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
@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?
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. 😉
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😂
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!
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!
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'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.
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.
🍉🍈🍆🥒🍉🍈🍆🥒🍉🍈🍆🥒 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 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
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 😁
I appreciate the scientific names. I just took a master gardeners class and he is helping me to remember which plant is which. Don't knock it till you try it! 😅
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.
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.
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.
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 🙏
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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?
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!
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 👍🏼
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!
There's a few things you've left out that are going to waste people's time. I'm sorry, but it's true. 1st, pollination is time-sensitive and almost exclusively a morning process. After mid day, pollen degrades quickly. The flowers are fully open in the AM when it's the best time. They're open for a reason! In your video, I'm guessing that you're taping in the afternoon as the flowers have folded in which is a signal it's not going to work. Your ability to pull viable pollen is almost nill by afternoon. So, #1, pollinate in the morning. 8-10am are great times. 2nd, if you're advocating for pollinating by hand, to "double" the harvest, then at least the male flower has to be bagged. The reason is because pollinators WILL steal every bit of the pollen very early in the morning. Bagging is simple and will preserve the pollen. The only time I can successfully pollinate unbagged with my own hands is early Spring before pollinators have found the flowers OR when there are no pollinators around which almost never happens AND it has to be in the morning. These are key points, but lots of good stuff otherwise.
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?
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 🙏
@@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.
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.
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 🤙🤙
@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 🤣
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! 🍓🍑🍋🥦🫐🍆🍇
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'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.
I have a question. Is there a way to check if the plant is successfully pollinated? I’ve been growing yellow squash and transferred pollen from the male to female flowers a few days ago. The flowers at the end of the females have somewhat shriveled up and I’m wondering if I was successful or not.
If no pollination, the fruit will shrink and fall off. If the fruit stays, it will swell and grow because it has been successfully pollinated. There is such a thing as partial pollination. You may get a small fruit and not all seeds in that fruit will mature. I save seeds, so I need to make sure I get complete pollination. Manually.
You will just have to wait and see. You won’t know til they start growing. The thing about pollinating is it also has environmental requirements, so even if you hand pollinated, if it was insanely hot or way too damp/chilly/wet, they could cause a failure. Nothing in nature is ever 100%. All you can do is try your best. If you stay on top of your plants, you will do well in the long run.
It is. Growing parthenocarpic varieties helps immensely, because of the way my shade cloth only drapes over top, pollinators still get in. My tunnel is full of bees and dragonflies often. You can try running it overhead instead of totally covering, but then you’ll also deal with bad bugs, too.
Generally, nothing. Different species typically won't pollinate one-another. There are rare glitches that get you animals like Mules and Ligers, but in the case of cucumbers, squash and melons, nothing will happen.
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.
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?
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.
Can I ask a question about a different topic than in this video? I can’t find the answer anywhere I look.. if kale is a biannual, how does it withstand the heat of our South summers? Last year, my first gardening year, I ripped it out in June, and this year I am trying to keep it growing (heard you said that you plant it and it stays in your garden for two years..). BUT, it’s turning yellow so fast, I just keep taking the bottom leaves off and throwing away.. the dinosaur kale is doing better but the red Russian is turning yellow.. My question is, should I just keep it, and it will revive in the fall? If any leaves will be left by then 😅🙈
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. 😉
Excellent information again. I’ve struggled with the brush. I’m cutting the next male flower off and sticking it in the female.
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?
Good video! I’m gonna Bob Ross my garden today!😁
Have fun! Make a happy little cucumber bush.
As a noob, I wouldn't have had even a clue! Thank you!!!!👍
Q tips work too! I do that all the time!
Brilliant! Now my wife won't get mad about me using her blush brush!
Covering ALL my summer squash this year. I ain't playing that SVB game no more. That means hand pollination, exclusively.
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.
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!
I also use an eye shadow brush on my strawberry flowers as I keep them covered with netting. But i only have 7 plants 😊
Amazing views💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖
I started hand-pollinating my squash 2 years ago...huge difference! My many pollinators can't reach them inside my secure anti-squirrel cage. 🙄 💚
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!
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! 👏👏👏✌️💜
Love all your videos! Your passion for gardening really shines through and I've ve become a better gardner because of them.
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.
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.
Waiting for that 'Sure Thing' video!
It'll probably take a couple months. The seeds just arrived yesterday.
🍉🍈🍆🥒🍉🍈🍆🥒🍉🍈🍆🥒
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.
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.
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
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!
I appreciate the scientific names. I just took a master gardeners class and he is helping me to remember which plant is which. Don't knock it till you try it! 😅
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
Im so sad I still don’t have any cucumbers just flowers dropping. Thank You!
This should help correct the problem.
very well said! im practicing all the scientific names myself
Great video….. Very clear information….. Appreciate you sharing…..☮️
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 🙏
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.
Very educational 😊 Thank you very much. More produce for you 🙏🙏❤️
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!
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.
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!
Holy cucurbits! And how many times can you say parthenocarpic!?!? Great video, so informative and 🤯
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!
I am fascinated to know what you do with all of your produce when they ripen! You must have a lot of it 😊
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.
Do you make a lot of pickles with all of those cucumbers? If so can you do a video on your pickle recipes?
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.
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.
