I am right there with you James. My vines have just started to run and so far I have lost ever female flower before I could pollinate it. It frustrating.
Thank you so much for such a clear, concise video. Now I know the actual difference between the male & female flower as well as the reason for my pumpkins falling off the vine!
I never grew pumpkins until a rescued squirrel planted seeds last fall and they are coming out all over my yard. I thought it was my fault the pumpkins kept dropping. Thank you so much for explaining everything!
Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for getting right to the issue and not having loud annoying music in the background while you are talking. Love 4 years later from zone 9B Florida.
Ive heard that the pumpkin can also choose to not let some blossoms grow if it has too many pollinated flowers on it. It probably sends out a bunch of females and expects a fraction of them to get pollinated. Also i think a damaged stigma can do the same thing because I broke a part of the stigma one time while pollinating it and the flower fell off. (This is all speculation)
Thank you so much for this clear and simple video. This is my first time growing pumpkins and this video was not only helpful it was encouraging without being too overwhelming with information.
Thank you…I can breathe a sigh of relaxing relief! First year growing these, and I’m in the stage of only seeing male flowers, but it’s extremely hot these past couple weeks, 97 degree F, but feels like 112 degree. Thx
Females should start showing up, soon. Make sure you get them pollinated when the morning temps are below 85 degrees. Best of luck! Let me know how they turn out!
This was the Best information. Thank you so much. This is the exact problem I’m having. It’s so hot that the female flowers aren’t even opening and the fruit just rots. I’ll be patient now that I have hope. 😁
Thank you, Thank you we’ve been working on an Atlantic Dill pumpkin vine all winter (we’re in South Fl) and she is struggling to keep pumpkins. Your tips were a huge help! Thank you for the clear and informative video!
Thank you ! Thank you! Thank you so much for your brilliant beginners guide to growing pumpkins. I have been going through video after video looking for a basic and concise explanation of how to grow pumpkins.I am so happy I came across your video it answered all my questions in a few minutes.
@@Thatfalloutgirl Heat has been pretty amazing. We want it to get below 95 degrees for a few days. It can be frustrating to see the first few fall off. They WILL acclimate. They WILL get used to the heat. Just like us humans. Just do what you can to keep them cool. And, you'll get female blossoms that will open. Patience, patience. The hard part is getting them to be mature plants. You've done that. So, when the heat wave eases, or they acclimate a bit... you WILL have female blossoms that open on a plant that's mature enough to support fruit. Sounds like you're doing a great job so far!!
Thank-you I was getting worried. my female flower were about to open but instead the tip turned Brown and fell off without ever opening 😱 I think the vines are too small and I had to trim some wind damaged ones and it's been pretty hot so now I know 👍
Perfect information! found the answer to my question right here on your video, just before going to bed, after looking for it on RUclips all day. Thanks to you, now I have an idea as to how I might have lost the first honeynut. But I am still in doubt whether it could have been the wilting flower that was still attached to the hand pollinated fruit. It turned into a mush while still attached to the fruit. may be the fungus got the fruit.
I doubt seriously, that it was any kind of fugus. My guess is, the flower was NOT properly pollinated. I hope this answer helps. If not, feel free to ask away.
@@BestBudsGardening thanks for following up on my comment. Yesterday, I hand pollinated another one. The flower has begun wilting. Found a baby slug inside the flower this morning. It hadn't reached the stigma. So there's hope. The fruit still looks good. I hope this one makes it. I'm seeing lots of female flowers on it over the last two days. The males have been around and pushing out new ones too.
Thank you for such a concise video. I was thinking was doing something wrong. I have 1 pumpkin that started about a month ago and is already the size of a soccer ball. The female blooms are not blooming because DUHHHHHHHH!!!! it's been way too hot in my area. I am going to looks for a little 'bistro' size umbrella and place it near my plants. They get at least 9 hours of full sun which I now realize is probably too much. Plants otherwise look healthy. I am looking forward to more blooms I can pollinate in the up coming weeks.
Thank you for being so informative and with examples!!!!! Truly helpful. I have three pumpkin vines growing close to each other. I only have a small space. Should I leave them together or separate and will they be harmed if kept together? Thank you again.😊😊😊😊❤❤❤
Loved the video. My pumpkins are just starting to run. They have been putting on female flowers but the blooms never open. Will this stop once they start running? How often should I fertilize them? And I was told I should keep the vines back to about 10ft. Is that true?
