female pumpkin buds dying before opening.

[mariposa0283]

hi there, new here. I finally decided to try my hand at growing my own jack o lanterns this year. I planted late, well, started early in a pot and that didnt work out so tried again in the ground. ended up planting these babies around the middle of july, pushing it I know.. but I really really wanted to grow my own pumpkins and the back of the seed packet said through july is still good for planting in my region. anyways. my problem is that I have a TON of male flowers, doing great. the vines look good, big and bushy, lush and green.. I'm getting quite a few females popping up now but they all seem to be dying before opening for pollination. I had a peony garden planted where the pumpkins are now... I just chopped the peony bushes out and planted the seeds there.. didnt till or treat or anything since I live about half an hour from any garden supply store and I just wanted to get it done.... I did throw on some soil when I planted the seeds and some miracle grow once the vines started getting bigger. so not really sure whats going on here. have yet to have a single female open for pollination and I'm having a really hard time of finding any answers on a regular google search. so any help would be great.

here is a photo I took today of 2 that I found just about half an hour ago. I cut one open to see if there were any black streaks going through it.. and there were none..
[img]https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/574609_10151134654537158_413499300_n.jpg[/img]

[rainbowgardener]

I don't grow pumpkins, but generally blossom drop, where the plant sheds unopened blossoms is a stress reaction. The plant is stressed and can't support growing fruit. Sometimes this is just from immaturity and it will outgrow it. But frequently it is other kinds of stress, such as too hot or too cold, not enough water, etc. If you are like a lot of the midwest, with hot dry summer, it is a difficult time to grow pumpkins, which are not in the least drought tolerant and need lots of consistent water.

[mariposa0283]

thanks for the reply, I asked on another forum and was advised to get some phosphorus fertilizer, so I went and got the best thing I could find that sounded about right lol. hopefully they do something soon so I can have some pumpkins for halloween.