Zucchini squash going bad.

[CanopyCo]

My green zucchini squash is turning yellow and soft on the blossom end before it is even big enough to do anything with.

Any idea why and how to make it stop?

[gunner]

Most likely its Blossom End Rot

[Billy]

make is "how are your bees?" I often have this problem, for the first couple of weeks, when my squash start to produce. In the past, someone in the group has given me things to do or think about and by the time I'm ready to do them, the bees have arrived, and the problem goes away.

[CanopyCo]

There be no bees. Not that I have seen anyway. There once was a hive just next door, but they all died off for unknown reasons.

I=92ll start treatment for blossom end rot right now, and see if that helps. I notice that calcium deficiency is part of that problem. Should I put some calcium vitamin pills in the dirt around the plant?

[Billy]

No bees. You're gonna have to get up close and personal with your zuchs. Pull the petals off the male flowers and do what comes naturally with it to the female flowers.

[Steve Peek]

There be no bees. Not that I have seen anyway. There once was a hive just next door, but they all died off for unknown reasons.

I?ll start treatment for blossom end rot right now, and see if that helps. I notice that calcium deficiency is part of that problem. Should I put some calcium vitamin pills in the dirt around the plant?

If there aren't any bees your problem IS NOT blossom end rot. You female flowers aren't getting pollinated. You're going to have to do it by hand. See Billy's post. Steve

[CanopyCo]

Either there is a little sneak a bee activity, or someone else is cutting in on there action.

;-)

I am harvesting good looking fruit, just that some of it is not making it. It does the end softening thing while still thumb sized.

Not all the fruit, just about 1 in 5.

[Billy]

Bees aren't the only pollinators. If you don't want to get down with your zukes, just wait. The bees will show up, eventually.

[phorbin]

Zone 5 here after a very cool spring, and our bees have been active=20 since it first got warm enough for them to move.

What do you have for flowers, grasses etc. in and around your garden?

[CanopyCo]

de quoted text -

Standard Oklahoma flora and fauna.

A few miles of uninhabited oak forest 100 yards straight south, kind of horseshoeing to cover south & west.

Arkansas river east of me, across a highway, past some businesses and housing, about a quarter mile straight east as the crow flies.

Large (40 acre) pasture next land north of me that is Johnson grass.

Clover & Bermuda mostly in the yard.

Oil field polluted creak with willows next thing, just immediately south of the garden.

Pecan & black walnut trees in the yard.

Squash is in a boat full of dirt and oak leaves right next to the creek. Next to that is onions in refrigerators turned on there side. Goat and chicken pin next to that garden patch, and surrounding the tomato patch.

Odds and ends flowers around the house. Tiger Lilies mostly.

I sure miss my neighbors bees.

[Steve Peek]

Standard Oklahoma flora and fauna.

A few miles of uninhabited oak forest 100 yards straight south, kind of horseshoeing to cover south & west.

Arkansas river east of me, across a highway, past some businesses and housing, about a quarter mile straight east as the crow flies.

Large (40 acre) pasture next land north of me that is Johnson grass.

Clover & Bermuda mostly in the yard.

Oil field polluted creak with willows next thing, just immediately south of the garden.

Pecan & black walnut trees in the yard.

Squash is in a boat full of dirt and oak leaves right next to the creek. Next to that is onions in refrigerators turned on there side. Goat and chicken pin next to that garden patch, and surrounding the tomato patch.

Odds and ends flowers around the house. Tiger Lilies mostly.

I sure miss my neighbors bees.

Sounds like it may be time to learn about beekeeping. Steve

[Billy]

Might take a look at

find bees buzzing the wisteria, and the sage long before the garden is ready for them. Violets attract bees as well, and they have a long flowering season (at least they do here). You really need a succession of flowers to keep the bees in your garden.

[Aluckyguess]

I let have about have the broccoli go to flowers it brings a lot of bee's.

[Billy]

and butterflies, another pollinator.

? Brassica oleracea Acephala Group - kale and collard greens - 500 BC ? Brassica oleracea Alboglabra Group- Chinese broccoli ? Brassica oleracea Botrytis Group - cauliflower, Romanesco broccoli and broccoflower ? Brassica oleracea Capitata Group - cabbage - 1100 AD ? Brassica oleracea Gemmifera Group - brussels sprouts - 1750 AD ? Brassica oleracea Gongylodes Group - kohlrabi ? Brassica oleracea Italica Group - broccoli - late 1600 AD

[gunner]

How has the heat and the watering been going? are you still seeing the problem?