Content
- Manually pollinate pumpkin for a single-variety harvest
- Select and separate the right flowers
- Nearly measured flowering time for pollination
- How many flowers should be pollinated per plant?
- Tips & Tricks
Manually pollinate pumpkin for a single-variety harvest
With huge flowers every pumpkin attracts hosts of insects. To avoid unwanted crossings during the lively bustle, play it safe with manual pollination. It succeeds effortlessly.
Select and separate the right flowers
The selection of suitable flowers initiates manual pollination. Female flowers have a mini pumpkin style. The more numerous male flowers show no thickening on the stalk.
Remove all flowers that do not meet the criteria. The selected female and male specimens wrap you in a small, closely meshed insect net. In this way, overzealous insects can not be tampered with.
Nearly measured flowering time for pollination
As a rule, a pumpkin blossom opens in the early morning. By noon she is already withered again. Thus, only a small time window for manual pollination opens up. Here's how to do it:
If the fruit begins to grow after 2 to 3 days, this is the signal for successful pollination. The insect net is now removed. In addition, you pluck the leaves directly from the fruit stalk, because it consumes unnecessary energy.
How many flowers should be pollinated per plant?
It's a simple calculation. The fewer flowers of a plant are pollinated, the more volume the pumpkins develop. This means that for a giant pumpkin ultimately only a single flower is fertilized. We recommend including a reserve bloom in the process.
Tips & Tricks
If you want to selectively cross two varieties with each other, you can improve the quality of the seed by harvesting in fully mature condition. In addition, a subsequent Nachreife in the room has an advantageous effect on the germination of the seeds.