DOUBLE Your CUCUMBERS, SQUASH And MELONS By Easy Hand Pollinating
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- čas přidán 17. 07. 2024
- In this video, I share an easy hand pollinating procedure that will double your cucumbers, squash and melons! Growing cucumbers, squash and melons can be a challenge for gardeners, because they have separate male and female flowers. If pollination fails, the baby fruits will shrivel and drop. This is the cause of most gardener's problems growing cucurbits, and in this video, we correct the problem!
By hand pollinating, you can double, triple, quadruple your harvest, or more! In addition, I also show you unique cucurbit varieties that do not require pollination so you'll grow more squash, cucumbers and melons than you ever thought possible!
Seeds featured in this video can be purchased here:
Sure Thing Zucchini: fxo.co/IVl5
Merlin Cucumber: fxo.co/IVl3
Party Time Cucumber: fxo.co/IVl4
Beit Alpha Cucumber: amzn.to/3z1UabG
China Jade Cucumber: amzn.to/3Vqy1eI
Suyo Long Cucumber: fxo.co/IUxB
Links to seeds above are affiliate links. If you choose to use them, I would receive a small commission at no cost to you.
I use the following products* to grow squash, cucumbers and melons in my vegetable garden:
Shade Cloth (Many Sizes): amzn.to/4bLbv72
Grow Bags (Many Sizes): amzn.to/3x4bJXO
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Jack's All Purpose 20-20-20 (1.5lb): amzn.to/3MQ4I2A
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Jack's Blossom Booster 10-30-20 (25lb): amzn.to/45FIuXh
Full Amazon Store: www.amazon.com/shop/themillen...
TABLE OF CONTENTS
0:00 How To Pollinate Cucurbits
2:49 Why Your Plants Fail To Pollinate
6:19 How To Hand Pollinate Cucurbits
10:18 Gynoecious Seeds Double Your Harvest
12:29 Parthenocarpic Cucumber Varieties
14:26 Can I Save Seeds?
16:06 Parthenocarpic Squash
18:57 Adventures With Dale
If you have any questions about how to grow cucumbers, how to grow squash and how to grow melons, want to know about the things I grow in my raised bed vegetable garden and edible landscaping food forest, are looking for more gardening tips and tricks and garden hacks, have questions about vegetable gardening and organic gardening in general, or want to share some DIY and "how to" garden tips and gardening hacks of your own, please ask in the Comments below!
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EQUIPMENT I MOST OFTEN USE IN MY GARDEN*:
Southern Ag Liquid Copper Fungicide amzn.to/2HTCKRd
Southern Ag Natural Pyrethrin Concentrate amzn.to/2UHSNGE
Monterey Organic Spinosad Concentrate amzn.to/3qOU8f5
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Nylon Mason Line, 500FT amzn.to/3wd9cEo
Expandable Vinyl Garden Tape amzn.to/3jL7JCI
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ABOUT MY GARDEN
Location: Southeastern NC, Brunswick County (Wilmington area)
34.1°N Latitude
Zone 8B
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© The Millennial Gardener
#gardening #garden #gardeningtips #pollination #gardenhacks
If you enjoyed this video, please “Like” and share it to help extend its reach! Thanks for watching 🙂TIMESTAMPS for convenience:
0:00 How To Pollinate Cucurbits
2:49 Why Your Plants Fail To Pollinate
6:19 How To Hand Pollinate Cucurbits
10:18 Gynoecious Seeds Double Your Harvest
12:29 Parthenocarpic Cucumber Varieties
14:26 Can I Save Seeds?
16:06 Parthenocarpic Squash
18:57 Adventures With Dale
It's called Rouge, not "blush" ya hick. 🤣
@TheMillenialGardener 🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼I have a quick question: I only see males right now. Is it normal to see only males at the beginning of the season then start seeing females in a few weeks?
I feel like I got a whole years worth of info in 20 minutes. Bravo friend!!! Great information
Glad it was helpful. I tried to jam it full of info.
My cucumbers were buzzing away today! Bees are doing the work.
Excellent!
Personal circumstance tells me to foster *native solitary bees,* hand fert can be necessary but to be *mostly* avoided due to time ROI. Good to toy with and learn always.
I have potentially large native populations.
Example:
Letting artichoke blooms run wild in backyard, self seeded, mostly un-watered, *little* natives thrive (have bumblebees but not on these blossoms), darting in and out of narrow gaps between thistles that a Euro bee couldn't reach.
Have ton more deliberate blooming plants, but learned something from choke experiment, about bees. 😀
Every little bit counts. Dandelions are food for us and bees. 😉
I really appreciate how specific you are when explaining things.
