Summer squash (Cucurbita pepo) relies on the birds and the bees, flies, wasps, and even a human hand to get the job done. Pollination matters -- without it summer squash shrivels before it matures, and that’s if it gets started at all. Summer squash comes in bright greens and striking yellow colors. As an annual, it grows in all climate zones.
Without pollination, tiny developing summer squash shrivels up and dies before reaching maturity. While you can’t save the fruit after it starts to shrivel, you can make sure new flowers get pollinated. Summer squash produces flowers over a period of several weeks or months -- depending on the length of the growing season -- so a single plant will have both new flowers and maturing fruit at the same time.
Male or Female
Summer squash has separate male and female flowers. In order for a female flower to produce fruit, it needs pollen from a male flower. Nectar-thirsty insects generally take care of pollination by visiting multiple flowers in the squash garden, but in a greenhouse situation, or when pollinators fail to visit the flowers, the gardener must step in and hand-pollinate the flowers.
Close Enough to Touch
Select either a small, clean paintbrush or cotton tipped swab, and head to the garden to pollinate, ideally in the morning on a dry day. A male summer squash flower has a straight, narrow structure topped with grains of orange pollen under the petals, while inside female flowers, this center part appears thick and swollen. Take a peak inside each flower by pulling back the petals to identify whether it's male or female.
Get the Job Done
Wipe a few grains of pollen off of the male flower, and gently brush them into the female flower, making sure they stick. Alternately you can pick the male flower, and with the pollen exposed, brush it against the inside of the female flower. Every female flower has the potential to become a summer squash, so the more thorough you can be the better the chances of a good harvest. Once pollinated, summer squash should grow successfully to maturity without shriveling or dying prematurely.
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