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Cologne / Germany

What time do you get up in the morning to pollinate your females? Certain time - best success??

6/13/2002 4:50:41 AM

Deer Park, WI

To some degree, this is latitude dependent. But i dont think its too much to worry about. Anywho, I am out there at 6:30am. This works very well for me. Of the many fruit i hand pollinated last year, only one or two aborted. The sun has usually been up for 1/2 hour or so, which has stimulated the flowers to open up. The pollen is usually a little moist from the dew, which helps it stick to the top of the pistil. Your best chances are earlier on, as the day progresses, the chances of successful pollination decrease. I think the cutoff is 10:00am. Try to do it before then.

6/13/2002 8:36:40 AM

Deer Park WA

Joze is right on, I try to pollinate mine around 7:30 or so after it has warmed up a bit, yet before the pesky bees are out. I use 3 or 4 males for each female and then tie the females closed with a piece of kite string to keep the bees out. Last year I didn't do a very good job tieing my CLONE female and a bee got in and swiped the pollen from one lobe the pumpkin was misshapen on that area.

6/13/2002 3:47:28 PM

Ann Arbor, Mi

I've hear that the time is not as important as the temperature. Hope someone can correct me if I'm wrong but 68 to 72 degrees I believe is best...Bob W

6/13/2002 5:07:28 PM

Utah

It's both temperature AND time.

6/13/2002 5:43:55 PM

Deer Park, WI

Yes, temperature is an important factor as well. If it is too hot (>90), the necessary enzymes will degrade and the fruit will abort. If it is too cold (<55), the cold temperatures slow the growth of the pollen tube. What happens then is the pollen grain "misses the boat" and you get incomplete fertilization. Last year, it was very warm (~85-90) on a few instances when i was pollinating. Everything worked out well, however if it had been a little warmer im afraid my sucess rate would have dropped significantly.

6/14/2002 8:44:02 AM

syracuse, ny

at LEAST twice last year, i missed pollinating a female around 9am, when i usually am supposed to be getting ready for work---(ran out of time) i don't know if it has anything to do with it, but i ZIP-TIE my flowers, both types the night before, and
perhaps the fact that they were still ZIP-TIED when i got out there at like 8pm-(rushed home to do the job)allowed them to still be successfully pollinated....but i have no record of which ones they were...hey, even ones we pollinate at 'just the right time of day' still can abort down the road a bit...something else for us to experiment on---there'll be plenty of that from now on! good luck

6/14/2002 7:42:16 PM