is also different. Notice the difference.

SQUASH BUG PATROL
What does this have to do with squash bugs? The squash bug is already out and about so I keep my zucchini covered completely with row cover so they can’t get in just yet which saves me time. My beds have a drip system but you can water through the row cover too.

Once they start producing flowers (male flowers come first) I still keep them covered. But once the female flower comes, I have to UNCOVER the plants so the bees can get in and do the pollination.  And that’s when the squash bugs get in and I have to go on squash bug patrol.

SQUASH BUG LIFE CYCLE-IMPORTANT!
Squash bugs go from eggs to nymphs in 7-10 days. You don’t want to let them to turn into nymphs. So you need to get out once a week and look for adults (put in bucket of soapy water), scrape off the rootbeer colored eggs off the leaves and stems and put in the bucket. If you do that, you will control them. But you must be diligent.

If you don’t go out, the eggs hatch into the grey colored nymphs with black legs and get out of control and are hard to catch-I’ve had to sometimes cut off a whole leaf and stem and quickly put them in the bucket of soapy water because they nymphs are very fast and usually a lot hatch at one time.

So I go out every 7 days on Sundays to inspect and control the squash bugs. The time has come-you pick your day but don’t delay.