Just to clarify I did make a post here that correlates with pollination. However it was because I didn't have success with growing squash last year, and I wanted to know what caused this.

While lack of pollination was one of the factors, I don't think it was the only thing that caused my failure to harvest the squash.

I didn't realize that in order to have a successful harvest with squash, the blossoms have to be pollinated by insects. I would like to do self-pollination as this seems like a more reliable method.

I've never done self-pollination before so I have some questions about it:

With squash is it just in the nature of the plant to have more male blossoms than female? I realize that male blossoms appear first, but even after the female blossoms occur, is it just natural to have more male blossoms than female? This is under the assumption that the plant is healthy (it's being well fertilized, is adequately watered, it's not too hot nor is it too cold, and the space is ample)

I do container gardening and last year I overcrowded the container (put too many squash plants in too small of a container). When a squash plant is stressed, will few female blossoms appear?

I know that with squash, the male blossoms always appear before the females. That the female blossoms don't appear until later.

I also know that when the male blossoms appear, typically they don't last long. For self-pollination you're supposed to use a paintbrush and rub the

pollen from the male blossom into the female blossom. However how can you pollinate if when the female blossoms appear the male blossoms have dropped off?!

This is going to seem like a really stupid question, but when the females do appear, will there be male blossoms on the plant at the same time, or will they have already dropped off? I honestly don't know that's why I'm asking.

I used a high nitrogen fertilizer last year ( I didn't realize this, and I didn't realize that anything that bares fruit [until now] and blossoms) requires a high potassium and high phosphorus fertilizer.

If you use a fertilizer that is too high in nitrogen and you fail to water consistently then will lack of pollination occur even if the plants have been adequately pollinated? Does using a high-nitrogen fertilizer cause delayed appearance of the male and female blossoms, and in general, does it cause fewer female blossoms to occur?