{"id":46830,"date":"2017-06-08T06:00:22","date_gmt":"2017-06-08T10:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/?p=46830"},"modified":"2020-11-03T03:38:26","modified_gmt":"2020-11-03T08:38:26","slug":"hand-pollination-pollinate-squash-pumpkins-cucumbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hobbyfarms.com\/hand-pollination-pollinate-squash-pumpkins-cucumbers\/","title":{"rendered":"Grow Better Squash, Pumpkins & Cucumbers With Hand Pollination"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’ve been disappointed in the yields or quality of the squash, cucumbers, melons<\/a> and pumpkins you’ve grown in the past, poor pollination might be to blame. The decline of many pollinators has led to a shortage of quality pollination in many gardens. To overcome this issue, many gardeners use hand pollination of squash and other related vining crops.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, hand pollinating members of the melon family is fairly simple. It takes just a few minutes of your time every morning to ensure these crops produce heavy yields of high-quality fruit. Hand pollination of these vegetables also helps prevent deformed fruit with a shortened, stubby blossom end (another sign of poor pollination). Here’s how to hand pollinate squash and other cucurbits.<\/p>\n

Step 1: Identify Male And Female Flowers<\/h2>\n

Unlike many other garden crops, members of this plant family have separate male and female flowers on each vine. In order for fruit to be formed, pollen must be transferred from the male flowers to the female flowers. Because each flower is open for only a single day, that pollination has to take place in short order.<\/p>\n

Hand-pollination of squash and other members of this family begins with determining which flowers are male and which are female. Thankfully, this is an easy task.<\/p>\n