You could try hand pollination, that might help.

But, I've been hearing a lot about this type of problem this year with squash, melons, pumpkins, you name it. Apparently, above a certain temperature, pollination just doesn't work very well. Maybe if it cools down, since you're in Zone 9, you still will have time to get some gourds.

If they've just recently started flowering (within the past 3 weeks), it could be that you had female but no male flowers ... this sometimes happens for me with cucurbits. Soon the plants will catch up forming male flowers, the female flowers (which contain the fruits) will get pollinated, and the fruits will grow.

You may be right about the temperature and good thing is it's starting to cool down. I could have sworn that birdhouse gourds are supposed to love the heat, maybe just not THAT much heat. There's one that still seems to be holding on and growing. I know I am having both male and female flowers because the gourds start growing and when they get maybe an inch and a half or two inches they die off. Other female flowers that are not pollinated don't seem to grow at all and just die off. I'm going to attempt to trellis them this weekend which they might hate and reject everything, but we still have several months of warm weather so it might be ok. If I dont get any this year it's ok, it was an experiment after all.

Kelgalon,

It might also be that your pollinators are gone this late in the season. Many gourds have white flowers that open at night to be pollinated by night-flying insects such as hummingbird moths. Professional gourd raisers usually hand pollinate at night, which you could easily do--it would also validate your neighbors' opinion of your insanity. The decreasing daylight might also shut down your plants as well. Gourds vine tremendously; I space mine 8-10 feet apart.

Brook

Brook,
I didn't know gourds were pollinated by night flying insects. That's interesting. I love that I keep learning something new year after year. I haven't grown these because of space limitations before. Well I still don't really have the space but curiousity finally got the best of me.

"it would also validate your neighbors' opinion of your insanity"....you have no idea. lol. Everytime I bring out seeds to the front yard or bring another fruit tree home I can just see them shaking their heads. I did consider putting lights up so I could night garden. It is cooler after all.

Actually Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs did a segment on gourds, and I learned it from that. The most amusing misunderstanding my neighbors had of my gardening involved asparagus. A few years back I had trenches dug to put in 700 asparagus plants. The neighbors thought I was doing some "geothermal" gardening. Actually, that did give me some ideas. I've tried night gardening as well. It's tough because of the bugs it attracts---but stadium lights might work.

Brook