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My vines are only about 1.5-2 feet long, and they're already producing unopened male flowers. At this stage, should I cut off the flowers like I do with tertiary leaves?

6/16/2023 7:13:39 PM

Colorado

You need them as pollinators. Once your pumpkin is set then pinch off all the flowers as you prune the plant.

6/16/2023 10:06:09 PM

Zimmerman, Minnesota

So my rule of thumb has always been to cut off all male flowers until about five or 6 feet out….. if you take note the flowers will open and they’re only around for one day and they run pretty close to about three or 4 feet at the most behind the pumpkin. So if you plan on pollinating at 10 feet you should have no problem removing 5 to 6 feet worth of flowers which equates to a lot of energy used by that pumpkin plant that is going into flower production that will never be utilized, but instead that energy can be put towards plant growth. I did this to all six of my AGs this year and so far every pumpkin that has opened I have used no less than six flowers for pollination, why because I have healthy side vines because the energy was not put towards the flowers but it was put towards Secondaries, which each have a flower that opens every day. I should note that in the first 5 feet of the plant I only take the first flower off each secondary sometimes the first or second secondary I will take two or three flowers off.

6/17/2023 2:48:44 AM

Syracuse, NY

In reading FB/CB;-'s explanation about 5 times, just because, lol and wanting to add my own theory to it - perhaps removing early males would be a good idea also because as I just told someone on Pests and Diseases, if they can't SEE it they won't go after it - so, if a cuke beetle or squash bug is NOT in line of sight with a plant's MALES, perhaps it/they won't (as likelily, lol) swoop in as soon as they do and do their damage quite as early; I, personally won't do it as I have so many plants but the delay in damage could be beneficial if one has the time. You would NOT wanna remove males if NOT pollinating by hand - at least not ALL of them. Chris, a plant's energy comes from the sun, but the nutrition would yes, be better utilized in the rest of the plant's growth - cool. I'm realizing!
I realize also that most insects prolly have a keener sense in finding their food than by sight alone, just like wolves or bears, etc. Also, my technique for removing flowers in the absence of a box cutter is to run my thumb and forefinger down to the base of the stem of said male flower, push thumb downward with SOME thumbnail as though pushing an elevator's floor selection button to detach the stem partially and subsequently pulling upward with both appendages squeezing the stem (one-two punch) and this seems to be a great way to keep the most stem for your money for trimming later when putting into a vase or whatever for the next morning's pollination(s). eg

6/17/2023 11:50:49 AM

Ohio.. The Good Part

I wonder if leaving pollinated pumpkins on sides for a while may promote more node root growth along that sidevine??

6/17/2023 12:40:30 PM

Grittyville, WA

I'd leave all your boys on, you may regret removing them. Farmer Brown is probably correct for a large healthy plant there may be a predictable succession of males, but if you want to pollinate the first females, then you may need some of those very first males?

6/18/2023 6:20:30 AM

Syracuse, NY

Rock and a hard place - If either gender is not at the party, the other is probably disappointed. I know I would be, lol---eg

6/18/2023 8:10:37 AM

Kutztown, PA

Last year diligently removed almost every male flower. When it came time to pollinate I found myself not able to pollinate like I planned. This year I got a little smarter and left the early buds on my pollinator plant and left a few more on the other plants. I'm still in panic mode when it comes to pollination but maybe a little less. One thing I can say for sure is that with very few yellow flowers I have
many less cucumber beetles and others to contend with. My first year I didn't pick any buds off and the place was swarming with you name it.

6/20/2023 10:52:12 AM

New Castle, Indiana

Well...I think the answer depends on the plant itself. For example, my plant threw a lot of male flowers close to the stump probably due to the initial stress of a mistake I made before it was even outside in the patch. So a lot of those flowers I culled and I'm still culling some here and there because I know about when I'm going to actually need the males. Right now my pollination is probably five days out or so, and I culled some males last night that were certainly going to open before that. Now I'm going to leave them alone until after the pollination has taken. So it's really about the timing. Yes you will probably get a growth advantage when you cull the unneeded ones.

If you watch Moby Mike's YT, he just posted a video where Jim Ford had to stop by his place to get some males because Jim got too aggressive with the culling and had no males available on his plant.

6/22/2023 10:11:45 AM