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.
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!
Thanks for the reminder! I just saw flowers forming on my kajari melon (i bought the seeds after watching one of your videos)
Great great great video! As always : )
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Outstanding! Thanks for the great info
Glad it was helpful!
Great video again 😊
Thank you!
I always learn something new when watching your videos. Thank you.
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!
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!
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 👍🏼
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.
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!
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
Was just about to tackle this over the weekend, perfect timing again. Also injecting for squash vine borers 😭
Man am I glad I watched this video! So much info to add to my portfolio. Thanks!!!!!
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you - very knowledgeable 🙂
Glad it was helpful!
Agriculture like this really inspires me
Glad I could help!
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.
I had no idea! So glad you had this video! Thank you!
There's a few things you've left out that are going to waste people's time. I'm sorry, but it's true. 1st, pollination is time-sensitive and almost exclusively a morning process. After mid day, pollen degrades quickly. The flowers are fully open in the AM when it's the best time. They're open for a reason! In your video, I'm guessing that you're taping in the afternoon as the flowers have folded in which is a signal it's not going to work. Your ability to pull viable pollen is almost nill by afternoon. So, #1, pollinate in the morning. 8-10am are great times. 2nd, if you're advocating for pollinating by hand, to "double" the harvest, then at least the male flower has to be bagged. The reason is because pollinators WILL steal every bit of the pollen very early in the morning. Bagging is simple and will preserve the pollen. The only time I can successfully pollinate unbagged with my own hands is early Spring before pollinators have found the flowers OR when there are no pollinators around which almost never happens AND it has to be in the morning. These are key points, but lots of good stuff otherwise.
Painting the roses red may have a legit meaning 😂
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?
A Q tip works, too.
Any means of moving pollen will be sufficient.
Interesting
I hope it helped.
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.
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've never really had squash production issues until this year with my spaghetti squash.i have tons of pollinator plants to bring them in
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 🤣
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.
I learned this from you last year, and it worked amazingly!
Great to hear! I’m glad I can help.
I always lea4n so much from your videos, thank you 🙏
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!
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 😆
Great content! What fruit trees do you recommend for Wilmington?
Thanks!
You're welcome! Thank you for your support and generosity! I appreciate it ❤
Every year I have the most pathetic harvests of one bitter cucumber lol. I have been doing everything wrong. But, this year I have hope!
You must pick them often. I made a video 2 weeks ago that will explain everything for you: ua-cam.com/video/lKc-HVDWkcs/v-deo.htmlsi=DlF4d5ZzfAwrj7ZP
Nice job explaining pollination , I grow Poniente f1 cucumbers there great thanks for the video.
There are so many good new hybrids these days.
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?
The top of your canopy what's keeping it from tearing it from the wood stakes
What is the best spray to spray cucumber to avoid pest and decease always get burn leaves i live in the carribean
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.
Wow, I had no idea. More great info !
I have a question. Is there a way to check if the plant is successfully pollinated? I’ve been growing yellow squash and transferred pollen from the male to female flowers a few days ago. The flowers at the end of the females have somewhat shriveled up and I’m wondering if I was successful or not.
If no pollination, the fruit will shrink and fall off. If the fruit stays, it will swell and grow because it has been successfully pollinated. There is such a thing as partial pollination. You may get a small fruit and not all seeds in that fruit will mature. I save seeds, so I need to make sure I get complete pollination. Manually.
You will just have to wait and see. You won’t know til they start growing. The thing about pollinating is it also has environmental requirements, so even if you hand pollinated, if it was insanely hot or way too damp/chilly/wet, they could cause a failure. Nothing in nature is ever 100%. All you can do is try your best. If you stay on top of your plants, you will do well in the long run.
Hi. I'm in LA. Weather has been average. I'm only getting male flowers on my squash and watermelon. 😢 Any idea why???
What plants other than tomatoes do you keep under shade cloth?
Awesome
Thanks!
I have shade cloth so pollinaters are not getting to my flowers. Down side of covered beds
It is. Growing parthenocarpic varieties helps immensely, because of the way my shade cloth only drapes over top, pollinators still get in. My tunnel is full of bees and dragonflies often. You can try running it overhead instead of totally covering, but then you’ll also deal with bad bugs, too.
Curious, what if anything happens to pollinating plants of different fruits or vegetables that exchange their pollens?
Generally, nothing. Different species typically won't pollinate one-another. There are rare glitches that get you animals like Mules and Ligers, but in the case of cucumbers, squash and melons, nothing will happen.
Nice work
Thanks!
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.
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?
Thank U well done 👍😊
Very informative. Thanks!
You’re welcome!
Thanks MG, great tips. 🙏
You’re welcome!
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.
Great video
Thanks!
Can I ask a question about a different topic than in this video? I can’t find the answer anywhere I look.. if kale is a biannual, how does it withstand the heat of our South summers? Last year, my first gardening year, I ripped it out in June, and this year I am trying to keep it growing (heard you said that you plant it and it stays in your garden for two years..). BUT, it’s turning yellow so fast, I just keep taking the bottom leaves off and throwing away.. the dinosaur kale is doing better but the red Russian is turning yellow.. My question is, should I just keep it, and it will revive in the fall? If any leaves will be left by then 😅🙈