Agree with anney. The first ones are all male flowers anyway and they just dry up and fall off all on their own and the female blooms won't be along for awhile.

You'll want to do some reading up on how to tell male squash blooms from female blooms for successful pollination later on in the season.

Enjoy your squash.

Dave

ok, so I am going to jump in and ask -- I have 4 zucchini plants outdoor in raised bed, overall they look very healthy. But about a week ago most flowers were dropped. I was afraid too much rain caused it. Can you look at the pictures and comment? Thank you
http://public.fotki.com/LeylaM/garden/growing-from-seeds-2009/1008313.html
http://public.fotki.com/LeylaM/garden/growing-from-seeds-2009/1008314.html
http://public.fotki.com/LeylaM/garden/growing-from-seeds-2009/1008316.html

jollyrd

In the first photo, the blossoms on the ground are male blossoms. They always fall off the plants whether they pollinate the female blossoms or not. And there may not BE any female blossoms on the plant at first. So, that's not a problem.

Second, your female blossoms (they're the ones with the small baby squash right under the blossom) must be pollinated by bees and other insects with pollen from the male blossoms. If the pollinators haven't shown up yet, the female blossoms and baby fruits will fall off, too. This is what squash do.

So don't worry. Give warm weather and insects time to make their appearance and you'll get squash.

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Very young plants jollyrd with what appears to be perfectly normal male bloom drop as discussed above. Blooms only live for 24 hours and then fall off. Don't see any female bloom on the plants, which is again, perfectly normal for such young small plants.

Does that answer your question or did I misunderstand what you were asking?

Dave

yes, thank you both for answering. I see lots of large bees around so I know I have pollinators, and I will wait.

I wanted to share with you the latest pictures. The plants are doing great, and I think I have potential zucchinis coming up -
http://public.fotki.com/LeylaM/garden/growing-from-seeds-2009/1008364.html
is this the actual fruit ? wow!

I did not plan to trellis them, will they be ok just on the ground? Is there any pest that likes them? Should I worry that some animals will eat them? I have two dogs that roam around the beds and keep squirrels away, but that is not a sure protection.

As long as you have the room, no need to trellis them.

That is a female flower and that little fruit on it is what will grow into a full squash if it gets pollinated. If not it will shrivel up and rot.

As far as pests - Squash Vine Borer is the worst one, and also squash bugs. They are a pain!

I know the search function isn't working right now, but there are many, many discussions on the SVB here on the boards.

Woooot! Since you have bees around, I would count on that being a squash!
Since this is the first time you've grown it, don't make the mistake of going for "baseball bats": seeing how big you can grow them.
Zucchini should be harvested at around 6" long; good flavor, tender and no seeds. And don't worry, your plants will keep producing them, and longer into the season than your neighbors who grow a few baseball bats and then say that their zucchini are "done".
Also, if you get too many at one time, they freeze well. Just slice them up and put the slices in a single layer on baking sheets to freeze. Once they are frozen, put in zip lock bags and you'll have some around for minestrone when the weather turns chilly.

While you're at it, look up some recipes for cooking squash blossoms. If you're going to have a bunch of male blossoms that won't ever turn into squash, you might as well enjoy them!