Ethrel, 250 ppm, applied at 9 weekly intervals, starting when the first true leaf was about 1 inch in diam. produced 91% pistillate flowers, increased fruit numbers, and decreased fruit wt of ‘New Hampshire Butternut’ squash. Plant spread was reduced under this treatment due to a shortening of in tern ode length. Treatments of 0, 50, 100, 250, and 500 ppm of Ethrel applied once did not change significantly the no. of pistillate flowers on a whole plant basis. The total fruit yield did not differ among treatments. Ethrel could be used to develop a female line of ‘New Hampshire Butternut’ as an aid in the development of F1 hybrids having low crookneck frequency.
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Dermot P. Coyne (1970) studied this question.