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Why Is My Squash Not Fruiting?

How to Hand-Pollinate Your Squash and Increase Yields

Catherine Boeckmann
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“What’s wrong with my squash?” and “Why isn’t my squash fruiting?” are two common questions. Often, these squash problems are related to a lack of pollinators. Here are the short answers and how you can ensure a full harvest of squash this year.

Why Is My Squash Not Fruiting?

If your squash plant produces ample flowers but never bears actual fruit, or it bears fruit that stops growing when it’s very small, then you’re likely dealing with a pollination issue.

Most squash are monoecious, meaning a single plant produces both male and female flowers. Male blossoms are borne on a straight green stem, while female blossoms sit atop a tiny bulbous growth (the eventual squash fruit).

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To develop fruit, pollen from male flowers must be physically transferred to the female flowers by bees. Usually, the bees do a fine job, but if you don’t have enough bees in your area, you may end up with less squash than you had hoped for!

Hand-Pollinating Squash

Luckily, it’s easy enough to masquerade as a bee for a day and pollinate the flowers yourself. To do so, you’ll need to transfer pollen from the male flowers to the female flowers.

How to Hand-Pollinate:

  1. First, identify the male and female flowers. Female flowers have a small bulbous growth at their base, which will eventually develop into the squash fruit. Male flowers do not have this growth.
  2. After finding a male flower, use a Q-tip, pipe cleaner, paintbrush, or similar object to gently dust around inside the flower, being sure to gather pollen on the end of the pollinating utensil. 
  3. Locate female flowers and gently dust them inside them as if you were a buzzing bee.
  4. Repeat this with as many male and female flowers as you like. The pollen from one male flower should be enough to pollinate a few female flowers.

See our video demonstrating how to hand pollinate squash:

What If I Only Find Male (or Female) Flowers?

Don’t worry! Squash plants don’t always produce male and female flowers at the exact same time.

What usually happens is the following: You’ll see male blossoms first, and you’ll wonder where the female flowers are. Be patient. If there have been unusually high amounts of rain or cold weather, this can delay the emergence of the female flowers by a bit.

Subpar weather can also impact the activity of pollinators, which is another reason to hand-pollinate squash.

If you see the fruit that is shriveling and/or rotting, this may also be a pollinator issue. However, it can also happen because the conditions are so damp that the fruit gets killed off by a fungus, blossom end rot. 

Learn More

Squash can also have pest problems, but that’s another story. See our Squash and Zucchini Growing Guide to learn more!

Garden Problems
About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann loves nature, stargazing, and gardening so it’s not surprising that she and The Old Farmer’s Almanac found each other. She leads digital content for the Almanac website, and is also a certified master gardener in the state of Indiana. Read More from Catherine Boeckmann

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Comments

MAC (not verified)

1 month 3 weeks ago

I have to put deer netting over my acorn squash so deer do not eat the blossoms, Is it possible that bees can not pollinate the squash blossoms under the deer netting ?

Denise Famico (not verified)

4 months 3 weeks ago

If this will help someone...here goes....
I had squash vine borers in my son's first attempt at growing his own Halloween pumpkins, (he was 4 yrs old). We had a raised bed garden, not possible to cover sliced stems
with soil. So I cut out all the borers and duct taped shut the cuts in the vine. Looked awful but kept the plant and pumpkins growing. Had 2 50# pumpkins at harvest.

Teri (not verified)

6 months ago

I just read why my summer squash hasn't been doing well! Tomorrow I will be pollinating my females with Q-tip!! Yeah, I'm kinda new at this and really appreciate the advice! Stay Green Y'all!
Teri

Johnna Maertz (not verified)

1 year 3 months ago

My squash only produces male blooms......

You might want to use this tip from our reader, Donna: “I use a cotton swab to collect the pollen from several males, and then store it in an empty medication container. Then, when a female emerges a few days later, I just take the swab out and pollinate! That way, I never miss an opportunity to enjoy another zucchini.”

Donna K. (not verified)

1 year 3 months ago

This year, especially, I have had the tragic issue of the males and females not blooming at the same time. The females came out a week earlier than the boys, and I joke that the girls always did mature faster than the boys! So we picked about 5 baby, unpollinated squash, roasted them and enjoyed them as a delicacy.

Still, one tip that this article didn't mention was to collect/save the pollen from the male flowers and then use it to pollinate the females later. I use a cotton swab to collect the pollen from several males, and then store it in an empty medication container. Then, when a female emerges a few days later, I just take the swab out and pollinate! That way, I never miss an opportunity to enjoy another zucchini.

Jim Prendergast (not verified)

1 year 3 months ago

Sometimes my male Zuccini flowers like to identify as female and vice versa. I think it is important to be positive about their life-choices, however this results in a shortage of zuccini at the dinner table. Am I being Passive Agressive when I polinate them all?

Thanks for the giggle Jim Prendergast!

Michael Muller (not verified)

4 years 4 months ago

I have been hand pollinating for some time and on my squash and pumpkins I prefer to use a portion of a feather. You can get many pollin collectors out of one feather. Just split it down the middle and take an inch or two at a time from each side. I learned to grow my tomatoes on 6 inch square wire so that when they bloom I just shake the wire and pollinate the entire row every few days. I do the same with my peas and green beans and they produce an abundant supply but if it's windy wait till it's calmer to germinate better. Almost forgot. I use the feather on my corn as well.
Happy gardening to all. God bless