Live Self Sufficient

When it starts getting warmer outside, one of the first things I do is plant my pumpkin seeds. In just a few weeks time, the vines quickly began to grow and the flowers start to open.

One of the most frustrating things about pumpkins is pollination. Have you noticed that several of the pumpkins on your vine have turned yellow and shriveled up and died? It is really disheartening to see it happen, but luckily there is something you can do to help prevent this from happening.

Unlike a tomato flower that has both the male and female reproductive parts and can pollinate itself, a pumpkin vine produces separate male and female flowers. In order for that pumpkin to grow, the female flower needs to be pollinated by the male flower.

Look around your yard. Do you see a lot of bumble bees flying around? In many cases the bumble bees will do the dirty work of pollination for you. If you don’t have any bees, you will have to be self sufficient and pollinate your pumpkin flowers by yourself.

Hand pollinating your pumpkin flowers is really quite simple. All you really need to do is pick the male flower and pull off its petals so that all you have left is the central pointy area (stamen) that contains the pollen. Take the stamen and carefully use it to brush pollen on each area of the female flower’s pistil. In a few days time if pollination has been done properly, you will notice that your pumpkin is growing well!

Related posts:

1. How to identify male and female flowers on your pumpkin vine
2. How to identify male and female flowers
3. Why isn’t my vine producing fruit?
4. How can I avoid cross pollination among my gourds and pumpkins?
5. Cross pollination between pumpkins and gourds