I have a squash and zucchini problem. Both seem to be dying on the vine. I saw a post about the zucchini and was wondering if you think it's a pollination problem. The squash seem to get about 6 inches long, then start to wilt and whither, until they're dead and brown. The zucchini did the same thing. I can at least harvest the baby zucchini, but the squash are lost.
Should I try "paint brushing" them? It looked like the zucchini almost had a spot that could have been from a pest, but it was rotten enough that I couldn't tell for sure. This photo is of the squash, there's a dead one, sorry it's a little distant. Thanks for your help!
Hardiness Zone: 5a
Nancy from Bartlett, IL
If I'm not mistaken, if you look on the underside of a leaf there will be yellow eggs attached. There is a bug, to me it looked like a stink bug, that lays them. I'm not sure of how it does it, but it causes zucchini, melons, and cucumbers to wilt. In my experience, I had no luck reviving them. (07/23/2008)
By Tina
If it is just the squash that is not developing, that is more likely a pollination problem so breakout the paintbrush.
By Babette
If the fruit is forming as far along as you say, then the pollination got done. When no fruit even starts, that's pollination problems. (07/23/2008)
Squash can also be subject to BER (blossom end rot) as well as incomplete pollination problems. BER has classic symptoms of initial rot only on the blossom end of the fruit that helps distinguish it from lack of pollination. But if pollination appears to be the cause then trying some hand pollination of the blooms will surely help. Squash vine borers are another chronic problem that you might want to do some research on. They attack the plant itself, not the fruit. (08/02/2008)
Try putting hay up under them to keep them from touching the ground, let them touch the hay. (12/03/2008)
By Bob
extension.umn.edu
or search for your question, good luck. (07/11/2009)
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