Thanks, I think the hand pollinating is working.

If your plot it truly a 1/2 acre you planted far too few pumpkins. Typically you can expect around one pumpkin per vine which would put you at around 240, not all of which will be marketable. Here is an article that I bet you'll wish you had a few months ago. Clemson University Connecticut Field Pumpkin Study Quick highlights are that their best results were with 605 plants per 1/2 acre (I scaled it to your plot) they grew 390 marketable pumpkins. Their worst results were with 151 plants per 1/2 acre that yeilded only 60 marketable pumpkins. Also keep in mind that they fertilized, and had a plan for pests and diseases. If you don't do any of those things it is likely your yeild would be lessened. All that being said, you'll still have a lot of pumpkins if you tend your patch well. What is your experience with growing pumpkins?

There are various reasons plants wilt, and since you are the only one who knows the nitty gritty details about the type of soil you have, how often you water, how deeply you water, etc., all we can do is suggest possible causes and you'll have to evaluate your plants and practices and figure out which one it is. First of all, it has been exceptionally hot and the sunlight is very intense at this time of year, so heat stress is a possibility. If your plants wilt during the heat of the day and then begin to perk up in the late evening around sunset, then heat stress is the likely culprit. Secondly, if you are watering very heavily and have heavy soil containing a lot of clay, you could be overwatering. Plants that are too wet will wilt the same way that plants that are too dry will wilt. Check your soil by sticking your finger down in it. If it is sopping wet, you may be overwatering for the type of soil that you have. Third, if you have very fast-draining sandy soil, you may be underwatering. For pumpkins, you want to water deeply because their roots can go quite deeply. Fourth, it could be one of the bacterial diseaeses spread by insects. If so, you should be seeing some discoloration on the leave and also you'll see some wilted leaves that don't recover overnight. Fifth, it could be squash vine borers on the pumpkins and, more rarely but occasionally, on the cucumbers as well. With the tomatoes, we don't know enough about their plants and your plants to know why their plants are producing tomatoes and yours are not. There are a lot of possibilities, including the following: DAYS TO MATURITY: Different Varieties Have Different "Days To Maturity": Every tomato variety has different days to maturity and it varies wildly. If it takes your variety 80 days to mature, and theirs 60 days to mature, they could be part of it. It is more complicated than that though. The recommended planting dates for spring tomato plants in Oklahoma are April 10-30, so you planted at least a month late, and that really matters with some varieties, though not as much with others. SIZE OF PLANTS: It could be you set out a younger, smaller plant that wasn't physically ready to bloom and their plant was older and closer to being ready to bloom. It could be their plant had already formed blooms while at the wholesaler or retailer. TYPE OF PLANT: Y'all may have different types of plants....theirs could be an inderminate that sets fruits all along as it grows, and yours could be a determinate that sets a lot of fruit at once. Theirs could be a cherry, grape, currant or small pear-sized type of tomato and yours might be a full-sized large slicing type. If so, the large tomatoes have trouble setting fruit (see 'pollination' paragraph below) in higher temperatures than the smaller ones do. POLLINATION ISSUES: In general, most large, slicing-type tomatoes will bloom and form fruit only as long as daytime highs remain below about 92 degrees (up to 95 degrees for some varieties) and nightime lows remain below 72-75 degrees, but above 55 degrees. So, depending on where your plants and their plants were grown by the wholesaler and kept by the retailer, that could account for the difference. When I buy plants, I like to buy them early in the season when they haven't been sitting outside baking on hot concrete sidewalks, parking lots, etc. Once temperatures are high, the pollen inside the flowers loses viability and blossoms will form, fail to pollinate, and fall off. Once again, different varieties perform better at different temperatures. It could be that theirs don't mind the hotter temps as much as yours do. TOO MUCH NITROGEN: If your plants are lush, green, and have tons of foliage but are failing to flower and set fruit, there is a good possibility they've been overfed nitrogen. When plants get too much nitrogen, they make leaves and don't make fruit. Tomato varieties are highly variable and even two or more plants of the exact same variety will not peform exactly the same. I planted 85 tomato plants representing about 45 or 50 varieties and no two of them have behaved the same. Some have produced tons of tomatoes while others haven't formed a single fruit. Some made a lot of tomatoes early on and we are already harvesting those tomatoes while other plants have only recently formed fruit. So, without knowing which variety each of you planted, and the size and age that each was at planting time and the soil they're in and the amount they've each been fed and watered, it is impossible to guess just why their plants are setting fruit and yours are not, but it is most likely...if I had to make a blind guess...related to the variety and the weather. Dawn

Pumpkin Pie from scratch: Cut pumpkin in half, I do "pole to pole" not around the equator. Scrape seeds and stringy parts. Place in a large baking dish skin side UP and bake until it begins to fall in and is tender. I put in a 350* oven, time depends on size of pumpkin. Cool, scrape pulp from shell. I put mine in a food processor or blender to make it smooth. 3 lbs pumpkin yields about 3 c. mashed pumpkin Pie: Make your favorite pie crust and have it ready. 2 eggs,well beaten 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed 1 1/2 cups prepared pumpkin (or canned) 1/4 teaspoon ginger 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup milk Combine ingredients and turn into prepared pie shell. Bake in hot oven 425* for 40 minutes until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Or bake 450* oven for 10 minutes and then turn it down to 350 for 40 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool. Top with fresh whipped cream.