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Vegetable Gardening

Zucchini! Plants are healthy but fruit is dying. Why?

The Jungle Explorer

8 years ago

I am growing zucchini in a greenhouse. The plants are really healthy but for some reason the fruit is dying while still very small. What is going on? Here are some pics.

Here you can see the plants. They are healthy. The leaves are huge.

But here is the fruit.

Featured Answer

theforgottenone1013 (SE MI zone 5b/6a)

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

They are dying because they haven't been pollinated. Since you're growing them in a greenhouse you'll almost certainly have to resort to hand pollinating them yourself (unless you can somehow introduce pollinators). Find an open male blossom, pluck it off, and use it to pollinate the open female blossom(s). Male blossoms have a skinny stem behind the flower, females have a very small fruit behind the flower.

Rodney

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Comments (8)

LoneJack Zn 6a, KC
8 years ago
I agree with Rodney that your fruit are not getting pollinated. Early morning is the best time to hand pollinate when the male and female flowers are both open. There is also a slight chance that you have a calcium deficiency that is causing blossom end rot.
The Jungle Explorer thanked LoneJack Zn 6a, KC
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The Jungle Explorer
Original Author
8 years ago
thanks. I was afraid that was the problem. Any ideas how to draw pollinators into my GH? There several wild honey bee hives around. A friend said that Lemon Grass Oil can be used to attract them.
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The Big Small
8 years ago
Agree with LoneJack - looks like it could be blossom end rot. Calcium deficiency. Amend with garden lime (dolomite lime) - have had the same problem myself this year and plan to plant each zuke next year with a handful of dried and crushed eggshell in each planting hole as a preventative.
The Jungle Explorer thanked The Big Small
farmerdill
8 years ago
Lack of pollination. At this point you will have to hand pollinate. For future reference, i would suggest parthenocarpic varieties like Parthenon, Sure Thing, Cavilli.Perfect Pick, etc. These will produce seedless zukes without pollination. Ideal for home greenhouse production and useful for growing under row covers to defeat SVB.
The Jungle Explorer thanked farmerdill
nancyjane_gardener
8 years ago
My zuks look similar, but my crooknecks in the same bed with the same water/sun/etc are thriving. Tons of bees in the area cause I also have a thriving herb garden, which they love!

I'm actually thinking of puling at least one zuk and planting a new one . NT
The Jungle Explorer thanked nancyjane_gardener
daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
8 years ago
Hand pollination is the ticket. It's really easy. Don't bother trying to lure pollinators into your greenhouse. The idea is for them to get pollen and go to their hive. Not to be trapped in a greenhouse.
The Jungle Explorer thanked daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
The Jungle Explorer
Original Author
8 years ago
Most of the female flowers never open up. A few do, but most don't. . Not sure why. It might just be the variety. On the on the A&M Agrilife Extension Vegetable Variety Selector (information source most county extensions offices use in Texas), it suggest several varieties of Zucchini for my region, none of which I can find seeds for except for the Eight Ball Tigriss. I find if funny that the varieties they suggest are so rare and hard to find. Most of them are hybrids anyway and I wanted to stick with heirloom for seed collection. I will try and find some of these seeds before spring and give the a try if I have problem with my heirlooms this fall. I started some new seeds for a fall garden this week. These new seeds are heirloom seeds. Hopefully they will do better then the ones in the ground right now. I plan to plant them outside of the GH this time. It's risky, because of the adverse conditions of my region, but if the wind will stay below 80mph, they might survive.
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