Netting, bugs and hand pollination

I live in the very hot, very bug populated south and have a LOT of trouble with squash bugs and vine borers. So to try to keep my squash longer and more bug free I keep a lot of netting on my plants.

If they can do their own thing like broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage you are good to go. If they need the bees and pollination not so much. So you either need to let the bees in or you can do it your self. I discovered this last year and if you are new to gardening like I am this will be helpful.

Please bear in mind I am no expert,this is just what I have learned from research and experimentation.

 These pictures show you the female plants and flowers. The female will have the fruit at the back of the flowers. On squash they are very easy to see, because in general they are bigger than some like cantaloupes or cucumbers.You can see the center of the flowers has many little pistils as they are called (remember biology class, this is where I should have paid attention =). This is what needs to be pollinated

Here is a male flower, note the inside is a single little stamen and the back of the flower has nothing but the stem. 

I pull the flower part away from the center stamen and then just rub the pollen all over the center of the female flowers. You can usually see the pollen as it brushes off like dust and it helps me understand how it works for those little bees.You can also do this with a small paint brush and just pull the pollen up the sides and paint the inside of the female flower with it. You can usually do about 2 with one male. I prefer to use the flower itself, I have a lot and I can be sure and get lots of pollen where I want it. As a rule, I don't try this with cucumbers, or melons (although I have once or twice) because there are so many and they are so tiny I would be at it all day. 

This has proved to be very successful for me and I can keep a lot of the nasty bugs out of my squash. 

Happy Gardening all!