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Pumpkins

Hi I'm hoping someone on here is a bit of a wizard when it comes to growing pumpkins.

I tried growing to varieties last year and although they grew an amazing set of leaves, every time I thought a female flower had set it expanded for a week then stopped and rotted off. I even tried artificial pollination too but again the same results, much to the disappointment of the children image

An ideas how to successfully solve this problem. Incidently I grew some marrows too I managed to harvest one decent marrow but the rest failed like the pumpkins. 

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  • ClaringtonClarington Posts: 4,949

    Bumping this thread back up to the top because I'd like to know as well. Last year my pumpkin plants vrew strongly but each time a pumpkin would appear a few days later it fell off.

    Was last year just a bad year? :/

  • ItalophileItalophile Posts: 1,731

    Sounds like a pollination problem in both cases. The fruit will shrivel and die off if the female flower hasn't been either properly or sufficiently pollinated.

    It can happen, too, after hand pollination. Apart from making sure the pollen transfers to the stigma of the female flower, you have to be careful not to damage the stigma in the process.

  • Can anyone advise how to plant out?  I sowed seeds last week and now have some impressive, but weak and tall shoots.  I live in a warm dry climate and I need to choose the best spot in my garden.  I have a large space available that is in shade all day or spots that's are more or less full sun all day (I was planning on putting the sunflowers, tomatoes, peppers etc in here).  If necessary I could find an alternate area.  Any advice for planting out? And whether my fast growing shoots are going to give me a weak plant?

  • ItalophileItalophile Posts: 1,731

    They need full sun to prosper, Emma. In the meantime, give your seedlings as much sun and warmth as they can get and they should come right.

  • We had the reverse issue in the last two seasons, i.e., too many pumpkins.  One reason could be, I was told, that we have the right kind of insects such as bees in our garden.  They pollinate the pumpkins like crazy.  Another thing is, I made sure I don't overwater the patch where the pumpkins grow.  Good luck!

  • ItalophileItalophile Posts: 1,731

    Too much fertiliser, particularly if it's high in nitrogen, can also impact on production.

  • IvyhouseIvyhouse Posts: 111

    My advice would be not to plant them out too early. I put 5 really healthy plants out last year on May 1st after a week of hardening off and they just stopped in their tracks. One got completely demolished by slugs so I sowed up some more which caught up within a month. I'l leave it until June 1st this time.

  • plotskierplotskier Posts: 65

    Growing eight pumpkin plants for the first time this year on my allotment. - Invincible, Knucklehead, . I have grown them on from mid may in the greenhouse in grow pots and have now transferred them to ring pots ( usually used for tomatoes) . I gave the whole area a good manuring beforehand. They are all enclosed within pallets to avoid wind and build up warmth, spaced at 3' square intervals. Yes, I had trouble with snails in the greenhouse eating the true leaves of the pumpkins but also the celery seedlings aswell - the latter have been rubbish at germination this year - hardly worth planting out!  Next year, I too, will leave all sowing until mid - may , early June, March/April has been too cold this year even in the greenhouse.

  • I have planted a couple of home grown pumpkin plants on my compost heaps to see how they do.  Anyone done this before?  planted more in the usual way just as backup.  

     

  • ItalophileItalophile Posts: 1,731

    They will thrive. I'm always pulling out volunteers from seeds in the compost heap.

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