Self sown pumpkins

accroul, Jan 3, 11:17am
I have 2 self sown pumpkins in my garden - they both look like the only have female flowers! normal!
Should I give them a bit longer or whip them out!Pumpkin will be the grey skin type from the supermarket.
gardie, Jan 3, 12:25pm
Often at the beginning, there are only male or female flowers so the first few fruits seldom set.I just keep a daily eye out and hand pollinate as soon as I see both flowers open to be sure the fruit sets. Just run my finger gently over the male flower to pick up pollen then deposit it inside the female flower.(I never have a small brush handy so my finger suffices).
accroul, Jan 3, 1:35pm
Actually, I think I have have it wrong! Do males have the long thin stem! if that's the case all my flowers are current males. Dunno why I thought they were female.
gardie, Jan 3, 3:55pm
Yep - long thin stems are males - a small bulge at the bottom of the flower (the beginning of the fruit) is female.It is not unusual to have lots of males for quite some time in my experience.Even when sown from purchased seed.
brownscows, Jan 3, 5:41pm
Leave them in, I have had bumper crops from self sown pumpkins!
cantabman1, Jan 4, 6:31am
gardie wrote:
Yep - long thin stems are males - a small bulge at the bottom of the flower (the beginning of the fruit) is female.It is not unusual to have lots of males for quite some time in my experience.Even when sown from purchased seed.[/quote
Another big tick for gardie.
accroul, Jan 4, 7:41am
Right, they get a repreve then.
2eabgsev, Jan 5, 2:03pm
do you need to feed pumpkins much
irenew, Jan 7, 5:44pm
Yes, the past 2 years my best pumpkins have been the self-sown ones, whereas the bought seeds were very disappointing.I've got a self-seeded one at the moment that's spread for miles.I'm carefully watching the first of my 'babies' as it slowly grows!
canz, Jan 22, 4:49am
Feed pumpkins with comfrey tea, weed tea, compost tea, compost, all organic foods. I'll be adding comfrey tea to the stuff I'm selling here in about a week