How To Hand Pollinate Squash Plants to Ensure Enough Zucchini to Eat

If you've been around Pig In Mud for a while you know my gardening these days mostly consists of adding some vegetable plants to containers. And while we all like to joke about over-productive zucchini, so far this year I haven't been getting any to eat. The ants and bees just haven't done a good enough job of pollinating my plants so they produce vegetables, and I've picked off at least six shriveled hopefuls. So I decided to take things into my own hands (literally) and try pollinating them myself- I feel kinda like a mad scientist:@) The flowers tend to open in the morning and will close by the heat of the afternoon, so this will be a part of my morning routine as long as the plant continues to bloom.

The plant makes two types of flowers, male and female:

Male = Flower on end of long thin stem. 

Female = Flower on end of (potential) zucchini. 

Gently rub paint brush or q-tip against anther (fuzzy yellow part in center) of male flower: 

You'll see the yellow pollen: 

Gently rub pollen on stigma  (fuzzy yellow part) of female flower.

Some folks choose to pick the male flower off of the plant, peel the petals off  and then just rub the anther on the female plant. It's your choice.
I'm just poking the handle of the cheap paint brush into the planter dirt so I can re-use it the next day.
This procedure works with any squash plant, and yes, that includes pumpkins:@)
 I took these pictures around 7AM on Wednesday morning, 6/17/20.
Two days later (this morning), each squash I pollinated is over 4" long!

And that my friends is how we make a baby zucchini...
Soon to be named... DINNER.

Sunday 6/21/20 update, I picked these two this morning:

Have a happy day:@)

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