Troubleshooting Zucchini - My Zucchini is withering away!

If your zucchini begins to wither away and you are giving it plenty of sunshine and water, it may be the the zucchini blossoms aren't being pollinated. Squash has a tendency to all grow in the same way - first they produce what looks like a miniature version of the squash, making you feel great about yourself and then they bloom for one day. If they are not pollinated that day, the little squash will get all wither and fade away.

They are different from other plants that flower first then produce the fruit after pollination. If you are not getting enough bees or butterflies to pollinate your zucchini, you are going to need to pollinate the zucchini yourself. To pollinate the zucchini yourself, take a q-tip and put it in the blossoms and transfer the pollen between them. You want to transfer pollen from the male flower (the skinny green stalk) to the female flower (on the miniature zucchini). That will take care of any issues relative to pollinating.

If you are growing any of your crops in pots, square foot gardens or raised beds that do not allow your plants roots to access the soil below (or if your soil is so compact that the roots would not be able to access any nutrients anyway), you do need to be sure to provide plenty of nutrients to your crops by way of either liquid compost or adding plenty of compost to your mix when you plant your seed or seedling.

Do keep in mind that you should not expect a 100% return on all your crops but do try to learn the lessons provided by the failure. As Dave Ramsey says, failure may not be the favored teacher but it sure is a thorough one!