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HAND POLLINATE SQUASH FOR
BIGGER YIELDS After my first cup of coffee each morning, I grab a Q-tip and make haste to my front-yard garden where I have planted a fair bit of white patty pan and zucchini squash. And, like the honey bees I wished were here to do it naturally, I go from plant to plant, using the Q-tip to hand-pollinate the flowers. The results have been amazing. No more rotting, non-pollinated fruit. I have never had better yields. If you are growing squash you need to get hands-on and give hand pollinating a go. Give it a try in the morning, while the blooms are open. It is easy to distinguish between the male and female flowers once you take a close look. Simply gather pollen on the cotton swab from the non-fruiting male flowers and transfer it to the fruiting female flowers. It’s that easy. In just a few days you’ll be harvesting the mature fruit! Many of the squash plants in my garden are suffering from powdery mildew. I have been keeping it under control through the use of fungicides and by removing badly infected leaves and thinning out other leaves to allow for more air flow and sunlight to reach the base of the plants. Copper-based fungicides are a good choice to control powdery mildew. My favorite copper-based fungicide is soap shield. Others I have tried seem to burn the foliage in hot weather. A great bio-fungicide is Plant Guardian. The prices for these products are somewhat high compared to other fungicides, so I only buy them when I have a discount coupon. Request a catalog and you will start receiving discount offers.
COMMENTS: It’s a good organic way to foliar your garden and at the same time fight PM before it takes hold. --chris >> Thanks, Chris! Great advice. -- DG |
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