From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Portland, Oregon

Hi All,

I've been reading the message boards and noticed a lot of questions about hand pollinating. My 5 year old son and I made a quick video to explain the process. One interesting thing that happened was at the time we only had female flowers and no male flowers. You'll see we had to borrow from a neighbor. Hope you enjoy!!

https://youtu.be/nE_ruqAJEeU

7/22/2017 10:53:13 AM

aurora, IL

If you use male flowers that aren't wet it is easier to pollinate female flowers.

7/22/2017 4:55:56 PM

Dixon, Illinois

That's weird! I got lot of male until finally a female. Now I have several female!

7/23/2017 8:27:21 AM

Portland, Oregon

Yes I thought it was really strange! We've been growing pumpkins in our backyard for 5 years now and have always had males before females. Oh well, the males have arrived now. And thanks for the tip on dry flowers. Do you water in the evening to keep them dry in the morning?

I've got a few other pumpkin videos (among others) if you're interested. My 5 year old son is really into YouTube videos so we are working on them together.


https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi5NttauItIAqdfmujC0thQ

7/23/2017 11:59:05 PM

Morgantown, WV

Typically the best way to keep them dry and clean, is to collect the males the night before when you protect the female blossom (put her condom on to keep morning bees out).

If you put them in cold water, it'll prolong their opening a little, so always chilly water the night before, and by the morning they will be open. If you need them to open a little better, use warm water for a half hour or so and they'll start to open.

I don't personally wait for my flowers to fully open. Typically I use a razor all the way around the base of the petals to get down to the stamen. Normally, I have to open the female flower a bit and get in there. I've not typically had trouble with pollination unless it's raining heavily. My normal pumpkin pollination time is around 7AM because that fits my schedule, others wait until closer to 9 or 10, but I'm usually not here at that time.

Good luck out there!

Always be fast and complete if you want a clean pollination, and re-cover your female as quickly as possible. You'd be AMAZED how fast a bee can sneak into your male or your female for that matter while she'd wide open to the world so you can get a few pictures... The second you open the first male, they will be able to smell the pollen and will be right next to you before you know it.

7/24/2017 5:32:21 AM