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Cornucopia - Australia

watering question

18 years ago

sorry if this is the dumbest question ever asked on this forum, but i am new to vegetable gardening....

I planted seedlings in my new raised garden bed a few months back and now have, for instance, thumb-sized butternut pumpkins that recently bloomed before withering and dying (pumpkin and flower). I thought maybe I was overwatering, as I was watering every night and giving the soil a pretty good soak. So I decided to cut back on the watering, doing so every second night rather then every night. my pumpkins are still dying, and so now are my little cucumbers that get to about two centimetrs long, flower, then turn yellow and die.

The soil is brand new garden-specific soil, gets good sun and is sheltered from the wind.

So my question is, how much should I water? My garden is about 5 square metres and has pumpkins, cucumbers, tomatoes (which incidentally are thriving (touch wood)), chillis, garlic, shallots, basil, carots and parsley. The chills have also started to wither after seeming to thrive earlier.

Any advice?

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Comments (5)

adamus
18 years ago
Pumkins, and squash in general, will wither and die if they're not pollinated. .
This could be the problem. You may have to self pollinate to ensure some fruit. Quite often all the female flowers come out together, then all the males. Eventually you will get a few of both at the same time. One Male flower can pollinate a lot of females.
The males are the ones with just one "centre" to the flower, the females have a multi structure thing.
Pick the male and peel back the yellow petals so all you are holding is the stamen with the yellow pollen on it. Then simply dab the females with the pollen. They dont need much, and you've pollinated them.
Hope this helps.
Raymondo
18 years ago
Also, the female has the baby fruit at its base, often quite small but nevertheless easy to identify.
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yaablett
Original Author
18 years ago
Actually, just about every single flower that has come out has fruit at its base, so that could be the problem.

Fingers crossed.....

Cheers!
mistymorn
18 years ago
!!!WOW!!! The Female is supreme, Amazing that.
I have so many male flowers on mine I will have to hand pollinate.
sarah_may
18 years ago
MM I was going to comment on your good fortune, but that would probably be inappropriate!!!
Sarah :-))

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