I am sorry I can't help you as I am new than you to this gardening activity. I didn't even know squash needed male and female flowers. I only planted one squash and one zuchinni plant each. Did I need to get multiple plants of different genders? How can you tell a male from a female bloom?

Good luck with your issue, sorry I cann't offer informed assistance.

Hello! From what I've figured out, each plant produces both male and female flowers. Some of the flowers on my plants have a straight, thin stem, and others have baby squashes then the flower bud on top.
I have pics now but I can't figure out how to post them. I uploaded them into photobucket and tried posting the IMG code and the HTML code but when I preview the msg for either one it just has the code, not the pic. Can someone help with pic posting?

It's not all that uncommon for the stems of curcurbits (squash, pumpkins etc.) to split.

I really am not sure all the causes for this. Some think it too fast of growth, too much water, too much fertilizer (which goes back to the too fast of growth thing), the weight of the vine putting pressure on the stem etc.

What I do know is that cucurbits are remarkable in their ability to suffer this and go on to produce like normal. As long as the stem isn't completely severed in half it will likely live.

Do keep a look out for vine borers, but other than that your plants are likley going to do fine.

Ok, here it is...it does look hollowed but not chewed up.

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Thanks for the response! That makes sense..and it does look top heavy. I water heavy daily cause it dries out quickly and it has increased in size recently pretty quickly.

A picture is worth 1,000 words at least. I am going to call that split a 'healthy split'. It won't affect the performance of your plants.

Your plants look terrific! I tend to think of myself who grows large plants in containers most think too small, but you have me beat. I wouldn't have tried a squash in that sized container, but yours are doing great.

Yeah, you are going to be doing a lot of water/fertilizing, but you are making it work.

Thank you so much! You totally made my day! This is my first time growing anything and I need all the help I can get. I have no one around me who knows what things are supposed to look like. I thought it looked good but the stem scared me! I'm so proud of it! lol
Neither my husband or I have ever seen a squash plant grow, so we've been watching it like hawks! lol It's been so much fun! And I stay home with my daughter so we've been enjoying all the outdoor time!
I also have Sweet 100 tomatoes, black russian tomatoes, various herbs, radishes, bell pepper, jalapeno, cucumber and other outdoor plants. But the squash is booming! lol

So, since you've done well thus far, and in the interest of making sure you don't end up disappointed, it looks like the area where you have that plant is fairly sheltered. If you don't get bees or other pollinators to the plant the fruit will drop off unless you do the pollinating. You may need to get some small artists brushes and transfer pollen from the male flower to the fruit.

A Q-tip works just as well, no need for a brush in my opinion. with the weight of the eventual fruit it maight be wise to transplant it now and plant it a little deeper; up to its "shoulders" is what they say about tomatoes. I imagine you could do the same with zucchinis. good work

Thanks for all the replies! I totally appreciate all of the advice.
Ok, Tomncath, I'm glad you brought this up. I was getting kind of nervous this afternoon because the flowers were closing around noon as the day heated up. We get lots of bees in the front yard but none in the back. So I jumped the gun and tried my hand at pollinating the one female flower that was about to close. I just took off the male flower, cut off all the petals and rubbed the inside in the female flower. Does this work too? I didn't even think of a q-tip or brush! Will it hurt anything that I took that flower off? Now the female flower is tightly shut and it looks orange around the pursed edges.
I just brought the plant to the patio table to look at it and take pics...it's usually out in full complete sun all day.

I am sorry I can't help you as I am new than you to this gardening activity. I didn't even know squash needed male and female flowers. I only planted one squash and one zuchinni plant each. Did I need to get multiple plants of different genders? How can you tell a male from a female bloom?

Good luck with your issue, sorry I cann't offer informed assistance.

ditnc - male flowers have just a straight stem attaching them to the plant. Female flowers look like the photo, with little baby squash at the base.

agngg - what you did works and you didn't hurt the plant a bit by taking off the male flower. As long as pollen gets from the male stamen inside the female flower you are fine. Also, WTG! The plant looks great for that small container. And did you know you can eat squash blossums? If you pick off any more male flowers, you can just take the stamen out, batter them and fry them - or you can stuff them too. Look on-line for recipes. You can also cook and eat the female flowers with the babies attached.

You have a female stem... ;)

JK, your squash/zucchini looks great. With a container that small, be sure you don't let the soil get dry.

I used a Q-tip when I got the first male flowers on our squash/zucchini and it seemed to work well. We just picked our 2nd 7" one yesterday.

The bees are out and about in the flowers now but I have to admit I still feel the need to help out our cucumber plants. They have a lot of male flowers and only a couple of female ones so I hand pollinate (the same way you did) when I see a new female one.

From what I have seen, I don't think the answer has been thrown out to ditnc--the plants will produce both male and female flowers along their vines; no reason for multiple plants (tomatillos, on the other hand, need at least two [sexless] plants, say some folks...). You can tell the male from the female flowers on curcubits because the females look "pregnant" under the bloom--a mini-fruit that will either die off if not pollinated, or will mature after successful pollination; male flowers typically have a somewhat longer, skinny "stem" to them.

agngg, if you're going to transplant to a bigger pot, you should probably do it sooner rather than later; the plant will get stressed out, and the hotter it will be, the more stressed it will be. Also, your little chopsticks won't hold that puppy for long (if it hasn't already outgrown them!), so plan on planting in a place where the vine can lay over, or else it will break. One last bit: if you are going to transplant (which I recommend; if the container dries out just once, the whole thing's a goner), let it rest in the shade of your patio if it's a hot & sunny day; ideally, you could transplant to it's "final home container" on a cloudy/rainy stretch of 2-3 days. Heat/sun will stress a newly transplanted baby, and you may lose the fruits. However, the plant will recover and you will have even more.

Looks good!

I am experimenting with container gardening and all is going well until I noticed all my newer crookneck yellow summer squash has mushy, hollow ends. The part of the squash nearest the stem seems OK. I've been harvesting at about 8" and up until now its been fine. We had several 95+ degree days. I have been really soaking the pots. What caused this and is there a prevention? I dont see any powdery mildew-y looking places.
Thanks for any help.