Formation of zucchini ovary

Zucchini is a culture from the pumpkin family. In central Russia, during the flowering of zucchini, it is often rainy weather. If bees, or other insects, do not pollinate the female flowers in time, the fruits will not be tied, and the flowers will simply fall off. The ovary may not form due to fungal diseases. If your zucchini during the fruiting period get sick with powdery mildew or other fungal disease, in no case treat the plant with fungicides, as bees will not pollinate zucchini treated with strong chemicals. It is best to use a mild detergent, such as a soda ash solution.

Pollination by hand

In order to be guaranteed to get the ovary, you need to manually pollinate the plant. It is important to distinguish between male and female flowers. In hybrid varieties of zucchini, these flowers bloom at the same time, while in older varieties, male flowers bloom two to three weeks earlier than female ones. These flowers are a kind of signal for pollinating insects. Within three weeks, bees fly for pollen on zucchini... Then pollinating insects will fly to female flowers. Female flowers bloom directly on the ovary, and fall after pollination.

It is the thickened pedicel with an ovary that is a distinctive feature of the female flower of pumpkin crops.

Flowers with a regular stalk are male, they need to be picked. Then, the flower crown of the male flower is removed, freeing the pistil with pollen. The female flower remaining on the zucchini bush is carefully opened and pollen touches the stamen. One male flower can pollinate two or three female flowers. After pollination, the fruit will begin to form from the ovary.

Spraying with pollen solution

Pollination can also be done with a pollen solution. Several male flowers must be placed in warm water. After mixing pollen with water, the flowers must be removed. This solution can be sprayed with a plant from a spray bottle. This method of pollination is used if there are much more female flowers than male flowers. You can spray three to four plants by preparing a pollen solution from the male flowers of the same bush.

With the help of artificial pollination, it is possible to increase the yield of early ripening hybrids several times.