Squash bees are crucial to pollinating squash. if there are a lack of bees, the gardener can transfer pollen from the male portion of flowers to the female portion in the squash plant with a small paint brush.

A gentleman came up to us at the Canfield Fair as we worked in the OSU Extension Master Gardener Volunteer Booth. He explained he had bought butternut squash plants and planted them in his garden earlier this year. They grew fine, and he had small fruit on them.

Then that small fruit dropped off the vine instead of growing and maturing. What was wrong?

I asked him a few questions. As he described the fruit, I was sure his problem had to do with fertilization.

I came home and began research. The number one reason the fruit drops off the vine is lack of fertilization.

But he said he works on fertilization, and it seemed he was meeting the nutrient needs of the plants.

Another issue some have is understanding pollination of plants in the cucurbit family. You see, there are two kinds of blossoms on plants in this family, i.e., cucumbers, squash, zucchini, watermelon and pumpkin. These are called monoecious, meaning the plant has male and female flowers.

Usually the males bloom first, and a couple of weeks later, the females begin to bloom. This ensures pollen at the right time to fertilize the plant. The male flowers have a flat bottom at the joining of the stem. The females have a bulb, or small “fruit” at the base.

Pollen is transferred from male flowers to female flowers by pollinators (bees, wasps, even butterflies). Once transfer is complete, the fruit begins to develop.

Weather (rain) can affect pollination, as well as the use of insecticides that kills or keeps away necessary pollinators.

Hand pollination can be used in home gardens to ensure the crop if you do not see pollinators inside the flowers. To do this, take a paint brush and load pollen on it from a male flower, then transfer it to the female flowers (look for the bump underneath). This will ensure your plants will yield the luscious vegetables we plant and crave.

There are some host specific bees for these plants. I found squash bees in my blooms. There were seven huddled together at the base of the inner bloom. Each bloom had at least one. That tells you how important they are to the gardener.

While squash bees are not required, they rely solely on the pollen from plants in the cucurbit family to feed their young.

To learn more about growing winter squash and pumpkins, go to: http://go.osu.edu/wintersquash.

To learn more about the squash bee, go to http://go.osu.edu/squashbee.

Hughes is an Ohio State University Mahoning County Extension Master Gardener Volunteer.