Hi,
I've never planted pumpkins before but we got our own place this spring and I thought why not. I planted Big Max pumpkins, some early May & some early June. The vines range from 6 to 8 feet or so. I have a ton of male flowers but only one female flower per vine (none of them have bloomed yet). Is there something I can do to help them produce more females? When should the females bloom? Do I have enough time for a large pumpkin to grow? Thanks!
-Lindsay
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ILovePumpkins
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rainbowgardener
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Whether you have enough time to get a ripe pumpkin depends on when your fall frosts begin.
Your seed packet should show you days to maturity or you can look it up by variety name. That is the time from seed sprouting to harvesting a ripe pumpkin. You can subtract maybe 60 days from that time for how long average it would be expected from seed sprouting to setting fruit and that will give you a rough idea of how long it should take to make a pumpkin after you have one set. Thus your Big Max has days to maturity of 110 days. The first 60 -70 days of that would be expected for getting to fruit set. That would leave 40-50 days to get to ripe pumpkin. So if you get fruit set soon and you have at least 6 weeks left before frost, you still have a chance of harvesting a full sized ripe pumpkin.
But it does seem like something hasn't progressed the way it should have. Six to eight feet of vine may seem like a lot, but it is very little for a full sized pumpkin. Your vine just isn't big enough yet to be making pumpkins, but it seems like it should have been by now. Pumpkins plants (especially those designed to produce large pumpkins) are VERY demanding. They need tons of sunshine, weather consistently 80 or above, tons of fertilizer/ compost/ manure, and something like 8 - 10 gallons of water a week (including rainfall). Have they been getting all that?
Your seed packet should show you days to maturity or you can look it up by variety name. That is the time from seed sprouting to harvesting a ripe pumpkin. You can subtract maybe 60 days from that time for how long average it would be expected from seed sprouting to setting fruit and that will give you a rough idea of how long it should take to make a pumpkin after you have one set. Thus your Big Max has days to maturity of 110 days. The first 60 -70 days of that would be expected for getting to fruit set. That would leave 40-50 days to get to ripe pumpkin. So if you get fruit set soon and you have at least 6 weeks left before frost, you still have a chance of harvesting a full sized ripe pumpkin.
But it does seem like something hasn't progressed the way it should have. Six to eight feet of vine may seem like a lot, but it is very little for a full sized pumpkin. Your vine just isn't big enough yet to be making pumpkins, but it seems like it should have been by now. Pumpkins plants (especially those designed to produce large pumpkins) are VERY demanding. They need tons of sunshine, weather consistently 80 or above, tons of fertilizer/ compost/ manure, and something like 8 - 10 gallons of water a week (including rainfall). Have they been getting all that?
Last edited by rainbowgardener on Wed Aug 14, 2013 4:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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ILovePumpkins
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rainbowgardener
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Oh... I thought it was me... 
I looked back and your location was there, so I thought I just missed it the first time.
Anyway, "water every day" may not be the best. They need to be watered deeply a little less often and probably need more feeding.
Here's a little more info:
https://www.backyard-vegetable-gardening ... pkins.html
I looked back and your location was there, so I thought I just missed it the first time.Anyway, "water every day" may not be the best. They need to be watered deeply a little less often and probably need more feeding.
Here's a little more info:
https://www.backyard-vegetable-gardening ... pkins.html
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ILovePumpkins
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We all learn by doing. Everyone has different conditions soil, water quality, light quality, temp, and frost. Keep growing things and try to keep a record, then you will figure out when will be the best time to plant, what grows well where you are and how much water and fertilizer you need. We can help by giving you support and hints on what has worked for us.
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jal_ut
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There should be some good pumpkins set on by now. Do you have bees working the flowers? The females won't develop unless they get pollinated. If you don't have bees you may have to do it by hand. Just pick a male flower and pull the petals off and use the pistol to dab some pollen on the stigma of the female flowers.
It is common to have many more male flowers than females. Nothing I know to make them put on more female blooms.
It is common to have many more male flowers than females. Nothing I know to make them put on more female blooms.
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rainbowgardener
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Since I have seen this question several times here: Is there a way I can get my cucurbits (pumpkin, cucumber, etc) to produce more female flowers? I decided to look it up. Found this:
(Connor and Martin, 1970). In unpublished studies these authors found that older vines produce larger female flowers with more ovules. Thus, fruit quality may be improved if pollination could be delayed until vines are more mature. Connor and Martin tested this idea with selected monoecious, gynoecious, and gynoecious hybrid varieties. Delaying pollination (with cages to exclude or include bees) for up to 11 days after the first appearance of female flowers increased the number of fruit per plant and the dollar value per acre. The increase was likely due to stronger vine and root growth in more mature plants.
https://ag.udel.edu/enwc/faculty/dmcaron ... umber.html
It seems like in practice, besides bagging, a similar thing could be accomplished just by starting your seeds indoors early and making sure you have large mature transplants to put out.
