Zucchini plant problems

[AnthonyJ]

Our Zucchini plant belongs in The Little Shop of Horrors. Feeeeeed me Seymour! It has:

-Destroyed a plant cage. Noob mistake, had to cut the cage from around the plant.

-Nearly destroyed itself under it's own weight. Many of the leaf stems are bent and or broken.

-Taken over a second garden plot and in the process destroyed two romaine plants. We kinda forgot we put them there...

And it's still hasn't provided us a single zucchini...

The plant is huge now, there's about a dozen orange flowers and the leaves are easily 16 inches across. It's been literally about 2 decades since I've had a zucchini plant and even back then the thing was nowhere near as big as this thing is.

Is there something I should be doing to help the plant along? It seems like all the resources are going into making huge stems and leaves and none into making my veggies.

 

[GotGarlic]

Have you been fertilizing it, or near it? Too much nitrogen causes plants to make lots of foliage but inhibits fruiting.

It could also be poor pollination. You can try pollinating it yourself using the method described here: http://theveggielady.com/zucchini-flowers-but-no-fruit/

 

[medtran49]

I had to pollinate a couple of eggplant plants that were going wild like that but wouldn't fruit. I just took a small, clean, unused soft paint brush and went around a couple of times gently brushing around in the flowers (never knew there were male/female flowers like GG's link explains) and then we had lots and lots of eggplants shortly thereafter.

 

[jennyema]

I'm pretty sure it's a pollination issue. If you have that many flowers you should get fruit if they get pollinated by bees.

But the bee population is way off, as you probably know.

Its not hard to pollinate them by hand using a q-tip.

I've done it many times. But start doing it soon.

 

[Dawgluver]

I agree, I think the manual pollination idea is the ticket.

I'm very pleased that we have a good solid bee population out here. It's so sad that they're dying off world-wide.

 

[AnthonyJ]

Yeah, There's a ton of bugs, but very few bees. Honestly, 90% or more of the bees we see are drowned in the pool. Will definitely give this a try this evening. About a week ago the flowers were open wide and then the other evening they were closed again.

We fertilized before we planted, but I don't believe there's been any more put down since. Hopefully manual pollination will fix it. Thanks for the suggestions guys.

 

[jennyema]

The flowers are usually open in the morning. Make sure you pollinate male to female.

1. Determine which blossoms are male and contain pollen: Males stand on slender stalks.
2. Locate female blossoms, which have a small zucchinis beneath that will grow into an adult vegetable when pollinated.


Read more: How To Pollinate Zucchini | Zucchini Pollination | HouseLogic

 

[Roll_Bones]

We fertilized before we planted, but I don't believe there's been any more put down since. Hopefully manual pollination will fix it. Thanks for the suggestions guys.

Have you ever had the soil tested?
Last season we started losing tomato plants in late July. Thinking nothing of it we replanted again this spring and started to get the "leaf drop" on the peppers and "yellowing" on the tomato plants. I have lost half of my tomato plants already.
I did some research using the symptoms and our actions over the years.
I found out without a soil test that my PH was very low and had a calcium deficiency. I was adding to this problem over the years by adding fresh organic materials like grass clippings and leaves, but never using any lime.
Seems the old timers were right around here when they told me to lime the garden even if you did not know if you needed it or not.
I have proven that it is indeed the PH as I bought some fast acting lime about a month ago and it has made a difference in whats left.
Next spring this ground will be at the correct PH.

The flowers are usually open in the morning. Make sure you pollinate male to female.

1. Determine which blossoms are male and contain pollen: Males stand on slender stalks.
2. Locate female blossoms, which have a small zucchinis beneath that will grow into an adult vegetable when pollinated.


Read more: How To Pollinate Zucchini | Zucchini Pollination | HouseLogic

So the plants have male and female parts on one plant?
I always wondered about garden vegetables as we could plant one plant and get something from it, where some other plants have male and female plants.
I guess vegetable plants are different?

 

[jennyema]

This is in reply to roll bones:

Thank you! You may have solved my tomato problem with the acid thing. Same thing happened to me.

Zucchini grows so much and in the city I grew it close which worked fine for years .. So I'm not sure what I fertilized but it worked!

 

[Roll_Bones]

This is in reply to roll bones:

Thank you! You may have solved my tomato problem with the acid thing. Same thing happened to me.

Zucchini grows so much and in the city I grew it close which worked fine for years .. So I'm not sure what I fertilized but it worked!

Glad it was of some help to you.
I have been adding tree chips from the trees we had removed over the years. I told the tree guys to just dump the chips in a spot I have.
I have been adding about 12 inches of chips and yard scraps every fall.
By doing this I was lowering the PH and this does not allow the plants to uptake the nitrogen. Had I limed along with the organic supplements, I would have been better off.
It will be different next summer.

 

[GotGarlic]

Yeah, There's a ton of bugs, but very few bees.

Just FYI, bees are not the only bugs that pollinate. Moths, butterflies, dragonflies, etc., do, too.

 

[FoodieFanatic]

If you have a ton of zucchini blossoms, why not make stuffed zucchini blossoms? They are a real delicacy. Lots of recipes online that you could try. Just a thought.