I'm new to gardening and very new to veggie gardening and I'm having trouble with my zucchini flowers, i think it is most likely due to the heat. They have all started to open up but by the time i get home from work they have closed all their petals in and wilted. This happened to my first couple that were opening and i touched one to see what was wrong with it and it just fell off, is this normal? Also will they re-open and bloom completely (they are male flowers) or are they ruined and i should just take them off? As I said earlier i think it is most likely due to the heat (we have been having 35C days here - around 95F and very very humid) does this mean that my zucchini are doomed? And if not what should I do to fix it?
Welcome bronz89. Be patient. At first all of flowers are the males. They open, look pretty, wilt and then drop off. Eventually, you will get both male and female flowers. In Britain we call Zucchini, courgettes. Link shows both the male and female flowers, for anyone who looks at this thread in the future, and does not know how to tell the difference. http://images.google.com/imgres?img...n-gb:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7SUNA_en-GB&sa=G&um=1
Are you sure that they aren't opening while you are at work and closing by the time you get home. Zucchini flowers don't stay open very long.
no, not sure, in fact i read somewhere today that zucchini flowers open early in the morning and close by mid morning.. so i guess that solves my mystery?
Look for a fungus that looks like mildew. That could be wilting the flowers. As for the heat I have grown them in the 90's before and they did great just make sure it has lots of water.