pumpkin female flowers just shrivel up and die , they don't even

18 years ago

open to give me a chance to hand pollinate. Anyone know WHY this is happening? I Might get a small pumpkin before frost if one of them would ever open. I posted this on "gourds" but so far, no response over there

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Comments (6)

redhotflowermama
18 years ago
Dont know why but mine did the same thing. No pumpkins this year. Judy
gldno1
18 years ago
Have you noticed whether or not you have bees for pollination?
Something must carry the pollen from flower to flower in order for fruit to set. I know the bee population has been way down in Missouri for a few years because of some mite or the other.

Just an idea.

gld
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Temperatures have been high, in the 90s. I hadn't seen the blossom drop one, just blossom end rot. I just now read it, thank you. The flower on the bottom HAD opened, for sure, the one above it did not though and there is one over the other side, which also opened. All of them started to shrivel at the same time. I have at least 3 more female flowers coming up right now, so fingers crossed they do okay. They haven't opened yet, but should within the next couple of days I think. Got plenty of males floating around right now (3 open today, fortunately there are like 5 more currently growing with about 3 at around the right stage for when the females open up!) so I guess we'll see what happens. Would you recommend hand pollinating these new females?
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my female pumpkin flowers are falling off!!!
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Here is a couple pictures i just took today of them, the longest one with a male flower in bloom on it seems to look healthy (although with this being my first time growing pumpkin i dont really know for sure), its the longest out of the three, and the other picture shows my two pumpkin vines that ive noticed are yellowing in the leaves, unfortunately i have them planted right next to eachother because i ran out of room in my garden to separate them and have a suitable place for the one i would move. They all had what looked like rot at the base stem of the vine, so i buried the part of the stem that had rot all the way up to where the rot ended and the healthy stem began, which seemed to help because they grew considerably right after i did that, but i dont know if maybe that could be to blame as well. This post was edited by MissKayle10-3-13 on Mon, Jun 23, 14 at 12:10
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No female flowers, just buds. :(
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Comments (2)
My first year growing pumpkins too, so I'm no expert, but here's my 2 cents: 1 of my plants (Spookies variety) started producing fruit quickly, but the others lagged behind... lots of male flowers but no females... or female buds would form, then die and fall off without opening. But eventually these plants came through also, and now all of my 7 plants are producing at least one or two pumpkins. I think it has a lot to do with the overall health and vigor of the plant... I think the plant "knows" if it's strong enough to support fruit, and the females don't come until it's ready. So just keep your plants healthy, and they will come. I also think it has to do with the amount of sun. We've had warm weather and tons of rain here in the Carolinas. My plants seemed for the most part healthy and strong, but most days were more cloudy than sunny. When the sun shined strong for a couple days, that's when my females stopped dying and started producing.
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Pumpkins rotting off vine before the flower even blooms
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Comments (3)
Hello all, Our pumpkins are doing the same thing. Some of the fallen ones were smaller than a marble, and none of the flowers opened. Only one was close to opening, and was probably 3-4 days away when it fell. The baby pumpkins turn yellow, the unopened blooms turn brown and they eventually fall off. We have no lack of male flowers or new baby pumpkins, but no female blooms :( We've fertilized, water adequately...it's been really hot the past week, could that be the problem? There is no evidence of pests or rot or anything else. The plants themselves are really healthy. Any help appreciated... - Star
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razorback33
18 years ago
Could be high temperatures. If temps are in the 90's. the blooms won't open. When it get's cooler, you should see an improvement.
Good luck.
Rb
chancygardener
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks, RB...it has been hot since the pumpkin tried to have female flowers. The male flowers have been opening. So, we'll see. I would like to have one just for fall decoration. Gld...yes, I have bees ... the female flowers never opened to give either the bees or me a chance to pollinate.
Stephen Morrow
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
My problem is i have 5 male flowers on my vine..and only one female flower. It seems that one male flower opens per day..then die. Why will my female flower not open so i can hand pollenate it..otherwise i fear i wont get a pumpkin this year!! Please can someone give me advice as to help me encourage the female to open? Cheers!!
rockwhisperer OK zone 6A
6 years ago
Would it be possible to open the flower by tearing some of it away? Might be worth a try....

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pumpkin female flowers just shrivel up and die , they don't even

Comments (6)

redhotflowermama

gldno1

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chancygardener
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pumpkin female flowers just shrivel up and die , they don't even

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redhotflowermama

gldno1

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chancygardenerOriginal Author

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