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Ga.

Went to pollinate this morning..Only had 2 males which looked as they had opened thi morning..Others looked old...Anyway,,these 2 males had no pollen in them..Can someone tell me why????

5/24/2002 12:16:39 PM

Deer Park WA

BEE's?

5/24/2002 2:28:27 PM

Ga.

They shouldnt be able to get all..I was up early,,very near daylight.Not 1 drop of pollen...Ever thing looked normal.,,,except no pollen....

5/24/2002 2:38:17 PM

Indiana

I had one plant do that (must have been a genetic flaw). Try covering the males the night before they open to make sure it isnt the bees stealing your pollen. Cucumber Beetles have dont that to me before.
Tom Beachy

5/24/2002 4:55:53 PM

Long Island,New York

Jeff...the male flower needs time to free up the pollen. They very often open but dont produce immediately...cover the males the night before and try around 9am. Or.....if you know what flower will open tomorrow, cut the flower the night before.Place in a vase and turn a light (desklamp is good) on the flower at 4-5am. That will get the flower to open and produce pollen. I do this when I have to leave for work early and cant wait to pollinate or on days that rain is expected and the darkeness will interfere with the timing.. If you coat the female with ready-pollen and the females not ready it still works as the pollen will be there waiting for the female to be receptive. If my wife is around, I will often get her to re-pollinate the same flowers at 10am with new saved and not used males to get the locations that might have been missed or were not receptive at 6am. Always cover before and after with the females, before with the males......G

5/24/2002 5:02:18 PM

Ga.

Thanks G...I tied the female last night,,,and after I sefed it....Thanks again all...

5/24/2002 5:52:30 PM

syracuse, ny

ps to everyone when they go about pollination in general, last year i made it a real project to ZIP-TIE shut the male AND female flowers the night before a controlled, textbook
pollination---the 4-inch type work great for the males, using releasable ones if they make them that small---
thread the pointed end thru the clicker end, that's right, and zip it reasonably tight around the last 1/2-3/4 inch of
three males per female-in-waiting...for the ladies, use the 6-inch RELEASABLE type and do the same for them--on the big day, take yer zipped-up males to the selected female, release and remove the one on the female (to give it time to
open up a little after being so zipped-up!), but keep it right there 'cause you'll zip-tie it up after pollination...
peel off the zips on the males, peel away the corollas on them, blahh, blaah, blahh, pollinate like a pro, say a little prayer, and zip the female shut! then you can re-use
the zip-ties over and over and.....i think this minimizes the possibility of bees OR OTHER INSECTS doin' their thing in your flowers.
also! i never saw a single cuke beetle last year until i removed a paper lunch bag from my first pollinatable female!
there were a couple on another that same morning---so i've used the ZIP-TIE METHOD from then on----they must've known i had something good under that paper bag--too rough on the flowers to try n' seal around the stems! try it--you'll like it!

5/24/2002 8:12:35 PM

syracuse, ny

by the way----'for the ladies' meant
'for the female PUMPKIN FLOWER'
i apologize for any misconceptions about that...thanks

5/24/2002 8:18:56 PM