Ask-a-Dave's-Gardener: Pumpkin flowers (hydroponic), 0 by stephieplanty

stephieplanty wrote:
Hi everyone,

I'm a newbie. I experimented with planting a pumpkin seed in a very small container. I placed it under Hydro Grow LED lights and never transplanted it because I forgot to do it. Also, by the time I noticed that it was growing taller, I became afraid to transplant it because I transplanted a pumpkin plant seedling last year to a larger pot and it died shortly after..I was very sad. Surprisingly, this year's experimental seedling continued to grow in the small container. Over the past few weeks, many male flowers have bloomed but I am still missing female flowers. I would really like at least one female flower so that I can try to hand-pollinate it and hopefully produce a little pumpkin!

Does anyone know if my plant will ever have female flowers, or is it too small? Should I risk transplanting it to a larger pot? Would this tiny plant ever be able to produce even a small pumpkin?

I am very attached to this plant because I had it since last October. In fact, the seed was from a medium-sized pumpkin that I carved (I don't know the variety). I would appreciate any advice on how to keep it alive and thriving. Attached are photos of how it looks now. It's hard to see from the photos, but there are a lot of little buds growing. Thank you!