Home - Garden
Grow More Squash In Your Garden With The Help Of
A Bathroom Staple
By LAUREN KRYSTAF
Gardeners whose gardens are lacking in insect life or who are growing squash in a protected area to avoid pests may need to pollinate these vegetables by hand.
Use a Q-tip to transfer the pollen from a male flower to a female flower. The male flower will have a long thin stem, with the pollen-containing anther in the middle of its flower.
After brushing the Q-tip over the anther to pick up pollen, brush it over the opening in the middle of the female flower, called the stigma.
If the pollen has been successfully deposited into the stigma, a squash fruit should eventually begin
to form.
Since squash flowers generally only last a day, be sure to hand pollinate your squash during the morning when the flowers and pollen are in their best condition.