Vegetable gardeners please help....?

Question

This is a long one...please advise. This is our garden:

Blue Lake Pole Beans: no problem

Russet Potatos: no problem

Radish: already harvested

Blueberries: no problem

Chives: no problem

Strawberries: bird problem/no harvest

Peaches: squirrel problem/work in progress

Watermellon: very slow growing

Mint: flourishing

Trouble spots:

Zucchini: blossoms for over a month, no "fruit"

Yellow Summer Squash: see above ^

Cucumbers: see above ^

It seems the ground vine plants are not going to produce this year. They are well watered and fed. We did NOT rotate the crops this year. We had a good harvest last year w/ everything. The weather has been dry and hot. We're in Colorado...just northwest of Denver.

How long should I wait for the Cucs, Zuccs, and Squash to start producing?

I'm on the verge of tilling them all under and starting over.

Advice, comments, suggestions appreciated. Thanks :)

Answer 1

Mac,

I think Sophie is on the right track.  You know the first blooms are usually male, and don't produce fruit.  Also, it's only after the blooms produce the female blossoms that the cross-pollen occurs.  If it's too hot or sometimes even if too much bug spray is used to prevent pest damage, it can affect fruit set and production.  

I'm not saying that's the problem, but it sounds like it's something along those lines.  A month seems like an awful long time to have blooms with no fruit set.  The odds of having zero female blossoms isn't even calcuable, but something is affecting fruit set.

Also, try watering them at a different time of the day, that may encourage pollinators to come around at different times, dunno, that may help. Under watering can put the crops under stress at the expense of fruit production too. And, over watering can prevent good cross-pollination.

good luck

let us know what happens down the road

Answer 2

How's your bee crop? they may not be getting polinated.....

Answer 3

Wish I had some good advice for you. My husband and I have been pretty disappointed with our crop this year as well. I would like advice from you on growing/harvesting the mint and any recipes you have for it.

Answer 4

give it more time and look to see how many days to harvest on the seed pkt.     if there are were blossoms  it just takes more time to grow into cuke, zucchini and squash,   good luck with you garden

Answer 5

Q&A: Squash and Melons Not Setting Fruit

National Gardening Association

Question: My zucchini, cantaloupe, watermelon and cucumber plants have each produced dozens of flowers, but none are setting fruit. I have long suspected that we have a shortage of bees and the flowers are just not getting pollinated. Any suggestions? The plants look very healthy and get many hours of sun daily. I tried planting sunflowers at the end of the bed to attract bees - but haven't seen any yet. (I have the same problem with my tomato plants - lots of flowers, but no fruit.)

Answer: You're right that there aren't as many pollinators around, for a variety of reasons. A mite has devastated the honey bee population, and the media has scared everyone with "Killer Bees" so people are having hives removed in greater numbers than before. You might try a diverse planting of flowers to encourage more visitors. Some annuals that do well in the heat here are coreopsis, cosmos, gaillardia, vinca, lisianthus, and salvia. Herb flowers are also great for attracting insects. Limiting or eliminating pesticide use also encourages them.

Most vining crops start by producing a lot of male flowers before the females, and these early flowers wither and die. Once both flowers are present, you can hand pollinate the blossoms yourself by taking a small artist's paint brush or cotton swab and transferring pollen from the male flower(without a small fruit behind the flower) to the female flower (the one with a small fruit behind the flower).

Tomato pollen isn't viable much over 90 degrees, so fruits won't set when our temperatures get too high. You can try gently tapping and shaking tomato plants in the early morning to pollinate.

Answer 6

I found in Texas if the weather is very hot and dry that cucumbers stop producing.  It also varies by plant.  Two plants can produces lots while the third plant produces nothing even though all plants appear healthy.

Answer 7

Ha, ha, ha, mine is doing terrible also here in PA.

Greens good. (lettuce, chard)

Potatoes wonderfully

Peppers puny

tomatoes puny

strawberries one harvest (that's bad)

cukes,squash, cantelope, watermelon, Nothing at all.

Our weather has been cool and wet so far this yr.

Wish I could help, but mines no better. LOL