My ridge gourd plants have lot of male flowers and good amount of female flowers which are turning into fruits about 1.5 inches. But after that the fruits are turning yellow and then drying off. What could be the reason.
Asked
Active
Viewed 4,201 times
1
-
Update: I removed 2 plants as they were looking very pale and unhealthy and I was thinking that the 3rd plant which was at a younger stage would also get damaged. The 3rd plant also grew up to bear lot of male flowers and very less female flowers. After a few weeks I saw some honey bees hovering all over the plant and soon I got my first fruit. Happy moment indeed. – Muddassar Jun 03 '20 at 13:04
1 Answers
2
Provided the plant is otherwise healthy and vigorous, it could be that either the plant is too young (does not have enough foliage yet) or that pollination has failed. Gourds and squashes frequently provide their own male and female flowers on different parts of the plant so insect activity is required to move the pollen from one to the other. The male flowers need to be producing active pollen and the females need to be receptive; this can fail when the plant is too dry, or the weather is too hot or too cold or rainy, or simply because the insect population is not dense enough to visit all the flowers.
Provided the vines are producing lots of flowers of both types continuously, eventually all the stars will line up and you should start getting fruits forming.
Colin Beckingham
- 19,612
- 1
- 12
- 43
-
Pollination has been a problem for my Bottle gourd as well. In winters I see very less insect activity, so I am currently preferring to do hand pollination as much as I can. But it's tricky to find the time when flowers open. In my case, I am seeing flowers open mostly in the evening. – lsbmsb Dec 24 '20 at 17:37
-