HELP!Pumpkins are breaking

Hi Im growing pumpkins on the vine for the first time but every time the beautiful orange blossom opens I find it broken off at the stem soon after, with no way for a fruit to grow. Is this a sick plant? Or a pest like slugs? I want to grow pumpkins for my little girls this fall, Please HELP
Thanks, Greta

Greta...you could just be seeing male flowers at this time. That is normal. The female flowers will have a roundness right behind the flower itself, which (if pollinated) will turn into a fruit. The males lack this "roundness". Often-times the male flowers will come on first before you see any females.

If you study them and determine them to be female flowers and they still fall off, it is due to them not being pollinated.

Go take a look and let us know what it looks like...then we'll work from there.

Happy Pumpkin-ing!

Horeseshoe is correct, I'm growing pumpkins, again. I already harvested what I planted in spring. No big pumpkins but a lot of small ones. this time I will pinch off a lot of the the new fruits so that the ones that I choose to grow will get bigger. Hope you have lots of room. Mine spread to about 40 feet.

a-leon...what kind are you growing (just curious).

greta...hope you check in, don't want to leave you hanging. (plus I want to tell you about a wonderful you can do for your girls...you're gonna luv it!) :>)

I'm growing the jack-0-lanterns, suppose to be 100 pounders but not this patch

Hi, sorry I missed this thread for so long, I dont know how to tell the blooms apart but they all break off anyway. Its a mystery and my first time growing them so Im clueless, one of you guys are gonna need to hold my hand on this one!
Greta
40 FEET! Mine are about a foot and a half long, and alot of the leaves are yellowy. Too dry? Too wet? Too what?!

This message was edited Thursday, Aug 14th 2:49 PM

greta-the female blooms will have a small ball under the bloom that being the start of a pumpkin. you can pollenate the blooms yourself. by taking a q-tip and taking the pollen from the male and rubbing it on the inside of the female. that will get the ball to become a fruit. when you get a few pumpkins growing start snipping off any new blooms to aid in the growth of the selected pumpkins to grow bigger. they need a lot of water. 90% of a pumpkin is water. good luck!

I AM MOST GRATEFUL!!!!!I'll let you know how it goes!

Well, I cou;dnt really see a difference between the blooms and when I touch them they tend to all break off. Im pretty discouraged about growing pumpkins right now. I think Ill abandon them and just see if they do anything, They really dont like me do they! I always take it personqaally when a plant rejects me! Ive been a flower gardener for quite some time and want to get into crops and vegetables but Im pretty intimidated, Its a whole different kind of science and Im not familiar with it. Oh well,
Greta

Gret, likely the flowers are all male. On my pumpkins (and all squash) they bloom only male flowers for AT LEAST a couple weeks before the female flowers begin. Just keep the plants and be patient. You'll see female flowers (with a little tiny pumpkin attached to them!) in a few weeks.

Dave

It's awfully late in the season for new little pumpkins,and the size of greta's vines tells me something is amiss.

Even if they are just starting to set blooms...and the male flowers, foot and a half long vines,and yellow leaves leads me to believe that there's a soil or pest problem.

Pumpkin vines are rampant.They will choke out about anything they get near.The leaves are at least the size of an old fashioned LP vinyl album (now you know how old I am)And should be a healthy looking green.Some have white spots,but that depends on the variety.

Everyone is right that you can see a little pumpkin at the base of a female flower.It will be about the size of a marble.It will be right where the yellow of the bloom quits and the green of the stem starts.This is actually an ovary.

Any time you have yellow leaves,it's a pretty good assumption that trouble is afoot.

Yep, those pumpkin vines should be a healthy green color, rambling at least 8 feet from the roots in several directions at once, (unless your plant is a bush type that just makes a rounded bush and no runners) and have lots of little pumpkins on them by now. I think I would have a soil test done to see what is lacking, there is time to fix it for next year but this year is called experience.

Geez you guys have been helpful but now Im depressed! Im starting a new garden and this is below my leach field which is rich with goodies but I obviously need to get the soil tested. I think Ill be very diasapointed with the news. Probably a toxic DUMP! UGH!!

Gretagreta, how is everything else doing? It seems that everybody has a crop from time to time that just doesn't do well. We learn something from those so don't take it too hard, it's part of growing things. Once you get a soil test and get amendments added things will look better. Take a look in the soil forum and also in the organic forum for some things you can do, you'll see that you don't have to depend on the chemical fertilizer fix. The numbers they give from your soil test results will tell you what nutrients to add but there is more than one way to do that.

Another thing to add,pumpkins don't like wet feet.Is the ground damp?

To grow good pumpkins,you need to 'hill' up a mound about 8 inches above the rest of the garden and plant your seeds in the mound. That way it will drain and your plants won't sit in soggy soil.

I have a new 1/2 acre that Im making into a formal potager, Im pretty busy getting the beds built and such. I threw the pumpkins directly into the newly plowed field close to a culvert where water drains, I added some manure and that was it. I used a home kit to test the ph it came back about neutral. Maybe theyre too moist near the culvert. ? The ground isnt wet or soggy there.Theyre not mounded, the lady I bought them from said it wasnt necassary. The leaves are no longer yellow, but theyre medium to small sized and the vines are single branches about 2 ft long. Theyre growth is retarded in general.
I wasnt planning on chemical fertilizing, Im pretty much a peat, manure kind of gal. I have to say how pleased I am to get everyones responses, its nice to have a community of people generally interested in the mystery of stubborn pumpkin vines.! At this point maybe I could still grow some cute teeny ones for halloween.

Manure and compost is all I ever use...no need for chemicals.

Something has stunted the vines that's for sure.Pumpkins will grow in about any conditions other than soggy.Sounds like if your vines are greening up,you had a problem earlier and even if conditions have changed,has left it's mark on your plants.

Do you have access to posting pictures? We may take a look and have some ideas.

Yep, pics would be helpful.

I've been wondering when Greta set out the pumpkins, and how old they are (or were at the time of the first post). I wonder that what with her being in Maine that it has been a tad bit too cool for her pumpkins to take off. (Takes the soil a bit of time to warm up.) Now that it is August, nearly Sept, maybe the plants are just now getting established.

Hope you at least end up with some babies to play with, Greta!

Yep,cool temps could have some effect. Especially at night when the soil cools.Cool,damp soil could be a factor.

Also,like Shoe said,the age of your plants if they were transplants would make a difference too.

I know I've been to the garden center and have seen flats of squash and cucumbers,sadly overgrown,in tiny little cells,sitting there turning yellow.Some are bravely trying to bloom,but don't have a hope of producing anything. If you purchased transplants,this could be a possibility.

Yeah, I bought a six pack from some farmers near me. Everyone grows pumpkins around here, fields of em so I know is possible, I havent peeked on them in a couple of days, Ill have a lookee see and try and take some picts. Could take me a couple of days though,,,,my kids are young and restless!

Greta, I understand your frustration. I'm a new gardener and this spring I picked up a few different veggies just to give'em a try. Well my pumkin plant grew, and grew, and grew, tendrils with those large lovely flowers everywhere. I was excited to see those little pumkins come but they kept rotting and falling off. The plant was so large and my garden so small, I finally gave up. I'm a bit confused by the male/female stuff but if your pumkins finally come through for you, I might be encouraged to give it a try next year. Good luck. Mari

Thats exactly whats happening here! Ugh! Sorry no picts yet. Not much to see.