Pumpkin advice please

[Peatricia]

Hi Folks,

Im growing pumpkins for my kids for the obvious autumn event!

My question is that a couple of shoots have done exactly that - shot of across the garden!

So should I 'nip' these back to encourage growth to the pumpkins (no sign yet) themselves? I have one growing in a pot and one in the raised bed. I fear now that I haven't given them enough room to grow and attempted to shoehorn too much into my first year.

Can anyone offer some advice please?

Regards

Peatricia

[DavidT]

I would leave them alone for now, they are big plants anyway. I`m surprised you don`t have any fruit on them yet, have they flowered?

[Peatricia]

Yes one of the plants has produced quite an attractive flower. The other plant with the long runner hasn't.

Any thoughts?

Peatricia

[DavidT]

Try giving them a feed with Tomato fertiliser to get them flowering.

[Peatricia]

Thanks - I will give that a go.

I have noticed that both plants have now flowered, should I expect some fruit to appear soon?

Peatricia

[DavidT]

I bet the flower was a male one, that`s to say, without a mini Pumpkin behind it?

[Peatricia]

Thanks for that. What is the difference between the male and female flower? As I am new to this I have no idea so if you can expand on the whole event and give me some signs to look for I would be very grateful.

[DavidT]

When they first start flowering, all members of the cucurbit family throw up male flowers. This is natures way of ensuring that when the female flowers appear there are plenty of available donors for pollinating. To recognise one flower from the other, a male flower just has a stalk behind it, while a female flower has a mini Pumpkin. Pumpkins MUST be pollinated to grow fruit, if not the little fruits will turn brown and drop off.

[Peatricia]

David - thanks for that. I'm guessing now that nature will do the necessary pollination or is there something I can do that will help on the process?

Thanks again

Peatricia

[Peatricia]

David,

Just been away for a week and have returned to 3 pumpkins nestling in the foiliage - delighted I am!

Is anything I should be doing now for them. Maybe sheltering, protecting them from the sun(fat chance!) ETC

Regards

P

[smithyveg]

Did anyone manage to beat my effort this year? 262lbs!

Giant pumpkin seeds - variety Heidi from the Sugababes on eBay (end time 10-Dec-09 19:27:36 GMT)

[marmite]

In a word NO, hope you are keeping well. Regards Marmite