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I have only one plant of each, Zucchini and Butternut squash. Sometimes female flowers bloom when no male flower is open. Can I somehow preserve the male flowers to pollinate by hand later ?

Meera
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    Yes, but you shouldn't have to worry about that. Not with a squash in a pot on your balcony...I never hand pollinate and I always get too many of everything. Where are these plants? Are they out of doors? – stormy Jul 20 '18 at 08:03
  • You should not have to worry about hand pollination. I went back and yes, they are out of doors. Sorry. This might just mean a bit of patience is necessary. Pollen most certainly can be saved but that is not at all a thing you need to be doing. Maybe watching the pot causes the water to never boil? Is that right? Grins. Please give us a bit more information such as fertilizer or any additives. What soil have you used in those pots? – stormy Jul 20 '18 at 08:14
  • I know that it is usually not necessary but I really think it is in my case. I saw how the fruits turned black and fell off after the flower bloomed without any male one around. And since I supported the pollination by hand (if two were open at the same time) that didn't happen anymore. Maybe it has to do something with the plants being on a rooftop in a city and there are not so many other squash plants close to it. – Meera Jul 20 '18 at 16:21
  • that is the point to having male and female flowers on the same plant. That is not a worry. Kind of smart, huh? If you are pollinating them, why are they turning black and falling off? That is what we need to address. Please send pictures! – stormy Jul 20 '18 at 22:27
  • They turned black and fall off after the blooming if they didn't get pollinated because bees didn't do the work and either I didn't support pollination (in the beginning I thought I don't have to) or I couldn't because no male flower was open. Hence this question. My other open question is about them falling off before blooming, it's a different story. – Meera Jul 21 '18 at 03:47
  • The male flowers turn black when they have made their pollen. Your plants had female flowers pollinated and they produced zucchini. Those zucchinis were infected by a fungus (?) that is one possible reason for the rotting zucchini fruits. I have never helped any of my plants with pollination and there are always too many. Those were actual baby zucchinis in your hand. That means pollination was successful. Something else is wrong here, not having to do with pollination. – stormy Jul 21 '18 at 08:41

3 Answers3

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Yes, you can gather the polen in a ziplock bag with a q-tip or toothpick. I am unsure how long polen can stay fertile but after searching for a bit I found a similar question: https://gardening.stackexchange.com/a/23095/20219

Quote:

After a few months, the pollen may lose over 50% of its vitality, but applied heavily enough, it will be sufficient.

Petar Petrov
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I have saved pollens in a jar and used them to hand pollinate. I faced the same thing: flowers were not pollinating on their own. A lot of the times, male and female didn't open at the same time. I saved pollen from male and hand pollinated female ones to get good zucchinis.

Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL
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Gardengnome
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I have had issues with my zucchini growing to about 2-3" and then falling off the vine, because of lack of pollination. I have found that if I go out early enough in the morning with my handy-dandy q-tip, I can find a male flower and take the pollen out and brush it gently on the inside of the female flower, and I now have 3 zucchini over 4 inches in length. I've had better success hand pollinating than waiting for the bees, which I do not see anywhere around. I'm now storing 3 male flowers in a baggie in the fridge for a few days, in hopes of having more female flowers to pollinate. Best of luck to you, as I can totally relate to your issue!

Melanie
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