Hey there! I’m a first year pumpkin grower & I want to self pollinate my pumpkin. I don’t necessarily know the small differences between the male and female flowers but from google searching and videos I think my pumpkin is only producing male flowers. Has anyone else had this issue?
I don’t identify all the flowers I just use one single Q tip. Walk flower to flower spinning it in the pollen. This makes sure regardless of male/female that every flower has touched the other and should be pollinated well. This has worked for me every year. My main way to identify if I really need to? Look for claws. The male flower has a flower with claw like hooks on it. The female has more complex organs inside the flower than the male.
This is before a fruit has set on the vine. Wait a few days and a bulb should show up on females. My planting technique is a tad different than most. Last years pumpkins are buried and the next spring hundreds sprout. I weed out the weak and keep the four strongest. I’ll end up with 30 foot vines from each. 30-40 pumpkins.
First time pumpkin grower as well.
