Here's What to Do If Your Squash Are Rotting on the Plant...

There are few things quite as exciting in the garden as twisting a well-grown squash off the stem after months of anticipation. Perhaps that moment feels so good because growing squash can come with a number of problems.

Besides squash vine borer and powdery mildew (those are topics for another day, folks), sometimes your plants give you little squash babies that turn brown and fall off. Other times, they just wither away instead of turning into nice, big fruit.

If your little squash fruits are rotting, falling off the plant, or shriveling up, you've most likely got a pollination problem on your hands.

Go ahead and prune the dying fruit and its flower if they're still hanging out on your plant. They won't be turning into a juicy fruit, and they're just zapping energy from the plant. It's now time to turn your energy toward preventing more little fruits from doing the exact same thing.

Let's look at why your plant might be getting poor pollination and what you can do about it.

What Prevents Squash from Being Pollinated?

One of the biggest issues with squash—actually, make that with any plant from the squash family, including cucumbers, melons, and pumpkins—is pollination. Typical Cucurbits have both male and female flowers. Like with humans, it takes two to tango- I mean reproduce. Pollen from male flowers needs to be transferred over to the female blossoms.

Is any one else humming the "Reproduction" song from Grease 2? No? Just me?

Anyways, it takes literal birds and bees (okay, mostly just bees) to make the pollen transfer. Bees fly into male flowers, pick up some pollen on their little bodies, and then buzz on over to the females to have a little pollination party.

Unfortunately, if you live in an urban area that sprays for mosquitoes and other flying insects, your pollination party might have been cancelled. All those sprays negatively impact bees and beneficial insects we really need to keep around.

A couple other factors can also cause poor pollination: a cold snap, a heat spell, or too much rain just as the flowers are starting to bloom. Typically, though, it's a matter of not having enough buzzing friends around.

So, let's look at how you can step in and hand pollinate your squash to encourage your fruits to form and ripen.

Step One to Hand Pollinate Squash

Take a moment to check out the little stems behind the yellow blossoms on your squash plant. You may notice there are two types: one with a long, thin stem and another with a bulging stem.

That's because some blooms are male and some female.

Male Squash Flowers

Male flowers have the long, straight stem, as seen in the picture below.

Female Squash Flowers

Female flowers, pictured below, have a little swelling that will become the mature fruit—if the flower gets pollinated. It's this little baby fruit that will turn brown and fall off the plant if it's not pollinated in time.

If you're looking around and seeing only male flowers, that's okay. Squash plants usually produce male flowers first. Female flowers should follow in a couple weeks. Bad weather (too much rain or an unexpected cold spell) can also delay female flowers. When that happens, it can be very frustrating for the gardener who sees all these flowers forming but is still waiting around for fruit!

Aren't they adorable?

In case you're wondering, it's the same (adorable) situation with zucchini, which is a type of summer squash. Here's a picture of a female zucchini flower.

Step Two to Hand Pollinate Squash

Like I mentioned before, pollen from a male flower has to be carried to a female flower to pollinate the little fruit and help it form.

While you can use a little Q-tip or tiny paintbrush, the easiest way to hand pollinate is with the male flowers themselves.

Locate a male flower and cut it from the plant. Open up the petals so that his pollen is nice and exposed.

Step Three to Hand Pollinate Squash

Locate a female flower. Shake the male flower over the female flower to drop some pollen and then rub the male over the female to make sure there's good transfer. Feel free to giggle while you do some R-rated action in your garden. (I know I can't help it!)

Repeat for each female flower you find. The pollen from one male flower should be enough to pollinate a few female flowers.

This will ensure each little baby squash forms fully so that you end up with loads of squash from each plant this season. Ah, the miracle of life!

Make Sure to Attract Pollinators to Your Garden to Help with Squash Pollination

Most of us focus on fruits and vegetables in the kitchen garden, especially if growing space is limited, but flowering plants are just as important. The more flowers you have, the more likely your garden will be the place where the magic happens. That means your squash will have better pollination success.

Here are some flowers you can add to your garden to bring every boy- I mean bee, to the yard:

• anise hyssop
• bee balm
• coreopsis
• cosmos
• flowering herbs (oregano is great)
• goldenrod
• lemon balm
• marigolds
• milkweed
• sunflowers
• Veronica
• zinnias

Never forget that flowers are an essential part of healthy, thriving garden.

Troubleshooting Pollination Issues

What If I Still Only Have Male Flowers After a Couple of Weeks?

Too many male flowers can indicate a nutrient deficiency in your soil. It's a good idea to do a soil test. You'll likely need to amend your soil with an organic source of calcium and/or phosphorus. For calcium, I recommend something like gypsum, and for phosphorus, you could do bone meal, fish emulsion, or rock phosphate.

You could also try pruning some of the leaves to encourage your plant to produce more flowers instead of leaves. Remember, pruning is a great way to direct a plant's energy.

Lastly, make sure you're not creating poor conditions for your plants that could lead to them producing only male flowers. Aim your water at the soil, not the leaves and flowers of the plant.

What If I Hand Pollinated Each Flower But the Fruits Are Still Rotting?

If improving pollination doesn't fix the problem with your squash fruits, you likely have a soil deficiency that's causing blossom-end rot. This is usually a sign there's not enough calcium in your soil. Do a soil test and amend with an organic calcium fertilizer like gypsum.

Work with Nature to Improve Your Squash Harvest

I hope this helps you double, triple even, your squash yield this season! Go outside and do what the bees do and spread a little sweet pollen love around.

One of my main gardening philosophies is to work with nature, not against it. Make sure to plant lots of pollinator-friendly plants, avoid herbicides and pesticides in your yard, and maintain the health of your garden soil with organic soil amendments. This is how you grow lots of delicious fruits and veggies in a way that's good for you, good for your plants, and good for the whole planet.

Thanks for making gardening ordinary again!