Thank you! I’m glad that I’m being pretty clear. You never know how it’s going to turn out 😆
Last year I had straight neck yellow squash planted next to zucchini and I had several vegetables on my yellow squash plant that came out half yellow and half green. It was crazy…they were exactly half and half and the shape of the straight neck yellow squash. I didn’t manually pollinate them either. It was obvious once I cut them open that they were half yellow squash and half zucchini due to the texture difference inside of them too.
The problem I see most of the time is just like real life. When the female flower is ready, the males are all shriveled up. When the males are ready, the female is no where to be found or she’s all closed up already. Such is life even in the garden😂
That’s why you have to plant many varieties. Someone is always up for the challenge.
Brilliant comment and response lol😂
@@TheMillennialGardenerlol omg 😂😂
😂😂😂👍
@@TheMillennialGardenerbut does that cause a hybrid fruit to occur? If not, then how does that happen?
Found my very first female watermelon this morning, impatiently waiting for it to open
Nice! I have one on the vine. I'm waiting for my second. Melons can take awhile to get going.
I’m still waiting. No female flowers yet 🥴
I'm jelly! Still.planting the last of my watermelon plants in Northern California. Have male flowers on one. Focused mainly on tomatoes and peppers early. Watermelon, cutest, and squash went in a little bit later than usual.
John McHatton
Cukes
I was told to remove the first watermelon because it puts a strain on young plants.
Covering ALL my summer squash this year. I ain't playing that SVB game no more. That means hand pollination, exclusively.
I had no idea! So glad you had this video! Thank you!
Wow, I had no idea. More great info !
Q tips work too! I do that all the time!
Brilliant! Now my wife won't get mad about me using her blush brush!
Love all your videos! Your passion for gardening really shines through and I've ve become a better gardner because of them.
Thanks for the reminder! I just saw flowers forming on my kajari melon (i bought the seeds after watching one of your videos)
Great info! I appreciate the depth of info in your videos. I'm growing my first parthenocarpic cukes this year, learned about them right here!
Great video….. Very clear information….. Appreciate you sharing…..☮️
Thank you for making all of this easy to understand, and you still packed in a ton of info! It's like you are the interpreter between all the technical science, and the simple layman. I learn so much!
I'm glad the video was helpful. I'm an engineer, so I explain things for a living. I try to walk that line between "simple" and "complicated" and frontload the videos with simple concepts and save the more advanced stuff for the nerds at the end 😁
This is so helpful. I have spent the last 2 years planting flowers to attract pollinators before starting my veggie garden. And then this year has been oddly cool and I have very few compared to this time last year. Some of my flowers I had this time last year haven't even opened yet. So this is very useful information 👍🏼
Good video! I’m gonna Bob Ross my garden today!😁
Have fun! Make a happy little cucumber bush.
Thank you, I’m trying this today. In the Midwest, we’re behind in our growth because of unusually late frosts and a hail storm just a couple of weeks ago. What plants seemed to be catching up were damaged by hail. I have male and female flowers though. I moved my planted (bright) petunias by the tomatoes and cucumbers in hopes of drawing pollinators their way. I’m also keeping hummingbird feeders fresh, and water options for bees. They still need help so I appreciate this advice!
I have a lemon drops about to pop. I really liked it last year. The rind is edible too. I have some seedless varieties this year. Tropical sunshine,tailgate seedless and sangria, oranglo, sweetglo and moon and stars. Planted them in between my fruit trees. I planted like you did that one years ago on the weed plastic. I’ll never grow melons without it again. Wish I could show you a picture. Been a great year. About to can tomatoes and make some pickles. Thanks for all the great info and cool ideas! Shout out to Dale.
Sweetglo is a good melon. I'm trying some weird hybrid called Melonade. We'll see how they do. Melon vines love sprawling on weed barrier. It's awesome!
@@TheMillennialGardener for sure. I have some tasty bites melon to try. Popping seedless watermelon seeds was a fun challenge.
Outstanding! Thanks for the great info
Glad it was helpful!
Man am I glad I watched this video! So much info to add to my portfolio. Thanks!!!!!
Glad it was helpful!
I learned this from you last year, and it worked amazingly!
Great to hear! I’m glad I can help.
Excellent information again. I’ve struggled with the brush. I’m cutting the next male flower off and sticking it in the female.
It’s been in the low 70s here in SoCal until this week. I’m finally seeing growth in all my plants.
Color me jealous. It's been in the mid-90's here. 95 today 😅
Right!! My plants are barely growing. The plants are loving that it's finally getting warm, but I'm roasting! Lol Got too used to those nice cool days we've been having!
