Great_pumpkin
Newly Registered
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 6:28 pm

Help - did I plant too many pumpkins/zucchini?

So I am trying to grow pumpkins and even though they look healthy and I have lots of Male flowers no female flowers have come up yet. I have been reading and they should have shown up about a week and half ago. I'm afraid that I have planted them to close together and that's too late to do anything about it. From looking at the attached picture can anyone give me some advise or am I boned till next year? I have 6 pumpkin plants and 3 zucchini plants in there :|
Attachments
20180809_183824.jpg

pepperhead212
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 2851
Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2014 1:52 pm
Location: Woodbury NJ Zone 7a/7b

Welcome to the forum!

So how close did you plant them? I planted only 3 butternuts, and they look pretty much like that, planted 4' apart, and spreading all over, though I try to keep them over that wide row - I just train the vines back in the other direction. Yet, I often see several squash planted in "hills", quite close together, but it's all in what you have in the overall area. Pumpkins can take a long time (over 100 days, sometimes) to start getting baby squash, but zucchini should be within 50 days, or so.

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13961
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

How hot is it? Some plants will not produce reproductive flowers when they are stressed by drought or extremes of temperature.
I got around the heat problem because I only plant one squash plant and the male and female flowers did not sync up by planting Parthenon, a parthenocarpic variety that does not require pollination.

Great_pumpkin
Newly Registered
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 6:28 pm

Thank you for your advise. I have 3 pumpkin plants closest to the vines, 3 zucchini which are doing fine I have harvested some already and more are still growing, and 3 pumpkin plants closer to the drive way. I know I didnt plant them far enough apart as they say I should and I have been training the vines to grow how I want them. We have been pretty hot like mid 80's to mid to low 90's and there was about a 2 week span when it would down poor rain then heat up. I see I have a few female flowers starting up now, still tiny but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Even if I only get 1 out of the 6 plants I have there I'll call that a success and know for next year not to plant so many close together.

User avatar
jal_ut
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7447
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

My Dad used to plant squash, about 5 seed in a spot then take a long step and 5 more seed. The squash would come up and the vines would go out in all directions. Well when it all got going he had quite a squash patch.

I use a slightly different technique, I will poke in a seed every foot in the row. Yes, I have rows about 40 feet long, so you get a lot of plants in a row. I just let them go. Weed and water, no thinning.

You can try some things, but be advised that squash needs some space. The vines get quite long and full sunshine is best.



Return to “Organic Gardening Forum”