A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Vegetable Gardening pumpkins and green beans

Does anyone have any idea why my female pumpkins won't bloom for the males, or why my nice looking green beans feel soft and hollow?

I didn't realize that pupkins had differentiated sexes. If you see a rounded base on a bloom, before or after the bloom wilts, you have a fertilized bloom. Squash do this, and I'm not sure there is any difference.
You may be waiting to long to pick the green beans, and the plant puts is't emphasis on the developing bean instead of the pod. Break open a few and see what y ou find. I'd be curious, myself, I hope you'll share your findings.

So first off, this made me laugh out loud! Thanks.

Be back with a response for you & Dave in a bit. Pretty sure flowers are uni-sex.

Ha, Ha, Ha.
I don't know about cucurbits much, so arrest me! :wink:
I've read about eating squash blossoms...what I read was that for those who want the blossoms to eat, pick the male blossoms, the females will have a swollen area at the base of the blossom. SO THERE, Dr. Kildare.
No, I really have no idea other than that. Ask me about something else.

Thank you all for your funny comments. You have made my day. I do know that the male flowers open first , they are large and beautiful and they have a stamin. The females are on shorter stems and havea bunch of little "buttons" instead of a stamin. Bees and ants do the pollinating, if you have neither in your garden, you can do it yourself with a paint brush or a q-tip. I got my info from a site called The PumpkinNook.com. Also the males do not have the bump wich becomes your pumpkin. That's about the extent of my knowledge!

re: the green beans. I did break open a few. One large and 3 small ones. There are tiny little beans inside, They do not look edible to me.

thanks

You're right about the male and female flowers on squash and zucchini too, but I'm not too sure what you're really asking about female pumpkins.

We usually like to pick the beans when they're on the young side or as you state with tiny little beans on the inside. They are edible if you pick them older too.

I don't know much about veggies other than tomatoes, peppers and a little about the other veg's.
What type of green beans are they? I'm thinking that with adequate water and a light dose of fertilizer, you'll be harvesting well into the fall. You might try picking as early as possible, very young, so that the vines continue to put on fresh pods. Just a thought, but they would be tender and that would force the vines tokeep putting on more.

Thanks to all who replied...I have some experimenting to do

missd

I like to pick my green beans early too. they are sweeter! I'd say pick the smaller ones and see what they taste like. the bean part inside does stay small???

you said bees and ants pollinate pumpkins??? interesting. maybe thats why my garden is full of pumpkin vine and not a pumpkin in site??? I have seen only a couple of honey bees this entire year. mainly wasps and butterflies......guess I should have thought about hand pollinating earlier....maybe it's not too late? I've had lots of those swollen buds though. I kept thinking..ok THAT'S a pumpkin...but then nothing ever happens with it.

This was posted on the other forum, but here it is for all of you:

Re: No Pumpkins

I started with a packet of American seed Jack-o-Lantern seeds. I planted them in 3 hills in full sun. They were thinned to 3 per hill when they had 5-6 leaves per plant. They grew fast and by mid-April I had 4-5 large male flowers every morning, but no females. Now I am down to maybe 1 a day and it is usually really small. Still no females and a lot of the leaves have died off.

Here's what I have done so far, based on what I learned on-line. I covered the parent vines with new potting soil and mulch. Watered deeply and sprayed them with Miracle Grow. I also learned that if the temperature gets into the 90's the females experience plant-stress and will not bloom at all. Well, as everyone probably knows, we have had 100-105 degress days for 30 days in a row. We are on stage2 water restrictions. My garden was watered every night, or morning, with a hand held hose. We can only run the sprinkler one day a week. I am sure the temps had something to do with this.