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Marion,IN

Do people cut off all females that are not going to get pollinated as soon as they see them or do you let them get bigger to get an idea of what shape they would be? Just curious.

Thanks,Mark G.

6/16/2009 9:56:37 AM

Boise City, Oklahoma, USA

If you have set and are running with what you want; there's no chance you are going to try setting any more on that plant... take them off as soon as you can. They are unwanted future pregnancies and will just draw on the plant unnecessarily. Even if you are going to set more, if that female is in a place you will not even think of setting, take it off. Take an ice cream pail with you when checking secondaries and doing your pin and bury work; and take off the females as you go. Unless you want or need pollen yet (still setting or trading pollen with someone) take the males off too.

6/16/2009 10:02:24 AM

Mill Bay, British Columbia

Unless you have a multitude of plants from which to choose male flowers, it is not a good idea to take off male flowers.

If your timing is off...you will regret taking off males as you are going to need them sooner or later. I know of a couple of growers that ended up with no pollen when they adopted the prune everything method.

Agreed about the small female flowers, I take them off right away if they are not in the desired place or distance out from the main.

6/16/2009 12:23:54 PM

Anamosa, IA [email protected]

I would only take off male flowers after all the pumpkins are set and growing. The males do attract cucumber beetles so there is an advantage to removing them once everything is set.

6/16/2009 1:21:59 PM

Mill Bay, British Columbia

Agreed with that...after your pumpkins are set to remove any and all other flowers.

My point was to not remove males before you have your fruit growing.

6/16/2009 1:51:30 PM

Taylorsville, California

If i read the question right I think Mark was asking what to do with an early female,i.e right now, a female that is gonna open before vine length is optimal or to early in the season,,say a female@ 6 ft opening on june 18th or so,,if your not gonna pollinate it do you let it open or come close to opening before culling it or do you pick it asap?

6/16/2009 2:28:09 PM

Little-TON - Colorado

Perhaps one may want to set it, then cut it off. Disect it as a representation of thickness, fruit preview, to see how this plant will throw fruit. SecretZ from our state champ as he looks into tendacies on that particular plant......

I did it last year...worked pretty neat.....trying this year too.....

6/16/2009 3:35:06 PM

Ohio

Mark, I myself cut off any females before the 10 ft mark, but that's just me.

As for the male flowers I keep all males that grow on the main vine,,, but last year I tried something new,, I let the first 2 secondaries on each side(total of 4 secondaries) grow male flowers, any secondaries after that with male/ female flowers get cut off.

Todd Skinner told me about this trick a couple years ago, so I gave it a try... and it worked great.
No more crawling into your plant to take them dead rotten desease causing flowers off that you will never use anyway.
I had plenty of males left over after I was done pollinating all my plants, and to be truthful I probably could have gotten by easy with only letting the 1st two secondaries just grow male flowers for my pollination's.

but like Glenn said, it would stink to run out of males when you needed them, so I'm not taking that chance and stay with what I have been doing.LOL

6/16/2009 7:21:05 PM

Mill Bay, British Columbia

That is good info on the secondaries Brooks...sure does make it alot easier to clean up like you said.

6/16/2009 7:38:34 PM

Owensboro, Ky.

Mark, especially for new growers, letting a female (early) grow to the pollination stage, is, could, would, & will be a great learning experience!!! If you have never seen a female blossom before it opens, how do you know what it looks like...? I think, esp. for new growers...let a female, and male or two, or three grow till they blossom so ya know what they look like the nite b/4!!! Peace, Wayne

6/16/2009 8:57:48 PM

Indiana

I tend to let them open up so I can see if it is deformed or not. Not that I do anything about it, but it helps me know what maybe to expect. I had a 6 lober the other day for the first time I can ever remember. Killed me to cut it off..LOL

6/16/2009 9:03:34 PM

Long Island,New York

It really sucks to pick off all females before 10 ft and then find your main broken at 11 feet.....

6/16/2009 9:15:20 PM

Owensboro, Ky.

Tom, hope you can expect another 6 lober or 2!!! Peace, Wayne

6/16/2009 11:02:10 PM

Joliet, IL

pruning early females is not easy no matter how you add it up....but look at your plant and the length and amount of secondary growth you have, and truly say, do i have enough plant behind this 10.5 or 11 foot female right now? look at it again...most time you will so no way. but once you see a female, 7 to 10 days later when it opens will be a lot more plant, like 5' added on to each secondary at least. and like g said, pruning one early before a set on the main can be a tough lesson. my advice as the plants get strength and the more plant, the more bonering up of the main,...is to adjust the bamboo stakes every morning and night to keep the critical cluster with the females in it close to the ground and covered with a white lawn chair if hail or hot temps oare present. prune only after your second female has laid down on the main, and so on for insurance.

6/16/2009 11:24:57 PM

Colorado

I like to pollinate a early female to cut it off at about 7 days old.You can dissect the little pumpkin to see wall thickness and shape and see if the dam plant will set fruit. Dont prune the males off the first ten feet of the main and the first 12 side(secondaries) vines-you may need them

6/18/2009 5:04:36 PM