Pumpkins rot days after bloom

9 years ago

Last fall after carving our pumpkins for halloween, our son took a few of the seeds and covered them with dirt. None of us expected anything to happen, but...the plant/vine grew (right in front of our front porch and around our bushes!) If we had seen it before our son did we would have cut it down (it's really not appealing in the front yard!).

So, now we have this vine that keeps growing. We have one healthy (i think) pumpkin. Lots of male and female blooms, plenty of bees, lots of sun. My main problem is that we keep getting female blooms with what looks like a healthy beginner pumpkin under it, and it gets pollinated (i have tried hand pollinating, also). A few days after the bloom opens the pumpkin rots away. This has happened probably 7 or 8 times already. Are the new pumpkins not getting adequate nutrition? Should I harvest the first and only healthy, surviving pumpkin? Is it just a lost cause?

Although I hated this plant/vine at the beginning, I've grown to really like it. My son loves checking to see if there are new pumpkins starting (this kid never had an interest in plants or gardens before). What do I need to do to get these pumpkins to stop rotting?

The one healthy pumpkin

The bees

This one bloomed yesterday, fingers crossed it makes it.

This last one bloomed around 3 days ago then rotted.

Featured Answer

rgreen48

9 years ago

Even with bees, the most common cause of the problem you describe is lack of pollination. One thing to double check when hand pollinating is that the male flower has pollen. To get best results, I cut off the male flower by the stem, leaving a few inches as a handle. I trim off the petals and expose the stamen. Then, use that to pollinate the female. I find this is faster, easier, and much more effective than the 'paintbrush', or 'q-tip' techniques. While you have the stamen in your hand, inspect it closely. You should be able to see the pollen. Then watch closely as you pollinate. You should also be able to see the pollen sticking to the female stigma. Often, especially during hot, humid days, the pollen just doesn't form correctly. There are mornings when I have to use up to 3 male flowers before I see one with pollen.

All that said: there are other reasons for the immature fruits to rot. Insufficient access to available nutrients, pests, and diseases to name a few. The plant will also abort fruit if such issues cause enough stress that the plant 'needs' to focus its resources on fewer fruits.

Since you do have the one, and in most parts of the Northern Hemisphere we've entered the last stage of a pumpkin's life cycle, I say...a bird in the hand... celebrate your son's success!

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Comments (6)

Elizabeth Lee
Original Author
9 years ago
@Rgreen48, thank you so much for your response. All you said makes perfect sense. It's been a really hot and humid summer here in TN. Would you be willing to answer a few more quick questions for me?

Should I be cutting off leaves that are dying?

Should I harvest the one healthy, completely orange pumpkin?

It looks like we might have 2 more pumpkins. They seem to have grown quite a bit since yesterday. The ones that have rotted didn't grow at all after blooming.
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Elizabeth Lee
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you so much for all that info, @weirdtrev. Thankfully all the dead/browning leaves are not by an area that we would mow. I'm 99% sure these are small pumpkins. We have had lots of fruit start, but only one survive (looking like maybe, fingers crossed, two more will survive!). No powdery mildew...yet. I noticed this morning that the other side of the vine (growing in two directions...maybe a different plant?) is growing faster and a lot more flowers are forming. We shall see.

Thanks again for all the info!
rgreen48
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Trev has more experience with pumpkins than I do. He has good recommendations.

I'm also in Tn, east of Knoxville, and yeah this has been a pretty
brutal year. Last season we got powdery mildew, but not this year. This
year it's been squash bugs, cucumber beetles, and weather.

When you save seeds from an unknown pumpkin, you never know what you'll get as far as size, shape, etc... The same is true for most plants. To know for sure what type of fruit, you have to know the seeds aren't hybrids or crosses. If you try again next year, you might do better to get a packet of known seed. Choosing an heirloom, or an open-pollinated variety, will then allow you to save seed and replant the following years. You just have to either only grow the one kind, or protect different varieties from cross-breeding.

Oh, and please try not to stress the looks of the front yard veggie, my feelings might get hurt lol. My entire garden is in my front yard! :-P
Elizabeth Lee thanked rgreen48
Elizabeth Lee
Original Author
9 years ago
@rgreen48, we are about 45 min West of Nashville. I think brutal is an understatement, lol. I'm good with this plant in our front yard...now...if we do this again Next year I've already told our son to put them somewhere else. I walk past it every day and am allergic to bees (and by the way, bees love me...they chase me. If there's a bee within a mile it will find me!). I try to get past the plant as fast as I can and into my car without being noticed!! Haha.

I have not seen many bugs...a caterpillar here and there and a few lady bugs...and the bees. Oh, and ants. Lots of ants!