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Sacramento, CA

I have posted on the new growers forum already, but i need expert advice on this.

This is my first season and I am not entering a competition, but I do want to have a pumpkin to show for my efforts. How do I get the female flowers to open, they have been growing to cherry size with a 1 inch closed flower on top and then nothing. They just die. I have cooled them, I have shaded them and I am not getting anything.

I have 3 varieties growing, Big Max, Wyatts and AG's. @ plants each. All 6 plants look great, huge leaves, thick vines, all are very healthy. None of the 20 females that have come and gone have opened yet, not a single one. I have about 15 females that I can see right now.

What do I do now?

Thanks to all.

8/1/2006 4:40:11 PM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

Bloom Booster 10-52-10....How old are your plants Matt? They need to be on Average 60 days old to produce a female. If your females are not maturing to the point of pollination it sounds like a soil problem. Whats your High Temperatures been like lately.

8/1/2006 4:50:55 PM

Switch the "patch music"(Stevie Ray Vaughn works) and change from that California wine to hard liquor,,the "ladies" in the midwest fell for it !

8/1/2006 5:15:42 PM

Mocksville, NC

Shannon is refering to a foliar bloom boster use it ,it dosent matter whats locked up in the soil, the plant will absorb it, and do the whole plant or plants,

8/1/2006 5:35:40 PM

[email protected]

They'll open...patience.

8/1/2006 9:25:18 PM

Denver, CO

Many times, the first females to appear on a plant are what I call "false" females, in that they stay to small and never open. (like the cherry size you descirbe) They are often fuzzy looking on the outside, like a peach skin. This will happen in a radial pattern, meaning that all the females at say about the same distance out on your side and main vines, will be "false" feamles. A "real" female will be smooth and be about the size of the golf ball when its ready, with the blossom at least 3 times that size before it opens. This to will show it self in a radial pattern. It sounds like you might be having these false ones right now, but if you wait in a week or so you will see the real ones develope next in line down the vine. These are the ones to pollinate.
Hope that helps. ( This is for the AG's which is all I am famillar with)

8/1/2006 11:56:42 PM

Denver, CO

I also meant to add that though I am considerably less knowledgeable then Linus, I am always leary of adding anything in terms of blossom boster or heay fertilizer during the 14 to 20 days when you are trying to pollinate. Maybe just on old wives tale, but the less disturbed the plant the better the nautral cycle of life is the approach I was taught.

8/2/2006 12:01:03 AM

Sacramento, CA

Thanks for the info everyone. Plants hit the patch on may 23, so more than the 60 days. No Stevie Ray Vaughn in my neighborhood, I would be kicked out of the neighborhood.

I used the foliar bloom booster 10-52-10 last night. I am hoping that will do the trick.

What is the rule on that stuff, once a week untill you have enough pumpkins set? More? Less?

"False females?" well, you described what I am getting cherry-sized fuzzy female flowers that dont open. Maybe the real deal is on the way.

Next year, plants hit the dirt on Cinco de Mayo! Plus no nitrogen after June 1. Maybe that will help.

8/2/2006 11:54:49 AM

Midwest

IMHO, this fall, work on the soil so the plants will have adequate phosphorus from the soil next year. Get a soil test after this season and go from there. Work on adjusting the main nutrients and the pH and next year your plant may throw females in June/July. Also, get a proven seed that has proven to be aggressive and throw females in the 60 day timeframe.
Blessings

8/2/2006 1:18:55 PM

Syracuse, NY

just be mentally ready because the females will show-up
several at a time, lol...i have a 900 Alberts growing
(735 Pukos X 845 Nesbitt, or the reverse, lol) and
it was the last plant of mine out of 9 to have "valid" females on it
just like your plant(s). once they showed up it was two at
once, and one the next night and....well, there have been fewer and fewer since the first three got poll'd.
but, in your case, they might come through fast for a week or more--good luck-eg

8/2/2006 2:14:11 PM

Little-TON - Colorado

I have noticed at our new patch at the nursery....we already have females golf ball size only 4 ft from the stump......Im thinking this is heat and possible soil PH and excessive something.....related. we have no soil test but dark very hard soil that came from some pond sludge. Noticable is the salt ring we get when we soil drench. But interesting is the amount of males and females with so young of plants. All of them. Hang in there Emma.....After the first few show they do open as GHopson suggested.....in the early AM..(sunrise).. they will close after 4-5 hours in the AM ...dependant upon the heat......never to open again is what I read, and found to B very true..... with only a 10% viability to pollinate after ........pollinate at sun up before the bees attack, Pick your males the night before and bring them in and put into a vase with water. Good Luck....its a lot of fun.....

8/2/2006 11:16:19 PM