The Bathroom Staple You'll Want To Keep On Hand When Growing Squash In The Garden

Squash are beloved garden classics, with their large yellow flowers quickly turning into delicious vegetables over the summer. While most types of squash are easy to grow, they do have separate male and female flowers and require the pollen from the male flower to be transferred to the female flower to produce fruit. While squash is generally pollinated just fine by bees and other pollinators, some situations call for gardener intervention. Some gardens lack sufficient insect life or the squash is grown under insect netting to avoid pests like squash vine borers and other squash bugs. In these cases, the plant could use some help with pollination.

In order to assist your plant, you first need to understand how the plant is pollinated. Squash plants — a family that includes summer and winter squash, along with pumpkins and gourds — have separate male and female flowers, but both flowers grow on the same plant. This means that pollen can be transferred from a male flower to a female flower and fruit can grow, even if you only have one squash plant. Just be aware that the flowers are short-lived, so there is only a small window to transfer the pollen. Since time is of the essence, a Q-tip can be used to pollinate the plant by hand. 

There are a few ways to hand-pollinate squash. One option is to use a Q-tip or a small paint brush to transfer the pollen from a male flower to a female flower. You can tell the flowers apart by the male flower's long thin stem and the pollen-containing anther in the middle of its flower. After brushing the Q-tip over the anther to pick up pollen, brush it over the opening in the middle of the female flower, called the stigma. If the pollen has been successfully deposited into the stigma, a squash fruit should eventually begin to form. Alternatively, you can cut the male flower from the plant and remove its petals. Then simply brush the exposed anther against the female flower's stigma. 

If you choose to hand pollinate your squash be sure to do it during the morning when the flowers and pollen are in their best condition. Squash flowers generally only last a day, so if you aren't prompt, you may miss your window. Luckily, one squash plant produces many flowers, both male and female, so you should be able to try again.