More sex in the hoop house!
Being covered and closed, pollinators do not frequent the hoop house, leaving it up to me to do the matchmaking.
Zucchini produces separate male and female flowers and is not self-pollinating, so pollen needs to be transferred from the male flower to the female flower in order for it to fruit. I do this simply by brushing my finger across the anthers of the male flowers to gather the pollen (a small paint brush works just as well). I then wipe my pollen laden fingertip across the female flower’s stigma and then let nature take over. The pollen travels down the pollen tube to the ovary and reproduction begins. In a few days, a Zucchini is ready for harvest!
Male flower
Female flower
Pollen
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