I am growing acorn squash and I have noticed that the vast majority of the female flowers will fall off long before they ever bloom. I have no shortage of male flowers and thankfully I have successfully pollinated the few female flowers that have actually bloomed. Any advice as to what the problem could be?
Also, the male flowers seem to outnumber the female flowers 10 to 1. Not sure if this is actually a problem though,
Lastly, how long does it usually take acorn squash to be ready to pick after pollination?
Does just the flower part come off, and are there any marks on the baby squash behind it?
I ask because quite often I have problems with the first female squash blossoms being attacked by idiot fledgling startlings. Maybe they think there little squashes are bugs. Maybe they are just drunk on over-ripe fruit. (They also sometimes bite at tiny baby peppers and eggplant fruits, but here the triangular bird nips are more obvious.)
Or do the flower and baby squash turn yellow and drop? This would indicate that the plant was aborting the blossoms for physiological reasons (pest load, nutrient problems, too much shade, water stress). Usually I see this sort of blossom dropping later in the season on plants that already have a heavy fruit load.
Pretty normal for there to be more male than female flowers. Pollen is 'cheaper' to produce than a fruit and seeds, so the plant can afford to make lots of it.
If you want something that cooks up and tastes like a summer squash, any time. To harvest relatively mature acorn squashes, it will likely be at least 2 months. But for the best, sweetest squashes the fruit should be left on the plant as long as possible without risking frost. Minimally, they should be left on until the stem is as hard as wood and the rind can't be pierced by your thumbnail. (And on green acorn varieties, any yellow spot on the bottom will turn orange.)
Vine borers usually get the vine not the leaves. So the borer may still be a problem. Sometimes the hole and frass are on the underside of the vine and hard to see. Are any leaves wilting? Where do you live? I've noticed that of all th squash we grow, acorn flowers seem to be the most temp sensitive. Have you had a hot or cold spell lately? A few more possibilities. Gary
The moth lays eggs on the stem and on the larger leaves, especially in bush-type squashes. From the leaves they can rather quickly move into the stems without showing a lot of frass--it goes into the hollow leaf stem.
The moths fly in the middle of the day and mimic wasps in the way they fly. (Not that we have any red and black wasps, locally, so it's easy to see through the ruse.)
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