Question: My squash fruit starts to rot almost as soon as it forms. What causes that?

Answer: There are fungal fruit rots that hit squash fruit. Disease sometimes originates with the old petals. If they’re wet, and if they stick to the surface of the fruit, they can lead to almost overnight decay. You need to be careful, in handling these deteriorated fruit, that you don’t spread the disease to other fruit nearby. Wash your hands frequently, and use a listed fungicide to stop the disease. It might also help if you put a layer of mulch under the plants, to keep water from splashing from the soil onto the plant during rainfall.