Courgettes, Squashes and Pumpkins – Male and Female Flowers Explained

Courgettes, Squashes and Pumpkins have the same characteristic large yellow star like flowers but it’s a little confusing which flower produces the vegetable.

In this article I’ll explain the differences between Male and Female Flowers and help with problems relating to flowers and pollination.

How to Identify the Male Flowers

Male Flower on Pumpkin
  • They are the first star shaped yellow flowers on the plant.
  • They have very narrow stems.
  • Flowers have lots of pollen.
  • Flowers are short lived, they only last 1 day.
  • Male flowers bear no fruit.

How to Identify the Female Flowers

Female flower with Baby Squash behind it
  • The female flowers appear later usually a week after the male flowers.
  • These flowers have a swollen ovary behind them which is a baby vegetable.
  • If the flower is pollinated the baby will grow into a courgette, pumpkin or squash.

Why are there Male and Female Flowers on Courgettes, Squashes and Pumpkins?

Male Flowers on Courgette

There are both male and female flowers on these plants so that pollination and fruit production occurs.

The male flowers open to attract the pollinators like bees to get into a routine of visiting the plant and hopefully after a week or so the female flowers will open and the bee will be back to pollinate it too.

To pollinate an insect or bee will need to land in the pollen in the male flower and then put that pollen into the female flower.

It is important to encourage pollinators like bees, hover flies etc into your garden so they can pollinate the later female flowers to produce fruits.

Worst case if you have a Male flower and a female flower, you can pollinate it yourself.

This handy YouTube video shows you how.

How to Hand Pollinate Courgette or Squash Video

Courgette, Squash, Pumpkin Growing Problems = Solved!

Problem 1 – My plant is not producing any female flowers, only male flowers.

Solutions:

  • Timing – Make sure you have waited for at least 1 week to check the female flowers are just not slow appearing.
  • Weather – Some conditions can stress the plant, like too hot, too cold, too wet and the plant tries to survive and it gets distracted and forgets about producing female flowers.
  • Too much Nitrogen – this will give your plant lots of lovely lush green leaves but very little flowers. Make sure you plant in multi-purpose compost to get an all round nutrient benefit.
  • Too Crowded – if the plants are too crowded in a space, they are having to fight for air, water and nutrients. Plants then get stressed and can’t do the job they are supposed to be doing I.e producing female flowers.
  • Poor Pollination – if the male flowers are not being pollinated very well, the female flowers may never appear.

Problem 2 – My courgettes are just wilthering and falling off the plant.

Solutions:

  • Blossom End Rot – this is a lack of water, irregular watering or missing vital nutrients like calcium in the soil, the courgettes etc will rot and drop off.
  • Not enough water – Once a courgette plant is flowering, it will need more water in dry weather. It needs the water so the baby veg can grow bigger into your courgettes.
  • Poor Pollination – If the plant has been poorly pollinated the fruit drops off the plant as it hasn’t got the been to grow anymore.

Courgette, Squash and Pumpkin – Reading:



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