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NE Wisconsin

My first year so no heating cables or hoop houses. I'm a couple weeks behind most and just getting to pollinate now.

I removed flowers from main. Removed flowers, tertiary, and tendrils from secondaries.

When main hit 10 ft I started leaving flowers. I had male, male, female. I figured the males would open in time to self. Now the female is turning yellow, guessing will open tomorrow. I don't see any sign of males opening even though they were earlier on the vine.

How does everyone time males? Do you only keep males on the main for organization or do you keep all males at a certain point? I never thought of it but now might not have a male open.

6/30/2018 11:24:24 AM

Hadley Ny

Your males and females both pucker at the top like they are starting to open the afternoon, early evening before they are ready to open. I wouldn't remove any males from anywhere on the plant unless they have already opened. Secondaries often supply numerous males. You said you removed the flowers..were they open?? If you left them you might have several to choose from. Lots of people use several males from the same plant to pollinate females.You can practice with early ones and then cull later. Males are generally cut and brought inside the night before they open to ensure a controlled pollination. Cut them and put them in a cup of water and they will open in the morning..that way you have no cross pollinations with bees on the males. Tie the female shut the night before..backwards zip tie works well. Sometimes it's tough when you want to do a pollination and no males are ready. You should have had numerous females on secondaries and males if you have a female 10' out on the main. Nice to practice. Wish I did my first year. Do you have other plants to pollinate with? If not is there somebody in your area that might have a male ready? Good Luck..Maybe one will open but two males is slim pickins.

6/30/2018 12:13:17 PM

NE Wisconsin

I was taking all off as the plant was growing as soon as they appeared basically and just didn’t stop soon enough. I stopped picking males off a few days before the female even appeared. I have a bunch on secondaries but don’t look any farther along than the two on the main. I thought a male would open faster than the female, but apparently not. That was essentially my question, if a male is before a female on the main shouldn’t it open first?

I have male male female on the main, so those two males should be a few days older than the female. Is it normal for the males to take longer to open? Is it predictable on time or is each flower slightly random as to when it opens?

6/30/2018 1:05:21 PM

Grittyville, WA

The males are slower to mature but they appear sooner so usually they will begin to open a week before any females open but yeah if you pick the early male flower buds off there is a risk or perhaps even a certainty that you wont have any for pollination time. Hopefully someone near you can help. If you have no big males showing pale color & losing the green...orange/ yellow starting to show at the tip... then you will have none open tomorrow.

6/30/2018 1:26:26 PM

Upa Creek, MO

I have no idea about the geography of Wisconsin, but if you suspect a female to open and see no males, you can put out an SOS on here early and maybe there is someone close by to give you a few. They’d just have to cut them and put them in a cup of water the day before. Then they keep that way overnight at your house till morning.

6/30/2018 1:34:19 PM

Arizona

Good luck. That's why I don't cut/pinch flowers until I am done with all pollinations. Makes it harder to get caught up , but missing a pollination sucks. I think I would have to drive to cali to find flowers! Hope you can get some flower. My males bloomed about a week after the pumpkin was pollinated on the nodes next to the kin.

6/30/2018 2:04:26 PM

Hadley Ny

Do you have a diary with a pic of the female and males. Most everybody knows when they are ready. Somebody should get back to you to let you know where they are at. Do you only have one plant? If selfing is your only option I would look for a donor. Most people are happy to help!!

6/30/2018 2:12:36 PM

Syracuse, NY

go to a nearby farm stand and ask them a crazy question about do you have any Zucchini squash flowers that are about to open---'s'far as i know, they will cross-pollinate with AGs and may be your only option---i doubt anyone will want the SEEDS, but maybe a new squash lineage is in-order anyway. lesson learned, skip cutting off flowers until pollinations are over...seemed to be all the rage this year, for some reason?; the ONLY reason to cut off males is to keep insecticides from killing bees, imho---eg

6/30/2018 10:23:22 PM

Sometimes Inn

Tim,
Check your newsletter for grower contacts in your area.
They may have pollen to share.
Good Luck.

7/1/2018 9:18:43 AM

NE Wisconsin

There’s a commercial pumpkin grower less than a mile from me so I can get pollen just not the pollen I wanted. I was just curious if others had it timed out to know which flowers to leave.

My reason for removing all right away was insects. We seem to have a lot of cucumber beetles in my area... probably the pumpkin farm... so I thought open male flowers would attract more.

7/1/2018 10:04:23 AM

Hadley Ny

You can always cut the open males off to deter cuke beetles or if you know they are going to open the next day and have no viable females go ahead and cut them but save all others. Never know when you might need one.

7/1/2018 10:32:52 AM

Sometimes Inn

field pumpkin pollen isn't what you want
squash plants (almost any type of squash) will work
...you're right about the flowers attracting insects but keeping male flowers on from the start is recommended. Cut them off later (before they open if you want) when you're sure you don't need them. After a successful pollination you can pinch all new ones off.

7/1/2018 11:18:14 AM

Hadley Ny

If you use a squash for pollination make sure it;s in the Maxima Class and not a pepo. Winter squash is generally Maxima and summer squash is pepo.

7/1/2018 12:26:47 PM