North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Caren Kirk <quirky@videotron.ca>]

 I did plant the zucchini a little later than normal ( I am trying 
really hard to get 2 season of crops out of my garden and it's tough up 
here, specially with a late spring). However they have been flowering 
for about 3 and half weeks easily so don't know when the female flowers 
are going to show up, if ever. And last year they were in the ground 
much earlier and I never got anything either. The variety I planted is a 
italian striped zucchini (striato di Napoli), as I used to plant this 4 
years or so ago and get huge crops (they are great because if they get 
too big they are still good to eat).

Anyway we'll see how the blossoms turn out tonight for appetizer!

Thanks for your help,

Caren.

On 9/11/2011 9:09 PM, Road's End Farm wrote:
> How long ago did you seed them? What variety did you use? How long
> have they been flowering?
>
> As Ernest said, male-only flowers are normal at the start of flowering
> for cucurbits; but female flowers should be along within a week or two
> from the beginning of flowering. It's possible that you have a variety
> not suited for your area in some fashion. I don't know, offhand, what
> would cause male-only flowers to continue so late in the season,
> unless you started the plants quite late and they haven't been
> flowering long.
>
> By the way, most varieties of tomatoes, eggplant, and beans don't need
> insect pollination; and there are a few varieties of cucumbers which
> don't either, though most cucumbers do.
>
> Yes, you can definitely eat squash blossoms. May as well get something
> out of them!
>
>
> -- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
> Fresh-market organic produce, small scale
>
>
>
> On Sep 11, 2011, at 5:50 PM, Caren Kirk wrote:
>
> >   Rivka and Ernest,
> >
> > OK now I'm a bit better informed, I went to check the flowers and
> > they're all male! How does that work? This is commercial seed I'm
> > using!
> >
> > Is there something that causes the plant only to set male flowers?
> >
> > Feeling terribly zucchini-deprived but searching for recipes for
> > blossoms,
> >
> > Caren.
>
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