I've done hand pollinating before with winter squash and was successful. However, I can't seem to catch a male and female flower open at the same time to hand pollinate my zucchini. My question is: if I have an open female flower, can I pollinate it with a male flower that has already closed? Can I carefully re-open the male flower and use it? I've got a zucchini vine that's loaded with female flowers. It's in a raised box and has twisted itself around so that the flowers are well hidden under the leaves. Bees appear not to visit this plant even though they are clearly busy elsewhere in my garden.
I see no reason why not but if yours are just starting that's a common thing to happen. Mine always start out with male flowers but no female. I just leave them alone and eventually they get both types.
Thanks mart. I have male and female flowers on two zucchini vines that I've planted. One vine is very strange. It is a zucchini, of that I'm certain. The other plant (several feet away) is putting out squash. The one near my garden porch is trying to grow under the porch. After being damaged by hail and wind, it twisted itself around so that it's trying to grow under the porch. I stuck a piece of scrap lumber behind it and that stopped it from getting out of reach. But, bees still aren't interested. I've tried to re-route the vine, but it's so darn heavy. I'm afraid of breaking it. I suppose if all else fails, I can pull it out and make compost with it.
I have had different vine /leaf types but same zuchinni. If it breaks just stick it in the dirt or a pot. I rooted one last year. That heavy part of the stalk will root.
You rooted a zucchini? Well, I'll be darned. I've just never heard of anyone doing that. You've got my curiosity up now. I've done that with sweet potato vines and tomatoes. I've even moved small volunteer tomato tomato plants. Geeze, instead of re-planting squash, watermelons and cantaloupes that got beat up badly in our June hail storm, I should have tried rooting vines. I didn't even think about that. The June hail storm was had was awful. I had six inches of marble sized hail in some of my raised beds. My neighbor down the road, one mile south, didn't get any hail just strong winds nor did the neighbors about three miles north of us.
The one I rooted was a vine that had gotten large and had ran out to the side. I lifted it up to move it and it just snapped off. I had not tried rooting one either but I just stuck it in a pot with potting soil and watered it a while and it bloomed. It was late in the season and it only made one little zuchinni. But at least it worked. I think it has to be on that thick part of the plant stalk to root but I am not sure since I have only tried it once.
Just goes to show us all that plants are pretty amazing. Now that's what I call a will to live and reproduce. Only takes one little fruit to make seed. And, I did try hand pollination with a male flower that had closed. It was same day as first post. It worked. The little squash is growing.