Your blooms should start to open once your vines are long enough, and the temperatures are below triple digits., assuming everything else is ok (proper soil conditions, amount of sunlight, etc.) The back of your fertilizer package will give instructions for how often it should be used. The only reason I can think of to trim vines back to 10 feet, is if it's towards the end of the season and you want the plant to put its energy into ripening the fruits it already has, instead of continuing to try to make more. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't trim them that short. Most of your pumpkins will appear past the 10 foot mark.
My first guess would be they're not being pollinated properly. Are you pollinating them yourself? And, if so... what time of day? Sometimes, later in the day, it's too hot for the pollen to be viable... so even though you THINK you're getting them pollinated. it's not really happening. Try pollinating before 11 am.
Can the vine grow around the perimeter of the garden? I once grew my vines down the sidewalk. And, of course, you can always let them grow, and just mow around them. After the first fruits appear, you can cut off the new vine growth.
hi i think i am having the same issue blossom rot and not having pumpkins producing on my vine i have 1 left of a female flower that has a bulge underneath and i slip a piece of cardboard but i didn't know how big the cardboard needs to be though . plus does the pumpkin need lots of water to still grow, ? how do you know if your watering to little or too much ? and thank you for the video
I did harvest them, right as they started to turn orange. Pumpkins will ripen just fine if you sit them in the sun. Ants can be controlled with a borax/sugar mixture in a plastic container with holes punched in it, and I hear aphids can be controlled with neem oil.
I pollinated my female blossom this morning using a qtip, except I collected pollen from several different male flowers, is that still okay? or does it have to be from one male flower?
So for me the female flower open they where pollination but still the pumpkin started to turn brown then fell off they are over ten ft they have shade so what is going wrong?
It just simply wasn't pollinated properly. Could be temperature related. If the temperature is much over 85 degrees, the pollen won't be viable. So, make sure you're pollinating them in the morning, when it's a little cooler.
*cries* I've had my pumpkin blossoms blooming all this time and never getting properly pollinated, all along I thought the ones opening regularly were the female ones, then they died off after a few days and that's that, it wasn't until I saw this video that I realized what I was doing wrong, so I went and manually pollinate the only female one I found, the petals fell off 1 day later and it seemed to be okay, but this morning I went and checked it and it was off the stalk, seems it snapped off by an animal or someone broke it off by accident... I feel devastated.
I know this vid was years ago but i have problems with my pumpkin i pollinated them but days later they're starting to rot what should i do to provent it please notice
It might be too hot, your vines might not be long enough, or you only THINK you got them pollinated. You need to pollinate before the temperature starts to rise, early in the morning. Once it hits about 85 degrees F, pollen is no longer viable.
Good question. That's absolutely not normal. It could be a problem with the soil, fertilization, temperature... or even something weird going on in the plant's genetics. Try a different seed packet next year. Do your neighbors grow any squash you could have a male blossom from? You can pollinate your females with ANY kind of squash blossom. Anything from zucchini to butternut.
@@BestBudsGardening reaponding to your last comment as well no the pumpkins are my only squash variety, and no neighbors. The vines are about 5 feet long now? But just today the first males finally started blooming, and I was able to pollinate 3 females so theres no more issue. Unfortunately I lost about 5 females. Very very weird. I was looking up online that issue and there was absolutely no information at all haha, its like an anomally
There's a difference between "sun" and 100 degrees. No plant is comfortable in 100 degree weather. If it was 80 degrees all summer... perfect. But, in triple digit heat, I find it helpful to give my female blossoms a little shade.
My vines are close but not quite ten feet long, I keep them shaded, yet the first two I’ve had withered and died before opening, it’s already mid August I feel like if I don’t get fruit set by the end of the month my fruit won’t mature by Halloween/first freeze
Sometimes, blossoms have to "practice" a bit... and no matter what you do, the first ones will always fail. I understand what you're saying about trying to beat the clock. Give me more information. I want to help you have a beautiful crop!
This answered all my questions! Awesome video thank u!
Happy to help!
First season pumpkin grower and I had fruit rot this morning on a 3 foot vine. I found this video super encouraging and helpful, thank you 🙏
Glad it was helpful!
I am right there with you James. My vines have just started to run and so far I have lost ever female flower before I could pollinate it. It frustrating.
