Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'm a gardening noob but when I finally got something to produce more than leaves - it seems to start going bad before ever getting ripe - the first one this happened to I kinda ignored but now as the second squash on the plant is doing the exact same thing it's getting frustrating

Note that it's black starting from the end:


Just a few days ago was looking good:

Any ideas?

Hmm google searches is saying I need calcium - in guessing that's something that isn't supplied from the seasol, organic fish fertilizer or the fish themselves /sigh

Looks like blossom end rot, due to being un-polinated...

jT

/sigh @ information overload - it also seems crushed egg shells can give off calcium... But not if my ph is between 7.8 - 8.0 correct? Though I'm guessing that in itself might be why my plants are suffering in general

I haven't noticed any bees at all - Texas has had a crazy dry hot summer - we almost broke the 1980 record of days over 100 degrees - the plants are flowering well... Should I get a cotton swab or q-tip and pretend to be a bee?! >.> how is that coped with in indoor systems?

Yeah blossom end rot... Need calcium, perhaps foliar spray?

Hmmm, I'd say unfertilised fruit.

I had a zucchini in the ground here it lasted 6 month and I never got a fruit until about 4 months in, they where all rotted like yours.
The plant crawled about 5 metres from where I planted it and it wasn't until it was crawling down the retaining wall that the fruit stopped rotting.
Must have been water getting in the flower
as soon as it hit the ground again after the wall the fruit started rotting again.
The fruit was at its best in high humidity high rainfall off the wet season because it was dangling down the wall and the flower was dry.
I tried calcium milk sprays not watering the leaves nothing worked.

Cover both bases.
You need to find a male zuccini flower (long thin stem) and pick it. Use this to pollinate the female flowers(short with little zuccini on them).

Wow this is very interesting to know. I also have some zucchini plants in my garden and I will also try to pollinate them. I generally love gardening and I also have a lot of flowers in my garden. I use flowers free delivery and due to this I always have many flowers not only in my garden. I cannot imagine living without plants.

Just for anyone else that may run across this issue - having it again this year and it's a lack of pollination issue - if I don't manually pollinate the squash I end up with some that rot... Luckily don't seem to have this issue with the tomatoes as since there are craploads of them I don't think I'd have the patience to be a bee >_<

Most (all?) Tomatoes are self polinating. They only need ultrasonic vibrations to release the pollen from the male part of the flower which fall onto the female part.

This is ideally achieved by a bee coming near the flower, but will also occur if it is windy, if you rustle the plant, if you flick the flower bunch, if you bring and ultrasonic electric tooth brush in contact with the flower.

To ensure mine pollinate on mass, each day I go around giving whatever flower bunches I can see a quick flick while feeding the fish. I do different bunches on different days when I'm pressed for time.

Just be careful not to flick so hard that you makehe older flowers (already pollenated) on the bunch fall out....actually I'm not sure if this matters.