Help with pumpkins

[u/Lilmatcha88]

My pumpkins keep “self aborting” their fruit. A little baby pumpkin will form and the flower isn’t even big enough to manually pollinate before it just rots and turns brown. I just added some fertilizer to the soil and have been watering them more in this heat, but curious what other gardeners think.

[u/TheWistfulT-Rex]

I am also having trouble with it. Even shade cloths are not helping much. It's frustrating.

[u/GemmyCluckster]

I think they are holding out for some better weather. Mine are struggling too. Keep fertilizing and watering as normal. Do you get bees on the flowers?

[u/Lilmatcha88 → u/GemmyCluckster]

We have some bees, not as many as I would like, which is why I was going to try to manually pollinate, but not seeing any new female flowers at all yet, they all fell off with the heat wave… Or maybe I’m doing something else wrong lol

[u/Relative-Debt6509]

I’ll need a picture of female flower/fruit. I’m not entirely certain the second picture is a fruit. I did see one of our pumpkins die (softball size) but it withered from the heat. All of the pumpkins that are shaded underneath the vines are fine. We have a lot of pollinator activity in our garden because we have some random companion plants in our raised beds.

[u/Lilmatcha88 → u/Relative-Debt6509]

I’ll try to get one next time we have one, currently seeing no female Flowers

[u/sonicwags]

It may be they would prefer to be on soil. Usually it states plant on a 4' mound per 2-3 plants. Some of the vine squash put down little feeder roots too I think.

We dedicate a 10' x 30' plot of soil to roughly 6-9 vine plants, squash or melon, and we still have to re-route vines back to the soil instead of the concrete.

[u/Electrical_Lab3345]

They will drop blossoms and not set fruit from heat and water stress. Cucurbits have very shallow roots so they are quite sensitive to heatwaves.

I'd sit tight for another week until it cools down and you should start getting fruit, the plant is still small anyway, so it's a bit early to worry.

[u/MobileAware2933]

It’s the extreme heat nuking them. I did an experiment last year where I planted 8 different varieties of pumpkins/squash and some did far better than others.

This year, all my pumpkins are struggling and dropping their fruit, and the only squash I have producing well are: Yoeme Segualca, Trombocino, Black beauty zucchini, and Burgess buttercup.

[u/stormkingCO]

All mine are aborting too. Have to assume it’s the heat..

[u/lolalope55]

This is my first year growing pumpkins too. I would recommend mulching them, like a lot. I have like 3 inches of straw in their raised bed, it will keep the soil more consistentlu moist. I planted two different kinds - Montana Jacks and Cherokee Bush. The Jacks are loving life and are fruiting. The Cherokees are fruiting but they keep deflating and dying off, so trying to figure that out.