The BEST video on the topic! So simple and well photographed.
Thank you for the kind words.
Thank you so much for such a clear, concise video. Now I know the actual difference between the male & female flower as well as the reason for my pumpkins falling off the vine!
Glad it was helpful!
I agree with you. She's a great teacher.
I never grew pumpkins until a rescued squirrel planted seeds last fall and they are coming out all over my yard. I thought it was my fault the pumpkins kept dropping. Thank you so much for explaining everything!
Glad it was helpful!
@@BestBudsGardening It will always be helpful. You're a GREAT teacher!!
Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for getting right to the issue and not having loud annoying music in the background while you are talking. Love 4 years later from zone 9B Florida.
You're welcome!
Thank you. You just added more to what I know about pumpkins.
I hope we all never stop learning! :)
@@BestBudsGardening Quoting my law professor, "We never stop to learn."
Ive heard that the pumpkin can also choose to not let some blossoms grow if it has too many pollinated flowers on it. It probably sends out a bunch of females and expects a fraction of them to get pollinated. Also i think a damaged stigma can do the same thing because I broke a part of the stigma one time while pollinating it and the flower fell off. (This is all speculation)
Plants are actually pretty smart... so, you are right.
I been watching videos of pumpkins plants how to plant them etc but not one explained how to get the pumpkin! You are awesome, Thank you! ❤
Awesome and helpful video! Am growing my first Pumpkin vines, plenty of male blooms, and a few females. Now I know to be patient, Thanks
Let me know how it goes! :)
Thank you so much for this clear and simple video. This is my first time growing pumpkins and this video was not only helpful it was encouraging without being too overwhelming with information.
So nice of you. Best of luck on growing them... watch out for squash bugs.
Thank you…I can breathe a sigh of relaxing relief! First year growing these, and I’m in the stage of only seeing male flowers, but it’s extremely hot these past couple weeks, 97 degree F, but feels like 112 degree. Thx
Females should start showing up, soon. Make sure you get them pollinated when the morning temps are below 85 degrees. Best of luck! Let me know how they turn out!
I been having lot of blossom rot very tiny I think it to hot ,so I am going to try to cover them up
Thank you so very much! I have been watching and waiting for the little wonder to open. Now I understand what's going on. Thank you again!
Thank you so much - this video is so informative. I'm well aware of my mistakes and what I need to do to ensure my pumkins grow.
This was the Best information. Thank you so much.
This is the exact problem I’m having. It’s so hot that the female flowers aren’t even opening and the fruit just rots. I’ll be patient now that I have hope. 😁
I'm glad it helped!
Thank you! Most thoughtful and detailed video I've seen explaining & troubleshooting for beginners! So helpful!
Glad it was helpful!
This was simply amazing. Thank you so much for sharing! 👌🏾💯
Thanks for watching
Thank you, Thank you we’ve been working on an Atlantic Dill pumpkin vine all winter (we’re in South Fl) and she is struggling to keep pumpkins. Your tips were a huge help! Thank you for the clear and informative video!
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you !
Thank you!
Thank you so much for your brilliant beginners guide to growing pumpkins. I have been going through video after video looking for a basic and concise explanation of how to grow pumpkins.I am so happy I came across your video it answered all my questions in a few minutes.
You are so welcome!
So simple explanation and informative. Thank you 👍
You are welcome!
Good illustration and Easily understood 😊
Thank you! This helped out so much. I was so happy and then so sad to see them die off. My problem I think is the heat. But now I know what to do!
It's been so hot, my female blossoms haven't even appeared, yet. lol
@@BestBudsGardening Mine are there but they won’t open I don’t think
@@Thatfalloutgirl Heat has been pretty amazing. We want it to get below 95 degrees for a few days. It can be frustrating to see the first few fall off. They WILL acclimate. They WILL get used to the heat. Just like us humans. Just do what you can to keep them cool. And, you'll get female blossoms that will open. Patience, patience. The hard part is getting them to be mature plants. You've done that. So, when the heat wave eases, or they acclimate a bit... you WILL have female blossoms that open on a plant that's mature enough to support fruit. Sounds like you're doing a great job so far!!
@@BestBudsGardening thank you so much!
My God what a good video thank you I feel so much better ❤
Lady, use oyster shell grit to prevent calcium deficiency. Blooms will drop if there is xero calcium!
