by The zucchini are blooming in your garden with all their might, but there are no ovaries on them, although you seem to have done everything correctly. What are the reasons and what to do in this situation, we will tell you further.
Zucchini is a fairly unpretentious representative of the Pumpkin family, containing useful substances – potassium, iron, carotene, organic acids, as well as vitamins C, B1,AT2 and B6. Therefore, when we plant it at our dacha, we always expect a large harvest and are upset if there is none. What is the reason for the barren flowers on zucchini?
Young seeds
Sometimes, barren flowers appear on zucchini if you used too young seeds for planting. Experienced gardeners recommend storing them for at least three years and only then planting: this has a positive effect on the formation of female flowers in the zucchini.
Wrong place
Zucchini does not like to grow where their “relatives” – cucumbers, pumpkins, watermelons or melons – grew the year before. It is better to plant zucchini in this place 4-5 years after harvesting related crops.
Acidic soil
Zucchini prefer places with neutral or moderately alkaline soil with a pH level of 6-6,8. If the soil in which they are planted is highly acidic, they may not produce ovaries.
To reduce soil acidity, you can use dolomite flour or ash (0,5 kg per 1 sq.m. for significantly increased acidity, 0,3 kg for medium acidity, 0,2 kg for slightly increased acidity).
Dense planting
The distance between seeds directly affects both the appearance of ovaries and their development. If the squash is planted too densely, its leaves prevent adequate lighting and ventilation of the part of the plant where the ovary is formed.
This problem is solved quite simply: you just need to thin out the leaves, removing all the old ones.
Temperature conditions
During flowering, the squash reacts very sharply to temperature changes: in cold weather, the plant may not produce ovaries at all, and in hot weather, mainly male flowers appear on it, and the pollen becomes sterile.
In order to minimize the effects of weather, in cool summers the zucchini are covered with spunbond or lutrasil, and in hot weather they are sprayed with a solution of boric acid at a rate of 2 g per 10 liters of water.
Incorrect watering
Regular watering of zucchini at the very beginning of their flowering will lead to the fact that only male flowers will form on them. In order to allow female ovaries to form, temporarily stop watering the plants. It should also be taken into account that in hot weather zucchini also mainly form only male flowers.
Lack of nutrients
The appearance of barren flowers or a poor harvest may be due to a nutritional deficiency. Zucchini should be fed with nutrients every two weeks: 2-3 tablespoons of the substance are dissolved in 10 liters of water and root feeding is carried out. Complex fertilizers such as nitrophoska or azofoska are perfect for these purposes.
Also, flowering zucchini are susceptible to diseases and pests. How to deal with this, we already told in the article about why zucchini ovaries rot.
Poor pollination
One of the reasons for the appearance of barren flowers on zucchini is the absence of pollinating insects in your garden: bumblebees, butterflies or bees. To attract bees to your plot, you need to spray the zucchini with a honey solution at the rate of 2-3 tablespoons per 10 liters of water. You can help the bees pollinate the flowers, and the zucchini – to form an ovary yourself: to do this, take a male flower without an ovary (it differs from the female by the presence of a long thin stem), tear off all the petals and apply it to all the female flowers. This procedure should be done every morning until the ovaries begin to appear on the zucchini.
It is possible that for some reason insects do not have access to the plant if during the cool summer it is constantly under a dense cover – in this case, the cover should be removed periodically.
Plant overload with ovaries
If fruiting has stopped after the first squash harvest of the season, it means that the plant was initially overloaded with ovaries. It is best if no more than four female ovaries grow on each bush at a time.
In order to correct the current situation, you need to feed the crop with Nitrophoska at a rate of 50 g per 10 liters of water, and treat the bush with fruiting stimulants.
If you are faced with the same problem, do not despair, but try to use all the methods we have suggested to get rid of barren zucchini flowers.
