Snake Gourds / Italian Squash pollinating?

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frog_garden Palm Beach Gardens, FL(Zone 10b) May 05, 2008

I'm a beginner and my granddaughter picked out these seeds. Do I need to pollinate the flowers? I have read how to do this for pumpkins, but I can't find much info on Snake Gourds. I have 2 plants and they are growing like crazy, lots of flowers, but so far no gourds. Help Please!!

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rtl850nomore Glendale/Parks, AZ May 05, 2008

I always hand pollinate. Just pull back the petals on the male flower and rub the pollen on the female. If you look down inside your flowers it should be apparent which is which. The other way to tell is there is a swelling or the immature fruit behind the female flower and none behind the male.

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Farmerdill Augusta, GA(Zone 8a) May 06, 2008

Snake gourds are true gourds, and some times the male flowers precede the females by a period of time. Once the females appear, hand pollination may be in order. I have never had to resort to it, but if pollinators are not present when the female blossom opens it is the court of last resort. These are in the same group as bottle gourds, dipper gourds etc so the folks in the gourd forum may have more experience to share with you on pollination.

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frog_garden Palm Beach Gardens, FL(Zone 10b) May 06, 2008

Thanks for the info. I have been looking at the flowers and they all look the same. Maybe I have not gotten any female flowers yet. I will keep at it. Thanks, again. I'll let you know how it goes. Kim

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frog_garden Palm Beach Gardens, FL(Zone 10b) May 09, 2008

Well, you were right, female flowers showed up 2 days ago and you can definately tell the male and female part, even before they open. I pollinated the first female to open, last night. Very, very exciting. I guess we will se how it goes.

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