I have been growing Waltham butternut squash for quite a few years, up concrete reinforcing wire that is on one side of an old swingset. It has always done well. This year I noticed I had a ton of male flowers at the bottom, and then only recently did I start seeing some female blossoms more at the top (like 6-7' up). There are very few of them that get fertilized. It just occurred to me that I could fertilize them myself, but I got to thinking.......Is there some reason that if tons of male flowers are at the bottom of the trellis and only a couple females at the top.......that bugs spend their time at the bottom, and don't bother with the ones at the top? Since I haven't had this problem in the past, maybe it's just a funky year. But just curious if something about growing up a trellis, where all the male blossoms are at the bottom, could distract bugs from bothering with the top female blossoms? If these were growing on the ground, the males and females would probably be closer together.

Thanks!