Hand pollinating is easy. Just use the Q-tip the way you already mentioned. Get plenty of bright yellow male pollen (male flowers are the ones with no bulb-like bulge at the base, on the long, slender stems ... female flowers have the "baby squash" bulge at their base) on the Q-tip, then find a female flower and touch the Q-tip to the flower's stigma -- that's the long, thin "tube" with a sticky tip (the pollen will stick to it).
See how many squash you can start that way. I bet you'll increase your yield and have far fewer "shrivels."
When I was a kid, I used to watch bees visiting the squash and cucumber flowers, and if they missed pollinating a female one I'd yell, "Hey, go back and get that one! I want lots of squash/cukes!"
Here's a pumpkin site you might enjoy, since the pollination method is the same...pumpkins and squashes being interchangeable. lol
http://www.pumpkinnook.com/howto/pollen.htm
See how many squash you can start that way. I bet you'll increase your yield and have far fewer "shrivels."
When I was a kid, I used to watch bees visiting the squash and cucumber flowers, and if they missed pollinating a female one I'd yell, "Hey, go back and get that one! I want lots of squash/cukes!"
Here's a pumpkin site you might enjoy, since the pollination method is the same...pumpkins and squashes being interchangeable. lol
http://www.pumpkinnook.com/howto/pollen.htm
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