Sunshine Squashes

[RocW]

My sunshine squashes produce 4 or 5 male flowers, without a female in sight, the a couple of females by which time the males have died. I'm wondering if I can produce a sort of horticultural sperm bank only with pollen by taking off the male flowers and keeping them in the fridge until the next females arrive. has anybody tried this?

[Redhelen72]

Well its worth a try, however I noticed this with mine several months ago it evened up and I have had a very good crop.

Strictly speaking summer squashes start fruiting a lot earlier than this so you are a wee bit late

[Chipchopper]

My courgettes, got off to a poor start, all apart from one plant that struggled but eventually pulled through.
I don't know how, but it appears to be setting fruit, even though the male and female flowers are still tightly closed.

Your idea seems feasible and I think it's worth experimenting

[RocW]

Hi People, Thanks for the answers. Unfortunately it's all academic because the (very welcome) rain filled the flowers and washed all the pollen off. These aren't the first flowers; I've already harvested three squashes weighing between 600 and 900 grammes and there are two even bigger ones still ripening on the plant. Looking back at last year's records, I see that I picked the last one at the end of October and ate it in December, so I am hoping that there is still some hope of growing more. SWMBO has a theory that ambient temperature has some influence on the sex of the flowers so I might now have a glut of females with no males!