How to Pollinate Butternut Squash

Various squash and gourd plants can be fertilized by hand.

As of 2011, the United States is suffering from a crisis; fewer birds and bees are available to help fertilize pollinator-dependent plants such as squash. This localized shortage of pollinators has had a noticeable effect on the number of naturally fertilized crops. However, commercial and home growers have managed to take up the slack with artificial methods of pollination, such as supplemental bee colonies and hand pollination.Although hand pollination is a laborious process, it can ensure 100 percent fertilization if performed diligently.

Instructions

1. Start in the morning on a day of high humidity; flowers open up in the morning and the humidity will activate the pollen.

2. Identify a male flower; male blossoms are located on longer vines positioned further from the main stem. Look for a flower with a straight, pencil-like stem.

3. Cut the flower and remove the outer petals to expose the pollen-bearing appendage, the anther. Pick a male flower the night before pollination and force-open it indoors by storing the cut flower in a vase of water.

4. Locate a female flower; female flowers are found on short stems close to the main vine. Look for a bulbous form on the stem just under the base of the flower; this is a young squash. Also identify the flower's stigma; the stigma is the central organ of the female flower and resembles a grouping of balls.

5. Rub the anther of the male flower against the filament of the stigma of the female, coating all of the stigma's parts with pollen.

References

• University of Massachusett Department of Plant, Soil, and Insect Science; Comparison of Perimeter Trap Crop Varieties: Effects on Herbivory, Pollination, and Yield in Butternut Squash; L. S. Adler, R. V. Hazzard; 2009
• "Communicative & Integrative Biology"; Pollinator Shortage and Global Crop Yield; Lucas A. Garibaldi et al.; 2008
• United States Department of Agriculture; Cucumber Beetles, Pollinators and Butternut Squash; L. Adler; 2010
• Green Change; Hand-Pollinating Pumpkin and Squash; 2009
• University of Forida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences; Home Vegetable Garden Techniques: Hand Pollination of Squash and Corn in Small Gardens; Ed Thralls, Danielle Treadwell; 2009