Re: Pumpkin Question

Scotty,

If they aren't pollinated by hand, there is very little chance that they
will successfully pollinate by bees, moths, etc.. Giant pumpkins are high
maintenance. You will need to cut the stamen off a male flower and rub it
around on the female's pistil then leave the stamen in. If the pollination
doesn't take it will turn mushy at about soft ball size like you describe.
They also apparently can abort later when basketball size even if pollinated
successfully but I haven't had trouble with that yet myself. Since you are
in California I highly recommend putting an upside down styrofoam cooler
over the female flower right after you pollinate it. You can cut away any
leaf that is in the way and cut small slots at either end for the vine to go
through. Add some ice such as a frozen water bottle in the cooler but keep
it a few inches away from the flower so that it doesn't actually freeze any
plant tissue. If you don't go through this seemingly ridiculous process and
it is hot where you live the pollination probably won't take.

-j-

Jason Thomas

BTW I learned all this the hard way and by reading stuff on BigPumpkins.com

On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 8:03 PM, <SAA12@aol.com> wrote:

> Hi
>
>  I have 2 vines that are about 12 feet long and had 4 nice pumpkins  going
> they got to be a little smaller than a soft ball and now they are turning
> to mush.
>
>  what did I do wrong,
>
> scotty
>
>
>
>
> Thanks Scott  A. Andrews
> Pres
> California Classics & Collectibles Inc
> (760)  598-9667
> _www.calclassics.biz_ (http://www.calclassics.biz/)
>
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