how do i attach the pictures? I don't see any browse button to let me upload from my computer!

as usual I cannot upload any picture but here is the link.

http://flickr.com/photos/81116909@N00/1001959541/

Hi nms2k,

I am wondering if the females are not getting pollinated. Can you try hand pollinating them if you have not already ?

-saila

{{gwi:388999}}

I wouldn't worry. Be patient and give it a couple of more weeks. Don't fertilize any more. And browse the vegetable forum for threads on squash and melon pollination. It's nomral, just wait.

Saila

as what Violet said wait a couple of weeks, mine was like that, now I have 15 of them hanging on the trellis,
I've been harvesting them 3-5 a week, but try to hand pollinate them from the male to the female , in the morning if you can when the flowers are open. good luck.

Thanks for the replies. Thank you Violet for posting the image. There are 2 that survived the browning/fruit rot and they are 16" long and 3" in diameter but all other (at least 20 of them) have turned brown. Could it be because I trimmed the vines? I will try to hand polinate but since these fruit (or so it seemed to me) are at least 3" I thought they were pollinating themselves. Also I see plenty more female flowers (at least 10 to 1 male). Is that normal?
Thank you all again.

Hi there,

It is correct that the phenomenon you posted is due to the lack of pollination.

Bottle gourds are night bloom. You will see the white colour flowers open during early evening and they wilter by daybreak.

Pollination can be a big problem as the flowers open at night. The only way to go about it is to hand pollinate the female flowers which can be identified by the little gourd behind the white petals.

To pollinate the females, pick a male flower and then strip off all its petals. Brush the anthers of the male flower with the stigma of the flower flower.

That should help with fruit set.

Wilson

Removing few shoots will help.

Can anyone tell me if bottle gourd is susceptible to squash vine borer? I lost a lot of Zucchini plants to SVB last year and am wondering if it may attack my bottle gourd this year. Thanks, Paul

we have plenty of female flowers but they never open up in the entire day so I am not sure how do even I hand pollinate them. ? Does anyone face similar issues? any solution