# no female flowers on pumpkins



## squiggyflop (May 21, 2012)

my pumpkin plants have had an abundance of male blooms for about 7 weeks now. when can i expect female blooms?. i am out there at 4am every morning looking for them (because i plan to pollinate them myself, and thats when the flowers open up the widest). i have not had a single female flower on any of my squash or pumpkins. the plants that are blooming have fairly long vines (5-6 feet on all but the weird one that seems to be trying to turn into a bush).

am i doing something wrong? how many weeks does it usually take for the females to bloom after the males?

i have never grown pumpkins before so i really have no idea what im doing wrong.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Plants probably don't think that they have a sufficient root system or nutrients to support a fruit and don't want to produce something that they'd probably abort. Give them several heavy drinks over the next few days and see what happens. With our current drought, been watering all squash heavier than normal. The results are that I'm seeing many more fruit than in a normal year when they are on their own. 

Martin


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## geo in mi (Nov 14, 2008)

What is your location, and are you in the drought area? Are the leaves deep green, or yellowed out? If yellow, you might be able to put some soluble nitrogen sources around the roots to give them a kick start as you water them--aged manure, compost, dried blood, alfalfa pellets......I would agree with Paquetbot about the drought issues. My butternuts didn't get much nitrogen compost when planted, and now they're showing it. You might also help water penetration by spiking a few holes around the roots, especially if the soil is crusty or hard. Just force a garden spade straight into the ground--don't wiggle it. There is still quite a bit of time left for them to blossom and make pumpkins--but keep the water coming.

Hope this helps.

geo


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Mine also have the advantage of having 5 gallons of fresh horse manure tilled in per hill of 3 to 5 plants. A single Guatemala Blue shares a hill with 2 Sweet Dumplings and has 4 fruit 2' long or better. I stopped pollinating that one for now as I don't know what we'll do with just one of those monsters!

Martin


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## squiggyflop (May 21, 2012)

uh-oh.. so i gave them all a heavy drink and some fertilizer.. they seemed to perk up a bit at the extra water

now i have a new problem.... no flowers AT ALL. the little green baby flowers didnt turn into yellow ones overnight like they usually do every single day. not a single flower, male or otherwise. before this, every day the male blossoms would be replaced by fresh new ones. was it the fertilizer, or was it the extra water?

i am in CT by the way


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## frankva (May 21, 2009)

So maybe they are stabilizing. Flower wise.


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## squiggyflop (May 21, 2012)

nope still no female blooms on the pumpkins or the melons. they have plenty of fertilizer. they get plenty of water. the only things that seem to not be giving me trouble are the tomatoes and the cucumbers (technically i only had one female flower on the cucumbers, but thats better than the pumpkins)


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## frankva (May 21, 2009)

Very odd. Several years back I had zucchini that had one or the other in cycles until I tore them out in a snit. Have not grown that brand/type since.

But only male?

Have you tried hitting them with a high phosphorus liquid fertilizer?

Or pruning them? Make them panic to reproduce?


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## Osiris (Jun 9, 2010)

I had the same problem. Butternut squash....all male. But once I put the sprinkler high on a post and was able to get ALL the garden watered equally, they started producing females. I've got 3 or 4 now on the big vine and it's just really getting started. I save egg shells in a closed container with water. NASTY smell, but BOY do the plants love it! 
Gonna give my squash a shot of that stuff. 

Funny, I've STILL got a squash sitting on my counter from last year. Just starting to get spotty. Maybe I'll take the seed from it for next year. 

I think watering will help though.


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