How to Prevent Shriveled up Baby Cucumber, Cantaloupe, Melon, Squash, Zucchini, and Pumpkin Plants by Hand Pollinating

A zucchini fruit grows next to a male flower.

Cultivating melons or squash in an urban garden or greenhouse sometimes results in stunted fruits that drop off the plants. Most varieties of the gourd family, including cucumbers, melons, pumpkins and squash, have male and female flowers. Normally these flowers attract bees, which go from flower to flower, pollinating the plants. If there are no honeybees or bumblebees in your area, hand-pollination is the only way to ensure that garden produces fruits.

Things You'll Need

• Short stool
• Small artist's paintbrush

Instructions

1. Go into the garden early in the morning, around 6 a.m. Place your stool in the row between the flowering plants.

2. Sit down and closely examine the flowers. The male flowers have long, pollen-covered anthers in the center. The female flowers' centers have short and wide stigma and underneath the female flower, the stem looks like a miniature fruit.

3. Swirl a small soft artist's brush over the male flower's anthem to gather the pollen.

4. Brush the paintbrush over the female flower's stigma, depositing as much pollen as possible. Repeat with the next flower. One male flower has enough pollen for several female flowers.

5. Repeat the process as new blossoms open. Some varieties of squash, such as zucchini, have flowers and fruit at the same time.

Tips & Warnings

• Hand-pollinate between 6 and 9 a.m., when humidity is higher.

• If you are pollinating for seed, cover the pollinated blossom with a paper bag to prevent insects and honeybees from adding pollen from a different, related plant.

• Squash and pumpkins cross-pollinate. The fruits will be normal; however, plants grown from their seeds will be hybrids.

• Use a stool to save your back and knees.

References

• University of Florida IFAS Extension; Home Vegetable Garden Techniques -- Hand Pollination of Squash and Corn in Small Gardens; Ed Thralls, et al.; December 2008
• K State Research and Extension; Horticulture 2011 Newsletter; Bob Bauernfeind, et al.; June 2011
• Purdue University Extension; Pollinating Tomatoes and Pumpkins by Hand; Rosie Lerner; June 1998

Resources

• University of California Cooperative Extension; Honeybees Are Necessary ...; Ed Perry; March 1999
• Curcurbit Breeding; Watermelon Crop Information; Todd C. Wehner; June 2010