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central Nc

Sorry for asking again as I'm sure it's been covered, but I couldn't find my exact question by searching.

After pollination, how many days before you see growth? I pollinated one 3 days ago on main and 2 days ago on secondary. Both have grown slightly, but I'm not convinced.
My first one aborted at baseball size. Also, do you trim the petals immediately, or leave them?

7/15/2018 6:46:05 PM

Georgia

I am surprised to hear about you losing your baseball size pumpkin. If you don't have other pumpkins on the same vine, I would check the main vine for softness. A watched pot never boils. I am not sure if I could see much of difference after two days, but I can easily tell around 7 days Non-pollinated pumpkins are noticeably soft and wrinkled with 7 days.

7/15/2018 10:24:03 PM

Syracuse, NY

yeah, i'm considering cutting off my first pollination of '18, 1385 H/J x 1585 Werner in favor of one 4 feet later on the main @ like 12 feet, and it is @ 9 days old and just starting to get to softball-sized, so, out of mind until as was said, wait a week for visible results unless it's REALLY a gangbuster; 's'far as the flower itself, since i use a zip tie to close the flower, i wait until the flower sags greatly, starts turning a dingy brownish color and the feasting cuke beetles are just too painful to watch anymore---then, i gently peel away the flower from the blossom stalk, toss it far and move on; i'd say this is at 3-4 days max, but i would not recommend removing those protective-to-the-pollination flower(s) any sooner than after 2 days' time. eg

7/16/2018 12:02:56 AM

Grittyville, WA

They grow a little every day.
They should be smooth and shiney. If you cut your leaf off you might want to shade them. Make sure you dont have any water stress or nutrient imbalance. A closer to neutral ph might help.

7/16/2018 2:35:14 AM

Bethlehem CT

I pull the flower petals off the day after pollination. I don't want them to get soft and mushy on the pumpkin.

7/16/2018 6:18:45 AM

central Nc

Thanks guys, lots of good info to absorb. To elaborate, my aborted baseball was about a week old and I knew to look for it turning dull. Pulled the petals off last night and both have been shaded. Frankly, I'm tired of taking pictures of this damn plant but if at least one of them stick I'll post some. Gourds and melons are so much easier!

7/16/2018 7:23:54 AM

Partlow,Va

A lot of times they won't grow much for maybe a week, esp if the plant is in fast growth mode. Sometimes won't really take off until day 10-15. If the plant hasn't decided to grow a fruit and grow itself sets won't take. I'm not satisfied one has taken until day 15 with the warmer temperatures we deal with.

7/16/2018 9:37:49 AM

central Nc

I didn't think about that...good point. My plant is in a much smaller area than it wants to be, about 175-200 sq ft now (all I can spare) and I'm getting creative winding the main around my garden. I cut off the nitrogen long ago, but it is driving on.

Would you recommend terminating secondaries to force fruit growth? Maybe just leave the vines with the sets on them?

7/16/2018 11:01:06 AM

50 Acres

My pumpkins are slow this year. 1/2 inch rain in 3 weeks. I water with town water lots of chlorine, it smells like a swimming pool. Including the P. :>)

7/16/2018 12:55:23 PM

Syracuse, NY

Oh, you must mean Phosphorus. Not familiar, lol. W83---there are many pruning strategies, and most of them lean toward having as MANY vines as possible, with or without pumpkins on them, allowing each to reach the limit of its allotted area and terminating the vine about 2 feet from the barrier (per Joel Holland's video, which, IMHO, allows the last leaf to get HUGE from all the 'juice'); that being said, by doing something different, you may hit-upon the newest craze! my OWN idea is to...get my dum self out there and BURY VINES---which may entail removing a few tertiaries from the 1585 Werner, already outta control---Great Plant, preceding a Great Pumpkin? CU---eg

7/16/2018 5:12:52 PM