Squash pollination idea

[ameno]

Squash never seem to pollinate well for me if left to their own devices, so I always hand-pollinate.
I'm growing a lot of them at the allotment this year, but the problem is I can't get there in the mornings, and by the afternoon the pollen has always disappeared from the male flowers (they open first thing in the morning).
I thought of an idea to get around this, though. I was thinking I would pick a couple male flowers the evening before which look like they will open the next morning, and take them and put them in water. Then hopefully they would continue to develop, open the next day, and I could take them up to the allotment to pollinate the female flowers.

Do you guys think this would work? Would the pollen mature properly as a cut flower (assuming I picked it only the evening before it was due to open)?

[Thelma Sanders]

This post on another site suggests you tape closed both male and female flowers on the vines the afternoon/evening before you intend to hand pollinate

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/19...tion-of-squash

[ameno]

Ah, now that's an idea. I've always assumed the pollen goes missing by the afternoon because insects take it all (and selfishly don't deposit any in the female flowers), or sometimes it gets washed out by rain, but taping the flower shut would prevent both of those problems.