Zuchini - Rabbits or critters eat the flowers???
by
Jim Ginas
+9
I have Cukes growing pretty decent now, starting to get a small amount. Have Tomatoes growing and ONLY now are a FEW tomato fruits starting to grow. ?? BUT QUESTION is Zuchiini!!!!!!! LOOKS like with ALL the FLOWERS growing from the Zuchini, YET NO FRUIT yet? I THINK something is eating the fruit before it gets growing! LOTS of large flowers start, THEN it looks like someone CUT the stem, so assume being eaten??
Zucchini: Thick, healthy leaves and flowers
some of Zucchini flowers
STEMS look like something EATING flowers off. ??
12 answers
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"Liquid Fence" invented by a man in the Pocono's in PA. Home Depot sells it. Keep deer & rabbits off your plants. I've been using it for years. IT WORKS
Allita
on Jun 29, 2013
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Allita I'll buy it! Heading to Home Depot this afternoon!
Jim Ginas
on Jun 29, 2013
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Jim, I'm not sure something is eating your zucchini flowers. They open, the bees and other insects find something good inside the blossoms, the blossoms then wither and fall off. If the blossom is at the end of a female zucchini, you'll see a small fruit growing. The flower will still be attached before it gets kind of yucky and drops off. If the flower is at the end of a male stem, the flower will drop off, and you'll see only the stem. This is not a scientific explanation but just what I've observed over many, many years of growing zucchini.
Susannah Landis
on Jul 01, 2013
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@ Susannah: Thank you. I am hopeful that with the additional Chicken Wire around this garden, that deer, nor rabbits should be able to traverse my fence, nor the chicken wire! The stems look like someone actually cut them so this is my concern about something eating them. Do BIRDS eat these? If so, that will be a challenge! Large tomatoes are STARTING to grow, only a few, but better then we have had to date or all last year, and Cukes growing pretty well, so HOPING Zucchini grows! ALSO have 2 eggplants that aren;t growing past 4-5 inches for past few weeks!
Jim Ginas
on Jul 01, 2013
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Jim, your plant looks very healthy. Susannah is right. Your plant needs the butterflies and bees to pollinate it. Look at the base of the flower and see if you can make out a small fruit. There is a method to self pollinate. Check the web for directions. Last year my butternut squash took many tries before a flower was productive. Be patient and keep those bees and butterflies in your garden. They are our friends. This link might help you http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dgibs7sUkc
Donna J
on Jul 01, 2013
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Thank you Donna.
Jim Ginas
on Jul 01, 2013
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Do you have crows around your house? They were coming on my lower deck (under the roof of my upper deck) and biting off my geranium flowers and leaves both last year and this year. I'd find leaves and whole flower heads bitten off and lying on the concrete. It didn't appear they had eaten them, just picked them. I moved them to the upper deck and they haven't bothered them now that they are biting the apples on my tree!
Linda K
on Jul 01, 2013
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Linda: no, thank goodness! no crows around the house, at least that fly around I've ever seen. My Geraniums (5 pots, one large, 2 small hanging and 2 long in the garden) are doing well.
Jim Ginas
on Jul 01, 2013
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***** SO, I am monitoring the Zuchs and what I realize is when the FLOWERS fall off, it looks like the stems I posted in the above pics NONE of the flowers have FRUITS under them, SO I wonder WHY??? Do I need like a female / male ZUCH plant to accompany these and if so, HOW do you know? Just ask at the Garden store????
Jim Ginas
on Jul 06, 2013
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OK, SO NOW I am CONVINCED.... I ONLY HAVE MALE Zucchini PLANTS! I'm learning WAAAAAY more then I imagined! Understand there MAY have been female Zucchini flowers OR when they DO arrive, I can SELF POLLINATE as Donna's video suggests!
Jim Ginas
on Jul 11, 2013
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its all a learning process :) they'll come
Jolene Radula Wemyss
on Jul 11, 2013
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Jim G, there are many recipes for stuffed male zucchini blossoms on the internet. Most seem to me to be kind of fussy to make, but people do use the blossoms to make delicious tidbits. I think, but I'm not sure, that Italian cooks were the first to use the blossoms for stuffing.
Susannah Landis
on Jul 13, 2013
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