Butternut squash with lots of boy bits

[horticultural_hobbit]

might give it even more indigestion!

Some of the leaves are filligree'd and look like lacework. I am seriously looking at anti bug devices. Starting with that copper tape business.

[Creemteez]

Hi HH, I'm not sure about the wisdom of a sandwich bag over the fruit - it might encourage rotting - and an elastic band may cut off it's "Circulation". BNS are, I'm afraid notoriously fickle beasties who are out to get your hopes up and then break your heart before finally condescending to give you a little gift when you least expect it. Well, that's my experience.
I grew them two years ago and can't tell you hoe many times I got all excited about a forming fruit only to have it turn yellow on me and drop off. These are fruits that have not been properly fertilised. The trick is to get a male and female flower open at the same time. It will happen naturally of course, but you CAN jolly things along by a little artist paint-brush dabbing at the appropriate time.
In the end, I gave up worrying about them and pretty much left them to their own devises. At the end of the season I was surprised and delighted to discover three lovely butternuts hidden in the mass of foliage.
Good luck with yours

[horticultural_hobbit]

Thank you, Creemteez, for your sage advice :h, the punnage::

I do fear that I am indeed being toyed with. Alas, I will chalk it up to experience definitely makes sense though. Girl bits had opened before the boy bit, synchroncity is the key.

Have just leapt outside, braved the rain and removed the sandwich bag. The poor thing looked horrid.

The experiential experiment will continue...all the advice goes onto a post it, and gets stuck into st.titchmarsh's book. When I get a second, it's all going into a moleskin journal.

[Kiwi_Soph]

I have the opposite problem with my Gold Rush courgette - it is a proper ladies' night, with lots of girls growing thick stems and getting ready to open while the boys drag their heels. The girls will be open and ready to mature any day now I think but the boys are just buds, yet the girls still need them (anyone else getting horrible early high school flashbacks right around now?)

Anyway I am thinking of renaming my plant Carrie Bradshaw as the girls just cannot get the men flowers to commit - any tips on what I could do to encourage them? They are not even open enough to hand pollinate. Boo. Am I just going to have to watch as they shrivel up and die as spinsters while the men get the new, fresh girls yet to vine? (the plant world is so harsh! I also think I am metaphored-out!).

[horticultural_hobbit]

Yet another girl flower has bloomed and there are no open boy ones. Another fruit doomed to fritter away. Can someone please talk me through then paintbrush scenario re butternut. At the moment, feels a bit like an arrestable offence forcing the boy bit to meet the girl bit.

Finding it hard not to love my triffid no matter how fickle a creature it might be.

[horticultural_hobbit]

KiwiSoph, I have an Astia courgette and I think the boys on it are just buds. In fact ::runs out to check:: nope, the two boys that were there have disappeared.

[Creemteez]

Artists paintbrush scenario goes thus: Wait for a boy and girl flower to open, then gently dab the stamens of the boy flower to collect the pollen then transfer it to the sepal (I think that's the name of the appropriate part - it's been a while since 'O' level Biology) of the girl flower - simples!
Of course, it doesn't hurry things up any and you still have to have one of each flower open, but it does ensure pollination. The other thing you could try is to collect some pollen from a boy flower and store the paintbrush with the pollen on it until a girl flower feels in the mood! Don't know if this would work - but can't do any harm to try!

[rustylady]

Hobbit, I think you are winding us up regarding the sex life of your courgettes

[horticultural_hobbit]

Hobbit, I think you are winding us up regarding the sex life of your courgettes

No sex please, we're British. ::Ahem:: Now, I feel like a voyeur!

Courgette is definitely blokeless. Butternut just doesn't have a clue......
what was it that Robbie williams sang...

"You got no love, then you're with the wrong man
It's time to move your body
If you can't get a girl
But your best friend can
It's time to move your body"

[Kiwi_Soph]

my courgette is singing something more along the lines of

'where have all the good men gone?
And where are all the gods?
Where's the street-wise Hercules
to fight the rising odds?

Isn't there a [gold rush courgette] knight to give me courgette seeds?
Late at night I toss and turn and dream of what I need...

I need a hero!'

etc, etc.

Flower on the girls is very yellow and very large. There are a few boy buds but they look weeks away from opening! Sob. Actually do need a hero - or just a normal courgette bloke!

[horticultural_hobbit]

Gladys the Triffid. (Gladys, incidently, is what Rod Stewart calls Elton John. In return, mister stewart is referred to as sharon... )

To the far left are my mangled peas. Just behind, is the Ghost Rider pumpkin with it's massive leaves.

There are two flowers open for me to eventually mourn.Unless of course one of the diddy fellas decides to turn up.

[horticultural_hobbit]

Breaking news courtesy of Ma:
"Your butternuts have gone a bit funny like the other ones. Changed colour(...) rotten."

Buck up your ideas, Gladys.
Assessment for learning Targets:
What you have done well:Flourished, and produced leafy foliage.
What you could improve on: Encourage the boys to get a move on, and perhaps improve your time.
Target for next episode of learning:Get both both boy and girl bit to be there at the same time.

[endymion]

Our courgettes are just starting to flower - all girls, not a chap in sight when you need one!

[Loudbarker1]

Should we be limiting the number of female flowers (on BNS) so that the plant has enough energy to grow a few rather than lots of very small ones?

[horticultural_hobbit]

Have heard about that, taking the girl bits off. Now Gladys doesn't have any

I walked past her yesterday, and right down the bottom was a boy flowe; open and wide at that. There isn't a single girly flower on Gladys, and with the boy bits, she is back to square one. I am now ignoring gladys, and letting her get on with things by herself. All my interventions have got me no where. I will feed her, and water her. But I am not pandering to the bird. Tweaking off the boy bits and attacking the girl bits, also feels a tad like s*xual assualt. She is now on her own.