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Rotting pumpkin?

karen paulkaren paul Posts: 230
in Fruit & veg
Could anyone advise me on what may be causing my baby pumpkin to rot please? Is it just due to so much wet weather? Perhaps too much foliage above it blocking the sun? It's in very well drained soil. My pleasure at finding one actually starting to grow has turned out to be very short lived. I've had lots of flowers but no pumpkins apart from this one. Is it getting too late in the season now to hope for one?

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  • pinutpinut Posts: 89
    The female flower (bearing the fruit) has not been properly pollinated.

    If another female flower appears and opens then you can improve your chances by hand pollinating it. Do this by plucking a male flower, tearing away the petals and gently dabbing the stamen onto the female stigma to transfer the pollen. The stigma will be sticky in order to receive the powdery yellow pollen.

    At this time of year in the UK, it will be too cold for any further growth by the second or third week of October.

    If you get pollination by the next 7 days then I think it will possible to get a pumpkin the size of a big cricket ball or a small childs football depending on variety. However, there will not be enough time for it to ripen outdoors.

  • karen paulkaren paul Posts: 230
    Thankyou Punit. I did think it was starting to produce a pumpkin as all the female flowers Ive had previous to it already dropped off at an even smaller size. Never mind, I will try again next year. My little boy had sown the seeds and was looking forward to having one to carve but luckily a local farmer does a pick your own from the field so I think he'll enjoy going there instead :)
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