You need to be able to distinguish between the boys and the girls. They are easy to tell apart. The male blooms are connected to the main stem of the plant by a simple, short green stem. Female blooms ...

After eggs have been laid by the moth and have hatched, the larva will burrow into the stem and eat its way up. The borer can take a zucchini plant down in a couple of days. Look at the base of ...

and have a small immature zucchini behind the bloom that looks like a thicker stem. if your healthy plant suddenly starts to wilt and die, the problem is probably a bug called squash vine borer.

I grew zucchini ... the longer stem gets a little woody, but it won't cause any problems. Remember to watch the stem for signs of borers, one of the main pests of squash family plants.

Many vining garden plants put out male flowers first. Squash, melon, and cucumbers all do this. You can tell the flowers are male because they have a stem ... piles of zucchini on your neighbors ...