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Hey I had a big white mystery blossom today...turns out it was a gourd blossom. They are swan gourds. How do you go about pollinating these things? I thought the flowers would be similar to pumpkins, but they're totally different!

8/1/2003 9:49:44 PM

churchville, ny

Hi Brigitte-were you exaggerating when you said "big white blossom"? Gourd bloosoms are white but only quarter to half dollar size. The bees have trouble pollinating them because the stamen and pistil are so small. If you check in the dark you may see small bugs (mine look like minature bees) flying between them. My first year growing gourds I did not know enough to help "mother nature" and had hardly any gourds.

You can either use a fine paint brush to transfer pollen or rip off a male flower and place it (stamen) upside down over the female pistil and tap the male - the pollen should fall onto the pistil and pollinate it - to be sure, rip the petals off the male and rub the stamen on the pistil.

Hope this helps Tom

8/1/2003 10:09:24 PM

It was bigger than a half dollar....I'll send you a picture. I'll try the procedure when I get some females.

8/2/2003 11:38:19 AM

Western Pa.

You can hand pollinate the gourds, some,like long gourds are naturally pollinated in the evening.

8/3/2003 2:08:52 PM