Great video again 😊
Thank you!
I always learn something new when watching your videos. Thank you.
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!
I have no intention of growing any veggies, but this was super helpful information. I'm trying to grow more ornamentals that support the local bee population so that there are more pollinators around. My only real winner seems to be the hibiscus tree I have. All the early spring stuff doesn't work for them because our springs are volatile and can be too cold at times. They don't seem to be as attracted to some of the summer bloomers either that I have. Will keep trying! Glad my blueberries are self-fertile and wind pollinated or I'd have none!
Very educational 😊 Thank you very much. More produce for you 🙏🙏❤️
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!
Was just about to tackle this over the weekend, perfect timing again. Also injecting for squash vine borers 😭
Great great great video! As always : )
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Thank you - very knowledgeable 🙂
Glad it was helpful!
Very informative. Thanks!
You’re welcome!
All great information!!
Thank you!
Thanks MG, great tips. 🙏
You’re welcome!
Thank U well done 👍😊
very well said! im practicing all the scientific names myself
As always, great video! Yes, please keep experimenting to see if you can successfully keep vine borers from decimating the squash plants.
Thank you! My seeds came in the mail this weekend, so I'll see what I can do.
Nice job explaining pollination , I grow Poniente f1 cucumbers there great thanks for the video.
There are so many good new hybrids these days.
I appreciate this instruction as I have been curious as to why my cucumber and zucchini plants are not producing well. I shall try this.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching!
The eyeshadow brush application is brilliant. Even better than a q-tip. Thanks for all your fantastic videos MG.
You're welcome!
YES, I use a thin paint brush, it's the same as a makeup brush BUT I noticed that when I used a Q-tip a couple of times last that most of the pollen sticks on the Q-tip so for me using the little paint brush is the Best Way- BAR None! WISHING EVERYONE A AWESOME GROWING SEASON 🌱🍅🫑🥒🌽🍆🫘🍉🧅🍓✌️💜
@@TheMillennialGardenerJUST WANTED TO ALSO SAY THAT YOU ARE MY FAVORITE WITH ALL YOUR VIDEOS THAT'S HELPED ME OUT COUNTLESS TIMES 👏👏👏 SO PLEASE KEEP THES VIDEOS COMING, I REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR TIME AND LOOKIN FORWARD TO THE NEXT ONE! 👏👏👏✌️💜
I also use an eye shadow brush on my strawberry flowers as I keep them covered with netting. But i only have 7 plants 😊
I love this channel and I don’t think making a comment at being impressed at how he is able to say the scientific names was going to cause any problems. And I in no way said anything negative. Keep up the great videos Marcus
Great presentation, again.
A TON of valuable information here.
You've got gators - we've got bear, moose and cougar... Enjoy.
Thanks! We have bears, too. Just saw some photos of one wondering around a nearby neighborhood down the street.
@@TheMillennialGardener They were here first!
Thanks!
You're welcome!
You answered my question! Almost yanked out a diehard zucchini that has persevered for almost two years in a giant pot! I’ve only eaten the tiny fruit because nothing ever “takes hold” and now I know why!!! Thanks 🙏
Awesome Anthony! Going to run out and pollinate. Nature has been falling down on the job here in Georgia.
It'll make a big difference if you stay on top of it.
Im so sad I still don’t have any cucumbers just flowers dropping. Thank You!
This should help correct the problem.
Agriculture like this really inspires me
Glad I could help!
Coastal SC here. Man, I love your channel. I've been following for years. This is the first time I've heard you blown out - engineer/scientist. What's up?
I appreciate it! Every now and again, I like to get a little deeper into the weeds.
I am fascinated to know what you do with all of your produce when they ripen! You must have a lot of it 😊
Awesome
Thanks!
I have both China Jade and Biet Alpha varieties. That reminds me. I need to go check and see if they need to be hand pollinated today!
Great video
Thanks!
Partenocarpic varieties are the best. I grow some from seeds gathered last year and they give fruits with no problem. I am after the first harvest this season already.
Excellent! I think I need to start some new transplants soon, as well.
Nice work
Thanks!
Thank you 💖
You’re welcome!
Amazing views💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖
I've gotten 53 cucumbers in 4 days so far, still have massive blooms and tons of bees doing the work for me thankfully. I have so many bees I get nervous picking them because I'm afraid of getting stung. 😮
The only time I’ve ever been stung is when I’ve accidentally grabbed a wasp around a corner. Bumble bees, honey bees, etc are generally gentle and are just doing their thing. Just don’t cup them in your hands. Move slowly so they can keep track of you.