And: (this apparently was translated from some other language and doesn't quite all make sense) increasing female flowers in cucumbers
Different flowers are monoecious cucumber plants, is more open and more male or female flowers open, to a certain extent, depending on environmental conditions. In production, as long as the increase in the number of female flowers can significantly increase production. How can we increase the number of female flowers of cucumber it? Here are three proven methods: 1, chemical increments. 250g with 40% ethylene 50kg at the seedling stage on the water spray, or 0.01% aqueous solution of sodium naphthylacetate 2 to 3 true leaves of cucumber spray, can increase the number of female flowers. At the same time, with artificial pollination, can increase 17% to 34%. 2, shading increments. Cucumber is a short day plant, shorten the light to make female flowers increased. Before the formation of flowers in the cucumber, the use of black paper, straws and other objects resting on scaffolding on the sun, the control of the daily sunshine in 9 hours. 3, increasing water and nitrogen. Cucumber seed in the soil 80% humidity, the humidity than 40% of species in high yield in soil 1 times. Early growth and development in cucumber to provide adequate nitrogen, can also increase the number of female flowers. (Pei soft)
https://resources.alibaba.com/topic/8001 ... cumber.htm bold added
The application of Ethrel (2-chloroethane phosphonic acid), an ethylene-releasing compound, to monoecious cultivars of cucumber and squash and an andromonoecious cultivar of muskmelon, caused a shift towards femaleness in all three species.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00385305
This is Israel research from 1969 (isn't the web wonderful! ) and you have to buy the article to find out more. But again it seems like it could be simulated with row cover and putting apples in there with them, since apples give off ethylene.
It also noted that treating with auxins (rooting hormone) increased female flowers.
So it seems like if you have a short season and you really want to speed up the production of female flowers/ fruit, there are things you could try. Probably to make much difference they needed to be done earlier in the season, before the plant is naturally producing female flowers.
For most of us patience works as well as anything!
(Connor and Martin, 1970). In unpublished studies these authors found that older vines produce larger female flowers with more ovules. Thus, fruit quality may be improved if pollination could be delayed until vines are more mature. Connor and Martin tested this idea with selected monoecious, gynoecious, and gynoecious hybrid varieties. Delaying pollination (with cages to exclude or include bees) for up to 11 days after the first appearance of female flowers increased the number of fruit per plant and the dollar value per acre. The increase was likely due to stronger vine and root growth in more mature plants.
https://ag.udel.edu/enwc/faculty/dmcaron ... umber.html
It seems like in practice, besides bagging, a similar thing could be accomplished just by starting your seeds indoors early and making sure you have large mature transplants to put out.
And: (this apparently was translated from some other language and doesn't quite all make sense) increasing female flowers in cucumbers
Different flowers are monoecious cucumber plants, is more open and more male or female flowers open, to a certain extent, depending on environmental conditions. In production, as long as the increase in the number of female flowers can significantly increase production. How can we increase the number of female flowers of cucumber it? Here are three proven methods: 1, chemical increments. 250g with 40% ethylene 50kg at the seedling stage on the water spray, or 0.01% aqueous solution of sodium naphthylacetate 2 to 3 true leaves of cucumber spray, can increase the number of female flowers. At the same time, with artificial pollination, can increase 17% to 34%. 2, shading increments. Cucumber is a short day plant, shorten the light to make female flowers increased. Before the formation of flowers in the cucumber, the use of black paper, straws and other objects resting on scaffolding on the sun, the control of the daily sunshine in 9 hours. 3, increasing water and nitrogen. Cucumber seed in the soil 80% humidity, the humidity than 40% of species in high yield in soil 1 times. Early growth and development in cucumber to provide adequate nitrogen, can also increase the number of female flowers. (Pei soft)
https://resources.alibaba.com/topic/8001 ... cumber.htm bold added
The application of Ethrel (2-chloroethane phosphonic acid), an ethylene-releasing compound, to monoecious cultivars of cucumber and squash and an andromonoecious cultivar of muskmelon, caused a shift towards femaleness in all three species.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00385305
This is Israel research from 1969 (isn't the web wonderful!
) and you have to buy the article to find out more. But again it seems like it could be simulated with row cover and putting apples in there with them, since apples give off ethylene.It also noted that treating with auxins (rooting hormone) increased female flowers.
So it seems like if you have a short season and you really want to speed up the production of female flowers/ fruit, there are things you could try. Probably to make much difference they needed to be done earlier in the season, before the plant is naturally producing female flowers.
For most of us patience works as well as anything!
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applestar
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These are just some thoughts that flitted through my head from reading the OP, but my impression of Big Max pumpkin variety is that they are typically grown for big fruits, and big fruit varieties typically only bear 2-4 fruits per vine... if they are well fertilized. If the particular seeds are from a selected line for competition size fruits, they may genetically only produce very small number of female blooms.
Also, 6-8 feet seems not that long for a Big Max vine, so older more mature vines certainy should produce more flowers.
Also, 6-8 feet seems not that long for a Big Max vine, so older more mature vines certainy should produce more flowers.
That is true. Big fruits like watermelons and pumpkins do not produce a lot of fruit. The longer the fruit take to mature, even more so. 1-3 large pumpkins per vine is about all you get. Even if you get more flowers many will abort or should be removed to get the pumpkin to mature.
I had 5 kabocha pumpkins and only 2 ended up maturing. Same with the butternut squash, I had over 10 young squash but only 3 matured. Bottle gourd, that is different, it is not a winter squash so it fruits heavily and keeps most of the fruit, I easily get between 10-20 fruit and I don't even take that good care of the vine as I don't bag fruit so a lot of them get stung. Same with other summer squash like zucchini (usually) and crookneck squash, they produce a lot of fruit that matures quickly.
I had 5 kabocha pumpkins and only 2 ended up maturing. Same with the butternut squash, I had over 10 young squash but only 3 matured. Bottle gourd, that is different, it is not a winter squash so it fruits heavily and keeps most of the fruit, I easily get between 10-20 fruit and I don't even take that good care of the vine as I don't bag fruit so a lot of them get stung. Same with other summer squash like zucchini (usually) and crookneck squash, they produce a lot of fruit that matures quickly.