Thank-you I was getting worried. my female flower were about to open but instead the tip turned Brown and fell off without ever opening 😱 I think the vines are too small and I had to trim some wind damaged ones and it's been pretty hot so now I know 👍
Glad it helped
Thank you so much very helpful to me,God bless you
Glad it helped
Thanks for that information, bless
Perfect information! found the answer to my question right here on your video, just before going to bed, after looking for it on RUclips all day. Thanks to you, now I have an idea as to how I might have lost the first honeynut.
But I am still in doubt whether it could have been the wilting flower that was still attached to the hand pollinated fruit. It turned into a mush while still attached to the fruit. may be the fungus got the fruit.
I doubt seriously, that it was any kind of fugus. My guess is, the flower was NOT properly pollinated. I hope this answer helps. If not, feel free to ask away.
@@BestBudsGardening thanks for following up on my comment.
Yesterday, I hand pollinated another one. The flower has begun wilting. Found a baby slug inside the flower this morning. It hadn't reached the stigma. So there's hope. The fruit still looks good. I hope this one makes it.
I'm seeing lots of female flowers on it over the last two days. The males have been around and pushing out new ones too.
@@wonderfulherennow Wow! Sorry to hear about the slug! Keep me u[dated!
My female blossoms are turning yellow in this temperature in CA. Thank you for the big help. I'll try to make some shade for my pumpkins
Wonderful!
Wonderful ❤
Thank you for such a concise video. I was thinking was doing something wrong. I have 1 pumpkin that started about a month ago and is already the size of a soccer ball. The female blooms are not blooming because DUHHHHHHHH!!!! it's been way too hot in my area. I am going to looks for a little 'bistro' size umbrella and place it near my plants. They get at least 9 hours of full sun which I now realize is probably too much. Plants otherwise look healthy. I am looking forward to more blooms I can pollinate in the up coming weeks.
I would love an umbrella that size!
Perfect 👌 explanation thank you ☺️
Glad you liked it
Thank you for being so informative and with examples!!!!! Truly helpful.
I have three pumpkin vines growing close to each other. I only have a small space. Should I leave them together or separate and will they be harmed if kept together?
Thank you again.😊😊😊😊❤❤❤
Ah, thank you🙌🏻
Loved the video. My pumpkins are just starting to run. They have been putting on female flowers but the blooms never open. Will this stop once they start running? How often should I fertilize them? And I was told I should keep the vines back to about 10ft. Is that true?
Your blooms should start to open once your vines are long enough, and the temperatures are below triple digits., assuming everything else is ok (proper soil conditions, amount of sunlight, etc.) The back of your fertilizer package will give instructions for how often it should be used. The only reason I can think of to trim vines back to 10 feet, is if it's towards the end of the season and you want the plant to put its energy into ripening the fruits it already has, instead of continuing to try to make more. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't trim them that short. Most of your pumpkins will appear past the 10 foot mark.
@@BestBudsGardening thank you for the info. I have never grown them before and I didn't know what to expect. Thanks so much.
@@dionbarber7077 Many of your first female blossoms won't be successful. That's normal. Don't give up.
Phew! Thank you so much.
Thank you. This was helpful.
Glad it was helpful!
Great 👍👍👍
Thanks for the visit
Thank you for the video. Will there be connection between rotting pumpkin blossoms and growing pumpking vine in a trailis ?
Everything would be exactly the same.
Watch out for the powdery mildew too and keep it fertilized
Hi how would I know when the flowers are ready to pollinate by hand
If the flowers are open, you can pollinate them.
my female pumpkins always rot after being pollinated, please help me I don't know what to do :(
My first guess would be they're not being pollinated properly. Are you pollinating them yourself? And, if so... what time of day? Sometimes, later in the day, it's too hot for the pollen to be viable... so even though you THINK you're getting them pollinated. it's not really happening. Try pollinating before 11 am.
Hi but I have small garden got not enough space for all the 10 ft long vine what should I do please advise thank you cos I am a new learner thank you.
Can the vine grow around the perimeter of the garden? I once grew my vines down the sidewalk. And, of course, you can always let them grow, and just mow around them. After the first fruits appear, you can cut off the new vine growth.
I was told the female flower is only open for 3 hours a day. Which 3 hours. Early morning? Random hours?