I started hand-pollinating my squash 2 years ago...huge difference! My many pollinators can't reach them inside my secure anti-squirrel cage. 🙄 💚
I always lea4n so much from your videos, thank you 🙏
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!
Waiting for that 'Sure Thing' video!
It'll probably take a couple months. The seeds just arrived yesterday.
Finally! I feel like it's been explained in layman's terms. Well, maybe not laymen, but visually explained has helped me a lot. Thank you!
You're welcome! I'm glad it was helpful.
Ive been using an electic (battery) toothbrush for years to pollinat,it works like a charm..
That works for plants where male and female sex organs are enclosed in the same flower, like tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. The vibrations stir up the pollen. For cucurbits, pollen must be transferred from male flower to female flower, so you need a different procedure.
Interesting
I hope it helped.
Thanks.
You're welcome!
Thank you! I hope my wife doesn't mind me using her blush brush. I don't see many bees around my home here in northwestern Illinois.
Can you please do a video on whether you refresh your grow bags each season or whether you start with fresh soil? I see you have a lot of grow bags there.
Having a few beehives works too. Couple hundred thousand little farm workers. If you aren't comfortable managing hives setting up housing for native carpenter bees for your area works too.
Wow! I just love your channel and all the tips you share. You’ve certainly helped me out several times and I’m an experienced home gardener. Thanks so much. Keep ‘em coming! 🍓🍑🍋🥦🫐🍆🍇
I'm glad to hear it! Thank you for watching.
🍉🍈🍆🥒🍉🍈🍆🥒🍉🍈🍆🥒
Thanks for this. I did plan to hand pollinate my decorative gourd garden in Vineland NJ this year because I was really disappointed with my harvest last year.
I am growing yellow patty pan squash for the first time. I started from seed, and at 6 weeks, I transplanted them in fabric grow bags. I got some chain link tension wire cut in 9' pieces. I added 2 wires in a grow bag crossed over each other to make a hoop. I covered each squash plant with a 4'x4' insect cover that has a drawstring at the bottom and a zipper to keep out the vine borer pests. That has worked very well, but since pollinators can't get to the flowers, I have to hand pollinate them. My experience has been that the plants are growing a lot of male flowers and just a few female flowers. Rarely do they open at the same time making it difficult to hand pollinate. I've successfully hand pollinated only 3 squash so far. I'm not going to grow patty pan squash again. I do like the taste of the squash though.
I saw a short a couple days ago where a man said you can keep the male flowers in a ziplock bag in the fridge for a week. Currently have a couple of male flowers in my fridge to see if it helps because I was having the same issue as you.
Painting the roses red may have a legit meaning 😂
I grew a variety of zucchini called Partenon last summer , two in complete isolation under a jacket of tulle. The yield was very good, although towards the middle of the summer, they were cramped and started to drop fruit and get powdery mildew. The other two Partenon plants that I had only covered during borer season grew into plants about 6 feet in diameter and 3 feet tall with huge leaves, and produced tremendous yields of fruit. Even the fruits that grew large (12 inches or so) because I missed them, were tender and delicious, with no seed development. In late August, they also succumbed t powdery mildew, but I had so much zucchini in my freezer, I didn't make any attempts to save them. I just pulled them up and trashed them.
Great video! What time of year do you start your garden over as far as pulling your plants up after they decline and start mostly a new second crop for the remaining of the year? I'd love an answer on this and I think a video on this subject would benefit us all since I can't find anything on the subject so far. Thank you for all the great videos !
It depends. It's based on rainfall. For whatever reason, we're having a dry June. Maybe it's because we're in a neutral pattern right now in between El Nino and La Nina. The lack of rainfall and lack of horrible humidity is keeping my plants growing better than usual. Normally, I am starting new seeds for transplants now, but I haven't yet. I may not for another week or two.
I am saddened that we are having a hard time to get our 'bees' to pollinate. This is not good! But thank you so much to help us to get our crops regardless. Thank you!
Dude..like..WTF..! Your explanations of things is why I subscribe. Dang bro like Dang! You tell it so simply it just makes sense for this Gen x er. Thank you 🙏
I’m glad the video was helpful. I am an engineer, so I explain things for a living. I’m only 3-4 years off of Gen X, so I’m an old man Millennial.
@@TheMillennialGardener
You are a genius. I used some of your info and so far have had the best vegetable garden I have had in 10 years. My wife is surprised at how well the plants are. As a matter of fact, as soon as I commented I showed her on our zucchini plant about the male and female plant and she was shocked. So simple but we never heard it before. Thank you!!
