From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Knopp, Germany

here is my situation:
one of my goals this year was to cross the 716 daletas with the 996.5 handy. in about 13 hours i will have a 996.5 female ready.
this is my present situation with males:
i will have one male 716 daletas open in the morning. is one male really enuf to pollinate with?
i will also have one 996.5 male open, but, i have two more that i harvested today and put in the fridge. that is one fresh one and two one day old ones.
i have always gone on the premise that it takes at least two males to do a proper job of pollination. i am willing to take the risk with only the one 716, but i would really appreciate some input before i make this decision.

6/18/2003 12:01:11 PM

Montoursville, PA

The bee will do it with just a few grains sticking to its body. Surely your artist's brush can do better. More is increasing the odds in your favor but just one grain in the right places will do it. In theory one grain for each part of the female would do the job. Doctor it up carefully and get half a dozen grains on each lobe. That should do it for sure.

6/18/2003 12:11:26 PM

Cologne / Germany

Owen, I would go with the one 716. Last year I had some small pumpkins in my greenhouse, all pollinated with one male. They all came out excellent. In general there was enough pollen to cover all female parts, I guess it´s the way how nature has designed it.
By the way it´s still early in the season. Different pollinations within the next 2 or 3 weeks should be okay. Just my 2 cents.

6/18/2003 12:24:29 PM

Sequim, WA

I have had successful pollinations using only one male flower per female. Just be certain all the female lobes have coverage with the pollen. More important than the number of males available is the position of the fruit on the vine. If you are very close to the stump you will not have a lot of plant behind the fruit to push its growth. Early fruit set is not always advantageous. I made that mistake last year and when disease started taking out leaves one by one on my plant with the fastest growing pumpkin it shut me down. This year I will wait until I have at least 12' of main vine behind the fruit before setting any pumpkins. If this means that I am still pollinating on the third week in July I am comfortable with that. Those fruit will have a lot more plant pushing their growth and they should be fine. Good luck.

6/18/2003 12:27:45 PM

Phoenix Az

Make shure you cover the male so bees wont take all the pollen. I had males striped of pollen in less than 3 hours from when they opened!

6/18/2003 3:19:36 PM

I agree with Tiller. I think it will be fine with one male, as long as you pollinate all the lobes. If you use less pollen, you'll just get less seeds inside the pumpkin you grow. Think survival of the fittest. That 716 want HIS genes to be passed on because he thinks he's the best. So on every flower he's got tons of little pollen grains on that anther so he has the best chance at fathering a pumpkin. He doens't want any other males bothering his 996.5 girl so he's gonna make sure he can take care of business all by himself. LOL

6/18/2003 3:29:27 PM

Utah

i'm with Tiller... wait a till everything you want is available. a few days...or even a few weeks and you'll
still be fine in the fall.

6/18/2003 5:16:48 PM

Knopp, Germany

Thanks all for the advice. I know it is early in the season, and I plan to continue to pollinate into July. I will go with the one 716.

6/19/2003 12:02:39 AM

Cornwall UK.(50N 5W)300ft.

Last year I only used one male flower on each female,didn't know any better!got about 29 out of 30 with fresh pollen.

6/19/2003 8:05:38 AM

Garden State Pumpkins

well how was that first pollenation....??? BZzzzz,,,Bzzzz

6/19/2003 8:15:26 AM

Knopp, Germany

Chuck, like swimming, you never forget how.......

6/19/2003 8:51:07 AM

Deer Park, WI

I personally wouldnt use less than 2 males given a choice. Remember, it takes a least one pollen grain for every seed inside that pumpkin, which can number up to 800. If there is any moisture (morning dew) in the males, you will get clumpy, uneven distribution of the pollen on the stigma. I personally beleive that pollination techniques can somewhat influence the shape of the fruit as well...if one lobe is left unpollinated, it will not develop like the others, causing a slump in the shape of the fruit. The best way to insure complete even pollination is to use multiple males with dry pollen. Bees are creatures that have been practicing this art for millions of years, and were designated by nature to do this job. Of course they can do it successfully with less than one male. But a gardener has only been doing this for couple years, with big clumsy fingers. Your call I guess

6/19/2003 9:08:55 AM