Pumpkin Question
Bill
Hi all!
Just a simple pumpkin question for the newsgroup of experts. Last October
I thought it would be fun to throw the seeds from my pumpkin into a brick
planter in my apartment's patio to see what would happen. Just recently a
plant appeared and has just taken off! I'm assuming it is a pumpkin. It
has big orange flowers which seem to open during the day and close at
night. After a few days, the flowers fall off. :( Is this normal? I'm
under the impression that the actual pumpkin needs to come from the
flower,
which is hard to do if the flowers keep falling off! Will I still get
pumpkins? If so, then when? If not, how do I get pumpkins??
Don't mean to sound like a ham & egger but I've never done this before....
Thanks!
Bill in Burbank
ultr...@earthlink.net
DGholston
>Just recently a plant appeared and has just taken off! I'm >assuming it
is a pumpkin. It has big orange flowers which >seem to open during the day
and close at night. After a >few days, the flowers fall off. :( Is this
normal? I'm
>under the impression that the actual pumpkin needs to >come from the
flower, which is hard to do if the flowers >keep falling off! Will I
still get pumpkins? If so, then >when? If not, how do I get pumpkins??
Don't mean to >sound like a ham & egger but I've never done this
before....
You will probably get more than one piece of advice on this. This question
in one form or another seems to come up periodically. What you are seeing
are the male blooms whose purpose is to serve as a pollen source for the
female blooms and the dry up and fall off. The male blooms usually come
first. You will recognize the female ones because they are the ones with a
tiny pumpkin between the bottom of the flower and the stem. If they are
not fertilized, they will fall off too. Bees or other insects normally
pollinate the female flowers, but if they are absent, you may need to do
some hand pollination. To do this, early in the morning while the flowers
are fresh, take a small water color brush or such and smear it around
inside a newly opened male bloom and then do the same to a female flower.
Or some people just pick a male flower and smash it into the female
flower. After two or three pumpkins have set, that is all you need for a
single vine. Have fun.
Don Gholston
Pat Kiewicz
In article <5m7fjg$l...@argentina.earthlink.net>, ultr...@earthlink.net
says...
>
>Hi all!
>
>Just a simple pumpkin question for the newsgroup of experts. Last October
>I thought it would be fun to throw the seeds from my pumpkin into a brick
>plant appeared and has just taken off! I'm assuming it is a pumpkin. It
>has big orange flowers which seem to open during the day and close at
>night. After a few days, the flowers fall off. :( Is this normal? I'm
>under the impression that the actual pumpkin needs to come from the
>flower,
>which is hard to do if the flowers keep falling off! Will I still get
>pumpkins? If so, then when? If not, how do I get pumpkins??
>Don't mean to sound like a ham & egger but I've never done this before....
>
pollen-bearing. Only later do the 'female' (or fruit-forming) flowers
appear. The 'female' flowers have shorter stems, and behind the flower
will be a small, green 'baby' pumpkin. Normally, squash bees, honey bees,
or bumble bees will move pollen from the male to the female blossoms. If
bees are in short supply, you can pollinate the female flowers by hand.
(The best time to do this is in the morning.) If the plant is not getting
enough sunlight, or is otherwise 'unhappy' about its growing conditions,
it might not form any female blossoms at all, or drop those blossoms before
they even open. (It takes a lot more energy to form a fruit than it does
to form pollen.)
Pumpkin vines can quickly grow to enourmous size. I hope your container
is large...
--
Pat in Plymouth MI
1RealHope
Bill:
If I have it right, there are "male" and "female" buds. The males just
draw bees and look pretty, pluck those, dip them in batter and fry them -
mmmmmmm.
The female buds should produce fruit. Enjoy both!
DavidC
Bill <ultr...@earthlink.net> wrote in article
<5m7fjg$l...@argentina.earthlink.net>...
> Hi all!
>
> Just a simple pumpkin question for the newsgroup of experts. Last
October
> I thought it would be fun to throw the seeds from my pumpkin into a brick
> planter in my apartment's patio to see what would happen. Just recently
a
> plant appeared and has just taken off! I'm assuming it is a pumpkin. It
> has big orange flowers which seem to open during the day and close at
> night. After a few days, the flowers fall off. :( Is this normal? I'm
> under the impression that the actual pumpkin needs to come from the
> flower,
> which is hard to do if the flowers keep falling off! Will I still get
> pumpkins? If so, then when? If not, how do I get pumpkins??
> Don't mean to sound like a ham & egger but I've never done this
before....
>
Dan Parker
1RealHope wrote:
>
> Bill:
>
> If I have it right, there are "male" and "female" buds. The males just
> draw bees and look pretty, pluck those, dip them in batter and fry them -
> mmmmmmm.
>
> The female buds should produce fruit. Enjoy both!
>
> DavidC
>
Well...actually, the male flowers do make this little contribution
called "pollen". That's why they're male. We males may be barbaric,
insensitive brutes who leave our laundry on the floor and monopolize the
remote control, but we still server a purpose...even in the garden ;-)
--
-- "If food is the body of good living, wine is its soul"
--
-- Clifton Fadiman, American editor and writer.
-- 1904-?
--