DEALING WITH ZUCCHINI PROBLEMS
Excess heat or insufficient water may be factor in female flowers failing to open
Q My wife planted three zucchini seeds in an Aerogarden hydroponic unit back in February, nurtured them until transplanting them in the garden. At that time we planted approximately 10 more seeds. We thought the Aerogarden plants were growing normally but the 10 plants that we seeded overtook the three in growth. The real problem here is we have tons of male flowers and not so many female flowers (which seem closed up) but not one zucchini. We've been self-pollinating them but to no avail. There's even a bee hive 30 feet away, and they are not helping. What did we do wrong? We've been growing sugar snap peas for over 40 years and have always had excellent results. This season not so much. Eighty per cent of the peas are not like sugar snap. The skin is tough and chewy. There were four or five plants that had strange purple and white flowers with large flat peas that were not sugar snap. l will also get in touch with MCKenzie seeds and see why this has occurred. If you can help in the meantime it would be much appreciated.
A I have a couple of educated guesses at what the issue may be with the zucchinis. Firstly, getting more male flowers than female early in the season is quite normal for zucchinis. One theory is that the male flowers open early to attract insects so that once the female flowers open later (usually about 10 days) the insects are there and ready to pollinate. The fact that your female flowers are not opening might be a sign that the plant is stressed. This might be from something as simple as lack of sufficient water to too much heat. During the flowering time it is important to keep the zucchinis moist. Your self-pollination not working is not surprising.
I have read other reports with people trying to self-pollinate by opening female flowers themselves saying it did not work for them as well. Guess you can't force nature. As for the bees being close, it's pretty tough to pollinate a flower that won't open. I have also read reports where too much fertilizer can be part of the problem. On the other hand not enough fertilizer during flowering can also be the problem. Sorry I can't be more specific. As for your peas to me that sounds like a problem with a mix up with the seeds at the source.
Q I'm not sure what happened to my sweet peas this year. More than half of the plant is dead. They are dying from the bottom up. What causes this?
A There could be a few reasons for this. One is fusarium wilt. This is a fungal disease that first appears with the leaves starting to curl downward, then becoming pale and flaccid and then turning yellow. It starts at the bottom of the plant and works up. Another possibility is overwatering. The overwatering can cause root rot that sweet peas are very prone to. A final possibility is powdery mildew. This would be my last guess but from your photo there does appear to be some sign of powdery mildew on the left of the bed of sweet peas.
Q Can you advise which is best? Should I cut off lower branches of spruce trees because only the ends have needles and the inside of the tree is all dead and dried out or not to cut these branches? The trees are otherwise very healthy.
A This is one of those issues where if you have 10 gardeners discussing it you will have 10 different answers. It is very much a personal issue. You will not harm the tree by removing a few lower limbs but some purists believe that you ruin the appearance of the spruce. Ultimately, the choice is yours. If the tree looks ugly with the dead areas showing through then I would cut off those lower branches. Many gardeners comment on how removing the lower branches opens up the yard to the light. I have seen some trees whose lower branches have been removed to a height of six feet or more. Personally, I think those trees look a little silly but that's my opinion. In your case having needles only on the tips of the branches will look silly too. Sometimes gardening is all about what you need to do.