[Li]

I have 2 pumpkin plants which have successfully grown to 10 feet got 10 golfball sizes YELLOW pumpkins on them lovely bright flowers but they are going mushy dropping off then the fruits are going soft what can i do to hopefully save them this is my 1st year of the allotment any help is very much appreciated ps i have fed regullary and kept them mounted in soil thanks

[DD.]

Sounds like the old pollination problem.

Do you have any male flowers on them?

Some of my pumpkins have yet to develop male flowers, (they are just showing), so the fruit is not setting.

[Li]

sorry dd can u tell me how i know which is male  :ohmy:i hope i dont sound an idiot and what do i have to do

[DD.]

The male flowers will not have a mini-pumpkin behind them, just a thin stalk.

[Li]

Oh yes i have had those and had to remove them according to a fellow lotty owner but he didnt say they were male flowers is this right you trust so many peeps

[DD.]

That's why you have no pumpkins. He's totally wrong! You need the male flowers for the females to get pollinated.

You do remove male flowers from greenhouse variety cucumbers, but not in this case.

I'm sure I'll get back-up here just to prove the point!

[JayG]

DD is 100% correct of course! 

Although insects should take care of the pollination you can make sure of it by either using a small artist's paintbrush to transfer pollen from male flowers to the middle of the female flowers, or pick a fresh male flower, remove the petals, and use what's left to do the same job (tricky job in the evening if the flowers have closed but you can still do it if you have 3 hands!)

[Li]

  will give this a go 2night if i have lost them he is gunna have a bashing with the pumpkin i have some left of the male so hopefully i can sort  MEN sorry all you nice gents out there will refer to this site in future xx