Zucchini suicide

The Zucchini got 6-7 cm. long and is now starting to rot.

The sweet little Zucchini got 6-7 cm. long, before it started to rot yesterday. From the info I can find, this should be because the female flower, has not got enough pollen grains from mail flowers to be fully pollinated. This makes the plant loose the fruit, that will not contain seeds, before it uses too much power growing it.

While easy to grow, zucchini, like all squash, requires plentiful bees for pollination. In areas of pollinator decline or high pesticide use, such as mosquito-spray districts, gardeners often experience fruit abortion, where the fruit begins to grow, then dries or rots. This is due to an insufficient number of pollen grains delivered to the female flower. It can be corrected by hand pollination or by increasing the bee population.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zucchini#Cultivation 

It's not at big problem, that I have to do the pollination myself - I can do that. The sad part is, that this probably means that the ecosystem out here in the paddyfields is in a bad state or maybe even completely destroyed by the farmers use of alarming amounts of pesticides.

Zucchini success

The first yellow Zucchini is about 5 cm. long.

Raised bed with Thai eggplants and Zucchinis.

Since my wife a few years back tasted my dads homegrown zucchinis stuffed with pork and herbs on a holiday in Denmark, she has wished for me to grow her some here in Thailand.

I have tried several times without any success. Most of the seeds germinate fine, and grow to quite large plants. But before there's any sign of flowering, they slowly wither away.

If it is because they have been too moist in the rainy season or too dry and hot during the summer, I'm not sure.

But now finally with the last four seeds I had left, it looks like I have cracked the code. The four seedlings - one yellow and three green - was planted in a raised bed allready filled up with Thai eggplants, and they are thriving there.

The soil in the raised bed is a mix of compost, old pig manure and our local red clay soil covered with mulch/compost. The bed is watered every evening.

Now it won't be long before there is stuffed and grilled Zucchini on the dinnertable.