A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Vegetable Gardening My summer squash won't fruit!! Can you help?

I planted peter pan squash, yellow crookneck, and zucchini. All the plants are doing beautifully and they bloom beautifully, but the blooms never turn to fruit. They just wilt and fall off after blooming leaving a slightly rotten looking stem where the bloom was attached. I thought perhaps it was a pollination problem, but there are bees EVERYWHERE so I can't imagine that is the issue. This is the third year I have had a garden. The first year the squashes all did great then the second year I had this issue and it appears to be a problem again. I'm feeling completely clueless as to what I should try and would LOVE some help. Thank you in advance!

Hi and welcome.

I'm not a asquash expert but I'm wondering if you are getting just male blossoms. I've seen it before with zuchinni. Are there any blossoms that have a bump behind it(those are female).

Thanks for your response. =-) I went out and checked my plants and I couldn't find bumps on the zucchini blossoms, but I could on all the others. ???? So, I don't think that is the problem with the others. Is there anything to do about getting only male flowers?

Not that I know of...I seen me getting all male blossoms for weeks and by the time I got female ones...there were no male blossoms to fertilize it. I have no luck with getting zuchinni to set fruit.

About the squash..if you have both blossoms you should have fruit...I'm wondering if you might have some kind of virus in your plants? Such as Wet rot. Do you see a black mold with tiny black pin head looking spots?

Ah Ha! I think we might be onto something now=-) I do have small black spots on the squash. So, maybe I have an issue with Wet Rot.? So... now what do I do? =-) Any suggestions?

Too bad about the zucchini. =-(

Thanks so much for your help!!!

There's no cure for a virus on a plant;you have to pull up the plants and replant.

Sorry but wet rot is a fungus. You have to take out and destroy the entire plant, even leaves or such that are on the ground. If it stays it will infect your other plants. Do not compost them.

Gardening can be discouraging at times.

I'm hoping someone else can come give you a better diagnosis.

Bummer... well, thanks for the help!

WAIT!! If it's not too late-- don't yank out your plants. I agree it's a fungal problem-- had it myself earlier this year. But it can be fixed.

DO completely get rid of anything that's soft and mushy and do NOT compost it. Pay particular attention to blosoms that are just beginning to show signs of the characteristic "fuzziness" (these are the hyphae, I think, of the fungus) and pull them off. BE SURE TO NOT TOUCH ANY PART OF THE PLANT THAT IS STILL O.K.-- you'll just be depositing the spores on healthy tissue. You may have to keep doing this for a few days.

There are homemade fungicides (just search-- I think it's a spray of water & baking soda) and there are commercial fungicides you could try. But the key issue is WHY you've got this fungus. Proper air circulation is critical. Are your plants over crowded? Are there dead leaves laying on the ground under the plants? These leaves should dry out, but if the bases of the plants aren't getting enough air flow, then they won't and will become an excellent environment for fungus of all kinds. Are you seeing tiny toad stools in the general vicinity? This would be indicative of an environment that supports fungal growth. Are you over watering or has it been a wet summer for you? Combined with lack of air flow, or just by itself this would create ideal conditions for fungus.

So-- clean up. Don't touch. Try spraying a fungicide. Then just let the plant recover. They are squash, after all, and we all know that squash can keep on carrying on... and on... and on.

Good luck!