With huge flowers, every pumpkin attracts hordes of insects. To ensure that unwanted crossings do not occur during lively activity, play it safe with manual pollination. This is how it works effortlessly.
How to manually pollinate a pumpkin?
To manually pollinate a pumpkin, select the correct flowers, remove the protective coverings, rub the pollen from the male flower onto the stigma of the female flower, and re-envelop the pollinated flower. After successful pollination, the fruit set grows within 2-3 days.
Choosing and separating the right flowers
Selecting suitable flowers initiates manual pollination. Female flowers feature a mini pumpkin on the stem. The more numerous male flowers have no thickening on the stem.
- the ideal flowers are at a distance of 1.5-2 meters from the planting site
- they are positioned so that their fruit stalk does not break away
- there is no doubt that it is a female flower with fruit set
Now remove all flowers that do not meet the criteria. Wrap the selected female and male specimens in a small, close-meshed insect protection net (€14.00 at Amazon). This way overzealous insects can't tamper with it.
Tight flowering time for pollination
Squash blossoms usually open in the early hours of the morning. By midday it will have wilted again. This means that there is only a small window of opportunity for manual pollination. Here's how to do it:
- remove the protective coverings from the flowers
- break off the male flower and pick off all the petals
- like a brush, rub the pollen of the male flower onto the stigma of the female flower
- Finally, cover the pollinated flower again
If the fruit starts to grow after 2 to 3 days, this is the signal for successful pollination. The insect net is now removed. In addition, pluck the leaves directly from the fruit stalk because they use up a lot of energy unnecessarily.
How many flowers should be pollinated per plant?
It's a simple calculation. The fewer flowers on a plant are pollinated, the more volume the pumpkins develop. This means that ultimately only one flower needs to be fertilized for a giant pumpkin. We recommend including a reserve flower in the process.
Tips & Tricks
If you specifically want to cross two varieties with each other, improve the quality of the seeds by harvesting them when they are fully ripe. In addition, subsequent ripening in the room has a beneficial effect on the germination of the seeds.
