Pumpkin Problem-No female flowers!

[tiffanyh]

So I have been watching my pumpkins closely. early on I got one pumpkin, which is doing quite well. Since then I have been watching close-since I was worried about low pollination due to decrease in honey bees- and I have not seen a SINGLE female flower since the one that turned pumpkin. I check daily and have tons of male flowers, but no female, and I actually have bees around although I have been doing some self pollination on my squash. That has been going great.

So has anyone else ever had this problem.

This has really not been a good veggie year. It started out GREAT but we have had some much rain/high humidity/moisture that my veggie look sad.......

 

[OaklandCityFarmer]

Typically pumpkins (and other squash relatives) will produce a bunch of male flowers before they start to produce female flowers. Nature's way of attracting pollinators. Since you have already a female flower that started it may just be a fluke.

I really wouldn't worry too much about it. How big is the plant(s)?

 

[Dodgegal79]

Mine haven't started to make anything yet, when should they start making pumpkins, I planted them back in June? They have flowers.

 

[Rio_Lindo_AZ]

I was going to reply, but I would be saying what OaklandCityFarmer said. :-}

 

[tiffanyh]

Hmmmm---but it has been since June so I would have thought I would have a least a few female ones. I agree that the one is probably a fluke, but I would have thought Id have seen a few since then. The trails or vines on the plants are about 6-8feet long now, so the 2-3 plants in that raised bed take up about a 4x4 area and then the "trails" go out from there about 6-8 feet....

So you think that is normal???

Thanks for responding everyone!!! It is driving me nuts and the neighbors probably think I am crazy out there knee deep in a bunch of pumpkin vines, sifting through and examining flowers and their private areas!

 

[OaklandCityFarmer]

It does seem a little odd that more haven't produced and the vines are that big.

How is the water supply? Pumpkins need a lot of water during the growing season and many varieties will not produce if water isn't in sufficient supply. Also, another reason may be excessive amounts of nitrogen. How have you fertilized? Too much nitrogen can lead to a lot rapid growth with very little fruit production.

I would say give it time and I'm sure they'll start producing some fruits soon. How long have they been in the ground? What varieties are you growing?

 

[tiffanyh]

Lots and lots of water--to much probably!

I do have too much fertilizer, I fertilized the beds with rabbit compost before making it, they did grow very very fast,....maybe that is it....

 

[r3rugrats]

Hi,

I'm having the same problem... 10 plants, pumpkins, mini pumpkins, and goards no female flowers.... I'm in NH and we also got the very wet weather all summer. So I'm not sure if that was the problem or what. I also spoke to a huge commercial farmer, and they said their pumpkin patch is very sparse this year, compared to past years. So I don't know, seed, weather??? Maybe a combination of all.

All I know is the price of pumpkins this year will probably skyrocket....

 

[Suess]

I am in the same situation. I have one pumpkin and many male flowers. I initially thought the whole many males to attract theory, but I now have a pumpkin turning orange, and nothing else. I have many short vines, and one 7 ft vine. I think it might be the nitrogen as I had fertilized some of my other plants with nitrogen due to yellowing limbs. Now I know and will be more careful. Truly I just want pumpkins for Halloween, and for the holidays.

 

[redchicken]

we have large pumpkins growing one is already orange and we have two young but big green pumpkins growing now. But we didn't plant them we planted some in 2006 but none grew last year so some might be growing too early.