Lol. Your still young.
Holy cucurbits! And how many times can you say parthenocarpic!?!? Great video, so informative and 🤯
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!
Great information! Do you leave the shade cloth up year round? We live on the east coast of central Florida. While our grow season begins in Jan/Feb, by late May/early June its too hot to really continue with open gardens. Are you using the shade cloth for all of your plants?
My old zucchini started aborting when it got attacked by squash vine borers I didn't even know it was happening until it was too late 😩 luckily it was early in the season and now I have 2 more that are starting to fruit.
Great content! What fruit trees do you recommend for Wilmington?
I've never really had squash production issues until this year with my spaghetti squash.i have tons of pollinator plants to bring them in
China Jade is my absolute favorite cucumber.
Try Suyo Long. I think it is even sweeter and crisper. Really good!
I'll do that. @@TheMillennialGardener
TIP
I use a male Zuchinni flower to pollinate all over my garden. Or Patty Pan Squash. They are large and strong flowers and easy to use. I don't normally save seeds so I don't worry about crossing.
Do you make a lot of pickles with all of those cucumbers? If so can you do a video on your pickle recipes?
Thank you so much! I've been watching my early pumpkin vines flower like crazy and I've gotten 0 fruits. 😭 Running outside with a brush right now!
Usually, they will produce male flowers for a period before female flowers emerge. If you see female flowers, definitely hand pollinate to be sure.
The inner nerd in me is geeking out right now 😂. I'm a tutor and was just going over asexual vs sexual reproduction and in particular parthenogenesis 😂😂 love your channel btw 🤙🤙
Glad to be timely 😂
@TheMillennialGardener I legit sent her the video and was like "this is exactly what we were talking about " and she wrote back that she was so excited that she actually understood everything you said and was even able to explain it to her mom 🤣
Si am in outh fl , to hot and humid now for CC I believe, did my last harvest of tomatoes last week. Love your shade cloth set up, where did you get that size and how long does it need to be replaced?
I grow lemon cucumbers each year in an enclosed cage. I hand pollinate each day and actually enjoy it.
* Please do a video on lemon drop melons. I've tried for 3 years to grow them on a trellis within the enclosure. I get good pollination rates and fruit. The problem is determining when to pick them. It's painfully difficult. If you wait too long, it splits. If you pick too early, it's bitter. They are super delicious if you can get it right.
Part of morning walk-through routine is manual pollination. Tickle tomatoes and plucking male squash flowers and introducing them to open female flowers. I see the bees doing their job but, i need to make sure.
Yep! Daily walkthroughs are the best!
@@TheMillennialGardener I tickle pepper flowers, too! Clouds of pollen emanate.
Awesome video thank you.
Quick question… is that shade cloth over most of your plants or is it a blend of shade cloth and insect netting?
Thanks
It is one large shade tarp. See Monday’s video for the full rundown: czcams.com/video/SbWcCxV7OOE/video.htmlsi=cQwZXwSknCs03VfQ
I just did this, this morning
Excellent!
what's the minimum, &/or recommended, size grow bag you would suggest for growing the little lemon drop watermelons? What size grow bag for a 'regular' watermelon--the typical 8-10 pound type? Thanks in advance.
A Q tip works, too.
Any means of moving pollen will be sufficient.
Got a question about your dragonfly video, you mentioned how buggy it is in NC. Do you have any experience with citronella bushes to help keep the mosquitoes away?
What plants other than tomatoes do you keep under shade cloth?
Wow. I think you’re just showing off with how many times you can say the scientific names so often and combining them without stumbling and saying them wrong. ✊props 😁
He is an Engineer, very smart
Sometimes, it takes a few takes. It is easy to get tongue-tied. It would be less pretty live.
Oh I know he is, but that still doesn’t make home the auctioneer of scientific plant names.
@@TheMillennialGardener The way you edit makes it look like one take. Well done!
@@TheKarver79illigitimi noncarborundus
What is the best spray to spray cucumber to avoid pest and decease always get burn leaves i live in the carribean
Been letting artichokes run wild, self seed all over, far more small chokes than I can eat or give away. Not even watering most and won't get any rain for 4 or 5 months.
However-- *native solitary bees* LOVE choke blooms! A lot of big purple 'flowers' in backyard rt now.
Should vid those busy *little* bees so at home in narrow gaps between thistles.
Thank you for this. And I can imagine your new wife looking at her makeup brushes pondering what the yellow powder is that's on them. 😄
She gives me all the old ones she doesn’t want. No way am I buying them 😆