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Why Are My Zucchini Turning Yellow? 4 Tried and Tested Solutions!

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Are you wondering ‘Why Are My Zucchini Turning Yellow?’, and you don’t know what to do? Do you want the yellowing to end, and instead enjoy tasty green zucchinis?

If yes, then you’re in the right place because we are addressing the most-anticipated question: ‘Why Are My Zucchini Turning Yellow?’.

No one likes to spend hours gardening and still end up with yellow zucchinis. That is why we have the ultimate guide to yellow zucchinis, which will help you answer ‘Why Are My Zucchini Turning Yellow?’.

This guide will come in handy for all the zucchini lovers out there who are bothered by the yellowing and rotting of zucchinis.

Why Are My Zucchini Turning Yellow
My Zucchini Turning Yellow – via Reddit

Why Are My Zucchini Turning Yellow?

There are two main reasons why your zucchinis might be turning yellow. The first one is poor pollination and the other can be the blossom end rot. Taking a deep look into both of them is the only way we can find ways to overcome these factors!

1. Poor Pollination

What many farmers call a fruit abortion might be a reason for your zucchinis turning yellow.

When a plant is poorly pollinated, it might turn yellow and start rotting. Pollination consists of delivering pollen grains from the male anther to the female stigma. This results in the production of seeds and reproduction.

There are many ways of pollination, but the most common one is transferring pollen through insects that are in search of nectar. Without this pollination, the zucchinis end up turning yellow.

2. Blossom End Rot

The blossom end rot is due to the lack of calcium in fruits. In addition to rotting and yellowing, this lack of calcium can also lead to lesser growth and malformed foliage.

According to research, blossom end root can be caused due to many factors, some of them being the soil being high in magnesium, potassium, ammonium, and being less in calcium. Other factors that might contribute are high salinity and inadequate xylem tissues.

How To Prevent Zucchinis From Turning Yellow?

Zucchini ends yellow and soft Why Are My Zucchini Turning Yellow
Zucchini ends yellow and soft – via Reddit

If you’re a gardener who’s sick of seeing their precious zucchinis turning yellow and rotting, and you have no idea how to stop that from happening, you’re at the right place. Now we’ll discuss some of the ways to end this, which include:

1. Ensuring Proper Pollination

Companion planting is a helpful technique to make sure that pollination is happening. Just by planting other plants near the zucchini plants, a gardener can increase the rate of insect pollination.

Flowering plants are ideal for companion planting because these companion plants attract a greater number of insects to your zucchinis for pollination. Some great companion plants for zucchinis are oregano, marigold, and nasturtium.

Hand pollinating your zucchinis is another option. According to Fine Gardening, all you have to do is locate a freshly opened male and female flower, clip off the male flowers, and after removing the petals, place the pollen from the male flowers into the female flower. By repeating this process on every plant, you’ll be good to go.

Even though hand pollination is more time-consuming and laborious, its results are more certain. Insect pollination is bound to work as well, but it is not guaranteed to work each time.

However, insect pollination is less tedious and easier to execute. Now that you know all the options, you do what suits you best!

2. Increase Calcium In The Soil

By making your soil high in calcium, it can be made sure that blossom end rot never touches the zucchinis. Curing the calcium-deficient soil should be the first step a gardener should take at the sight of yellow zucchinis.

Calcium holds the cell walls of the plants together and prevents the cells from collapsing. A stable cell wall is essential for the growth of a plant. Calcium is also used in the building up of cell membranes, another reason why a lack of calcium can be very dangerous.

By adding garden lime to your soil, you can make the calcium content in it higher.

Garden lime, or calcium carbonate, is ideal as calcium intake for the soil. Take about a handful of garden lime and sprinkle it over the soil, at about every square meter. Not only will this end the yellowing, but it will also maintain the pH of the soil and will maximize fertilizer performance.

A highly recommended product for this purpose is Down to Earth Organic Garden Lime – it’s available on Amazon, at a very affordable price and will help restore calcium in the soil.

3. Increase The Magnesium Intake

Lack of magnesium is another factor that leads to blossom end rot, and Epsom salts are a way to increase the magnesium content in the soil. These salts are also a calcium source for plants, and that is why they make excellent fertilizers.

All you have to do is add the recommended amount of Epsom salts in water to dilute it and spray it on the soil, as diluted Epsom salts are easier for plants to absorb.

Epso Grow M Salt provides a soluble source of magnesium and sulfur and is a great way to provide your zucchinis with extra nutrients to prevent blossom end rot. It is available on Amazon, and the positive reviews themselves speak for the product.

4. Reduce Soil Salinity

High soil salinity is another cause of blossom end rot. It happens when an excessive amount of water-soluble salts are accumulated in the soil. There are many ways to reduce or prevent the high salinity level of the soil, some of which include:

  • Reduce the use of salty water
  • Use manure to keep moisture in the soil
  • Don’t over-irrigate
  • Use cover crops

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Conclusion

In the end, all we can say is that asking yourself ‘Why Are My Zucchini Turning Yellow?’ is a valid question and yellow zucchinis are a problem, but not one without a solution.

Using the right techniques and products like Down to Earth Organic Garden Lime and Epso Grow M Salt, you can say goodbye to yellow zucchinis.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. We recommend this chain of actions for a sustainable solution to your problem of ‘Why Are My Zucchini Turning Yellow?’:

  • Identify the problem
  • Use the recommended products
  • Continue to apply the prevention techniques in the long run