Mornings before noon
The blossoms should open very early in the morning (around the time the sun comes up) and start to close by mid-afternoon.
hi i think i am having the same issue blossom rot and not having pumpkins producing on my vine i have 1 left of a female flower that has a bulge underneath and i slip a piece of cardboard but i didn't know how big the cardboard needs to be though . plus does the pumpkin need lots of water to still grow, ? how do you know if your watering to little or too much ? and thank you for the video
Cardboard needs to be big enough for the pumpkin. Keep the soil damp.
Thank you I will try that next year, thank you very much for the tip.😊
This has been so helpful. Did you harvest before it became ripe? Amd i have serious infestation of nlack ants and aphids, what should i do?
I did harvest them, right as they started to turn orange. Pumpkins will ripen just fine if you sit them in the sun. Ants can be controlled with a borax/sugar mixture in a plastic container with holes punched in it, and I hear aphids can be controlled with neem oil.
@@BestBudsGardening thanks
@@titilayofashola8938 Let me know how this turns out for you!
I pollinated my female blossom this morning using a qtip, except I collected pollen from several different male flowers, is that still okay? or does it have to be from one male flower?
That's absolutely fine to use different males.
So for me the female flower open they where pollination but still the pumpkin started to turn brown then fell off they are over ten ft they have shade so what is going wrong?
It just simply wasn't pollinated properly. Could be temperature related. If the temperature is much over 85 degrees, the pollen won't be viable. So, make sure you're pollinating them in the morning, when it's a little cooler.
*cries* I've had my pumpkin blossoms blooming all this time and never getting properly pollinated, all along I thought the ones opening regularly were the female ones, then they died off after a few days and that's that, it wasn't until I saw this video that I realized what I was doing wrong, so I went and manually pollinate the only female one I found, the petals fell off 1 day later and it seemed to be okay, but this morning I went and checked it and it was off the stalk, seems it snapped off by an animal or someone broke it off by accident... I feel devastated.
I'm so sorry. Sometimes, gardening can be heartbreaking.
I know this vid was years ago but i have problems with my pumpkin i pollinated them but days later they're starting to rot what should i do to provent it please notice
It might be too hot, your vines might not be long enough, or you only THINK you got them pollinated. You need to pollinate before the temperature starts to rise, early in the morning. Once it hits about 85 degrees F, pollen is no longer viable.
my pumpkin leaves turn yellow and curls backwards. how to solve this issue ?
Could be a water issue, could be a virus of some sort, or could be squash bugs. Squash bugs can destroy a pumpkin plant in less than a week's time.
I have a bunch of females and one female blooming, yet no sign of males whatsoever what’s goin on?
Good question. That's absolutely not normal. It could be a problem with the soil, fertilization, temperature... or even something weird going on in the plant's genetics. Try a different seed packet next year. Do your neighbors grow any squash you could have a male blossom from? You can pollinate your females with ANY kind of squash blossom. Anything from zucchini to butternut.
How long are your vines?
@@BestBudsGardening reaponding to your last comment as well no the pumpkins are my only squash variety, and no neighbors. The vines are about 5 feet long now? But just today the first males finally started blooming, and I was able to pollinate 3 females so theres no more issue. Unfortunately I lost about 5 females. Very very weird. I was looking up online that issue and there was absolutely no information at all haha, its like an anomally
Now they want shade to keep cool? Well every guide I used said pumpkins love sun sun sun. There's too much conflicting information
There's a difference between "sun" and 100 degrees. No plant is comfortable in 100 degree weather. If it was 80 degrees all summer... perfect. But, in triple digit heat, I find it helpful to give my female blossoms a little shade.
Im fully satisfied
Where is third reason
1) Vines aren't long enough. 2) It's too hot. 3) Blossoms aren't pollinated.
I wish I had seen this video before my pumpkin started to deteriorate.
You will have many more female blossoms. Never fear.
My vines are close but not quite ten feet long, I keep them shaded, yet the first two I’ve had withered and died before opening, it’s already mid August I feel like if I don’t get fruit set by the end of the month my fruit won’t mature by Halloween/first freeze
That's frustrating. When did you plant them? Where do you live? I'd like to help.
Sometimes, blossoms have to "practice" a bit... and no matter what you do, the first ones will always fail.
I understand what you're saying about trying to beat the clock. Give me more information. I want to help you have a beautiful crop!
Do you have grasshoppers eating off blossoms, etc?
A lot of water