Need help hand pollenating pumpkins

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CiJaiK Fort Collins, CO Jul 22, 2009

Hi! I am a brand new gardener, and I am planning on hand pollinating my pumpkins. I have two different kinds growing, and I want to make sure I have pure seeds of each for next year. I have never done this before, and I have gotten two different bits of info from different things I have read, I'm hoping someone has done this before... One of my pumpkin vines currently has a lot of male buds, one that is getting ready to bloom in the next couple of days, and only one female, that is no where near bloom, (still very small and green). I have read that males bloom before the females by about a week. I have also read that I need to keep the male closed until I am ready to hand pollinate the female, to avoid cross pollination of the male via bees.

My questions are:

1. How do I keep the male from opening if it blooms a week before the female?
2. Will I get more female buds on my vines? I've read that there are usually more males than females, but I only have one right now.

If anyone has suggestions, thought, ideas...anything for me I would really appreciate your help! Thank you so much for your time.


This message was edited Jul 21, 2009 7:27 PM

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jjsgramma Woodhull, IL(Zone 5a) Jul 22, 2009

CiJaik I am new at this so I hope this link works check out the pumpkin chronicles part 3 at www.pharmerphil.proboards.com

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CiJaiK Fort Collins, CO Jul 22, 2009

JJ
Thank you! That helped me with understanding that I will definately have more males than females and will get them before the females come. I'm feeling a bit more confident about it. Thanks! I bet it won't be as hard as I'm thinking... (I hope)

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