Half of a zucchini fruit is yellow. Is this a reason to worry?

Question

So, one side is nice green with white dots as usual, but the other side (the side on the less blurry part of the picture) is yellow instead of green. Is this some disease? I've gotten normal looking zucchinis out of this plant before.

I can't answer your question, but I'd certainly recommend picking it so the plant can work more effectively on new zucchinis. — Brōtsyorfuzthrāx, Jul 24 '21 at 03:32

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 14 '23 at 15:12

Depending on the variety, it may turn yellow when the fruit is at maximum size and fully ripe. Again depending on the variety, this may indicate that it is busy setting seeds and the flesh of the fruit may be becoming stringy. If that's the case it isn't dangerous. You may get more fruits if you harvest this one rather than letting the plant use energy on it.

Also, if the plant is stressed it may turn yellow and stop increasing in size when smaller than maximum. If the temperature or water conditions are outside its range it may try to get the seeds "to the finish line."

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 25 '21 at 20:55

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I can't say definitively, but if it's growing just fine then I would let it grow to maturity and save the seed to see if the mutation is stable on its offspring. You could have a nice mutation for a new variety on your hands!

Yellow fruit is a normal gene on squashes in general (zucchini is a squash). It could be that something in the environment caused a recessive yellow gene to trigger on the part facing the sun (it's usually the other way around!) There are some yellow-green, bicolor zucchinis that are really pretty. If you're lucky, this could be the start of a new heirloom.

What does the transition between the two colors look like?

answered Jul 25 '21 at 20:55

Josh

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You can see on the upper left part of the zucchini a part of the transition – Jul 26 '21 at 16:23
I see now, was hoping for a more stark contrast but still interesting. As an aside, my zucchinis tend to get a little weird as they age too, so maybe these things just happen as they age. One of my weird ones this season is bulgy at the end almost like a gourd. – Josh Jul 26 '21 at 17:16

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 14 '23 at 07:06

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In my experience, they yellow as they ripen. After that they go brown. That's true for the Indian varieties. I saw the transition, when as a teenager I was trying to make my own loofah.

So I wouldn't worry about it.

answered Feb 14 '23 at 07:06

Rohit Gupta

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Half of a zucchini fruit is yellow. Is this a reason to worry?

3 Answers3