How to Pollinate Pumpkins, Prune them and Prevent Pumpkins from Rot

Pollinating and Pruning Pumpkins Plants for Bigger Pumpkins

Pollinating Pruning and Protecting Pumpkins from rot are three easy tasks that will give you better, bigger and healthier pumpkins, we tell you how.

Pumpkins rotting on the vine is a problem for many gardeners. What happens is that they sit on the soil, or grass and because the spot they are on is to damp, fungal diseases develop or just plain old rot.

The easiest way to stop pumpkins from rotting is to lift them off the ground, simply sit them on a piece of timber, an upturned pot saucer, or even a flat rock or paving stone.
Pumpkins will also turn yellow and fall off and this can be because they were not pollinated. That little swelling is not yet a pumpkin, it needs to have the flower pollinated.

You can hand pollinate, you can use your finger, or a paintbrush. Look for the female flowers, these are the ones with the little bulge around the base of the flower.

These are the ones that need to be pollinated.

Then look for the male flowers, these are the ones without the little bulge.

Simply rub your finger on the stamen of the male flower to get some pollen on it, you will see that because your finger will have a little yellow on it.

Then rub you finger onto the female flower.
To increase fruit size, a little pruning of the vines is encouraged. Pumpkins have two main sorts of shoots. The main one from the base of the plant, and then side shoots off the main runners.

These side shoots will also send down roots, so they are valuable in providing energy to the vine

Once flowering begins you can prune off some of these side shoots, not all of them, just some of them.

Видео How to Pollinate Pumpkins, Prune them and Prevent Pumpkins from Rot канала johnny A