Squash falling off. Help ! ! !

[galiano]

I have Tay Belle winter squash growing in containers and as the squash form they get to about he size of a grape and then fall off the vine. Any thoughts on what is going on ?


I have been " lurking " on this excellent forum for a while and this is my first question.

btw I am on Vancouver Island off the west coast of Canada.

[COMPOST CORNER]

Welcome to the vine Galiano, I have no idea of the climatic conditions over there, and am no expert but on several threads on here regarding pumpkins, courgettes etc, it has been suggested that the aborting of early fruits is not uncommon, and should stop when conditions improve/the plant matures.
Someone who knows more than me (i.e. nearly everyone on here) will be along with a better answer soon.
Good luck.

[SarzWix]

Welcome to the Vine
As CC says, the plants quite often lose the first few fruits until the plant gets into the swing of producing male and female flowers at the same time. If you see a male flower (no fruit behind the flower) open at the same time as a female, you can help them along by pollinating by hand - I just pick off the male flower and stick it into the female one to transfer the pollen, but you can do it with a little paintbrush or cotton-bud.
The other thing is to make sure the plant is well watered and fed as they are very greedy plants - try cutting the bottom off a soft-drink or water bottle, put a few holes in the lid, then push it lid end down into the container, you can water into that and it will seep into the soil keeping the plant moist for longer.