My zucchini and yellow squash are fizzling out at 3 inches, help!

[Kellydelly]

Don't know if my squash have stunted growth due to watering, bugs, or pollination ? Any expert gardeners out there know what my problem may be? I think the cucumbers are not getting past an inch too . The only thing growing right are my tomatoes and my bell peppers.

 

[golfgal]

Not much of a gardener but my first though was it wasn't warm enough but if your tomatoes and peppers are growing, that wouldn't be the case.

 

[Nancyg56]

Squash like hot sandy soil so if you have gotten too much rain it will suffer. Have you been fertilizing your cukes? If there has been a lot of water the fertilizer washes out and you need to apply more often. DH gave ours some calcium nitrate and they are doing better.

 

[brerrabbit]

Stunted growth like that indicates a water problem. Are they growing to 3 inches and then the end is smaller and starts rotting? If so his is a form of blossum rot. It happens from to much water. I try to pick the flower off the end of my squash as soon as they set the fruit. This can also happen to tomato's and cucumbers so it is interesting that they are not experiencing it as well. We have had virtually no rain in six months and I had the best crop of zuchhini and yellow squash I have ever had. I tend to think it's because I completely controlled the water with no rain. Tomatos were very good and I even grew spaghetti squash this year. Got a few but the hot weather ended them to soon. Living where I do I have to put my garden in very early (late February/ early March) because by mid June the heat starts killing everthing.

Cooler weather will not effect the plants except for freezing weather. Once you are past the freezes you are fine. Tomatos actually need nightime lows below 70 degrees to set fruit. Another reason that once June hits the fresh produce is done for me till the fall.

 

[EllenFrasier]

Stunted growth like that indicates a water problem. Are they growing to 3 inches and then the end is smaller and starts rotting? If so his is a form of blossum rot. It happens from to much water. I try to pick the flower off the end of my squash as soon as they set the fruit. This can also happen to tomato's and cucumbers so it is interesting that they are not experiencing it as well. We have had virtually no rain in six months and I had the best crop of zuchhini and yellow squash I have ever had. I tend to think it's because I completely controlled the water with no rain. Tomatos were very good and I even grew spaghetti squash this year. Got a few but the hot weather ended them to soon. Living where I do I have to put my garden in very early (late February/ early March) because by mid June the heat starts killing everthing.

Cooler weather will not effect the plants except for freezing weather. Once you are past the freezes you are fine. Tomatos actually need nightime lows below 70 degrees to set fruit. Another reason that once June hits the fresh produce is done for me till the fall.

Thanks for posting a solution - I just noticed one of my summer squash, about 3 inches long, had rotted on the bottom where the blossom was attached. We have had tons of rain, so I bet that's the problem. I'll start pinching those flowers off and maybe that will help them.

 

[Kellydelly]

I live in MI and we did get a lot of rain in recent weeks, but it's been dry for the last few days. I have fertilized twice with Miracle Grow. I love cukes, I hope that they decide to grow!

 

[golfgal]

Stunted growth like that indicates a water problem. Are they growing to 3 inches and then the end is smaller and starts rotting? If so his is a form of blossum rot. It happens from to much water. I try to pick the flower off the end of my squash as soon as they set the fruit. This can also happen to tomato's and cucumbers so it is interesting that they are not experiencing it as well. We have had virtually no rain in six months and I had the best crop of zuchhini and yellow squash I have ever had. I tend to think it's because I completely controlled the water with no rain. Tomatos were very good and I even grew spaghetti squash this year. Got a few but the hot weather ended them to soon. Living where I do I have to put my garden in very early (late February/ early March) because by mid June the heat starts killing everthing.

Cooler weather will not effect the plants except for freezing weather. Once you are past the freezes you are fine. Tomatos actually need nightime lows below 70 degrees to set fruit. Another reason that once June hits the fresh produce is done for me till the fall.

Here once June hits we can actually plant .

 

[perdidochas]

Don't know if my squash have stunted growth due to watering, bugs, or pollination ? Any expert gardeners out there know what my problem may be? I think the cucumbers are not getting past an inch too . The only thing growing right are my tomatoes and my bell peppers.

Could indicate that they aren't getting fertilized. Do the non-growing zucchini look malformed?

Solution is to manually pollinate. Take a male flower, get pollen with q-tip, and transfer to female flower (female flowers are the ones that look like they have a zucchini at the base).