Why so many female flowers on my squash plant? (I am glad to have them; just surprised.)
I have 3 young Tromboncino squash plants (Z. Rampicante) that were planted as a fall crop about a month ago. They are growing strong and tall with full, healthy leaves and vines. They have just begun to make flowers and I’ve been surprised to see that most of them are female.
When I grew Tromboncino this spring, in approximately the same location, the majority of the flowers were male, probably 8 to 1 or 9 to 1. The male flowers were also a week or so earlier than the females. But now, females predominate.
Have been puzzled by this reversed pattern. Wondering if it’s a seasonal difference. The seeds are from the same packet. Has anyone else who grows Tromboncino noticed something similar? NE Texas. Thanks.
Photos here: https://imgur.com/a/GYBktj4
by NPKzone8a
2 Comments
I wondered the same thing regarding my pumpkin plants! Both of the varieties I’ve grown popped out TONS of male flowers in the beginning. Up until recently it’s been all females. But most of the pumpkins won’t grow past golf ball stage. They seem to pollinate but then stop growing and rot. I had over 10 total but only ended up with 5 fully developed and grown. Now the plants are passing. I thought it was so odd how long it took for females to pop up and then how many of them began to bloom and grow so rapidly. I don’t have any answers but just thought I’d share my experience
It’s highly likely that it’s temperature related. In both daytime sand nighttime temperatures.
For instance “Depending on the variety of the vine crops, hot temperatures can change how many male and female flowers are present. Typically, high temperatures (over 90° F during the day and 70° F at night) develop more male flowers than female flowers. This means that we may be seeing zucchini plants with prolific flowers and few fruit, because the flowers we are seeing are all male, thus do not produce the part of zucchini we like to eat.”