Hand pollinating pumpkins

[Frana]

I have grown pumpkins for a number of years with a good degree of success.

I do not bother with the traditional Halloween type pumpkins as I grow for the taste really - hence I am partial to Crown Prince and Burgess Buttercup.

This year I am trying some Queensland Blue aswell. I know that pumpkins like to cross pollinate very freely (the dirty devils!) and I did read somewhere the other day that hand pollination will prevent this and guarantee the same pumpkin that you plant.

I have never actually done this and understand that there is some process of tying the end of the flowers so they remain closed. I understand the process of hand pollination but am not 100% sure about the tying of the flowers.....any ideas that may help folks.

Cheers all.

PS....If you read this Veggiechicken.......It looks like my old account is back up and running and Frana is now re-instated! Thank you for all your help - I owe you one!

[Small pumpkin]

I can't really help. I do hand pollinat but only to ensure I get pumpkins (mainly early on in the season). Pumpkin seeds only get saved to be honey roasted and devoured . So not overly fussed if they cross.

[Scarlet]

You just need to stop the flower from opening and bring pollinated by insects, it's easiest to do this with a rubber band.

This is a great link - tells you all you need to know
How To Save Your Own Seed at Home

[sparrow100]

I use wedding favour bags. They allow the flower to open in the bag, and the petals are really delicate. I've found it hard to use rubber bands without damaging the flower, but I'm a bit clumsy. (Pic below)

And you need to isolate both the male and female flowers that you want to use, if it's just one then you may well still end up with cross-pollinated fruits.

The flowers are most viable in the morning and will open just after dawn.

Crown Prince is an F1 though, so am not sure if it's worth growing the next generation of those.



Hope that helps.

[Frana]

Thanks Sparrow100, that sounds like sound advice and the pic made things a lot clearer!

I am using seeds from a pumpkin grown by an old family member and I think he had saved the seeds for a good few years from a pumpkin imported from Jamaica - so cross fingers, with a bit of luck and your good advice I am hoping for a successful crop!

[Chris11]

Frana, are you looking to save seeds yourself, or just grow a crop with the seeds you already have?

If you're not saving seeds, then you don't need to worry, as cross- pollination will only affect the seeds, not this year's fruits.

Sparrow, looks like you have a good system. If you let a fruit grow large enough for seed saving, what's your experience of it affecting the plant slowing down production of new flowers and fruits?

I'm thinking more of courgettes/summer squash, where you pick regularly before the fruits get too big. Maybe with winter squash types, you're limiting the plant to a certain number of fruits anyway, and then letting them fully mature?

[sparrow100]

Chris, for winter squash it doesn't seem to make a difference with the number of fruits. For courgettes though it most definitely does. The plants where I hand pollinated fruits stopped producing female flowers, though male ones still apoeared. Towards the end of the season a couple of female flowers developed on them but the fruit then aborted. So IMO you need additional plants to save from. Courgettes take a very long time to grow to maturity so try and get flowers pollinated early if you want to save them for seed.

[Frana]

Hi Chris,

I am growing from previously saved seeds and will probably save some from the new crop if all goes well.