June 1st I planted several pumpkin seeds which all germinated and are huge viney things with several flowers. The problem seems to be that the flowers are all MALE--all stamens. No flowers are forming the tell-tale ovaries. What's going on?

This morning I removed 2-3 stamens and with a cotton swab dusted the inside with pollen from other flowers in some vain attempt to make a pumpkin. Please help me! Do I need a female plant and a male to get germination? I've never had this problem with pumpkins before--usually I just plant the seeds and VOILA, pumpkins!

Thank-you in advance!

It is normal for the first blossoms to fail to set fruit. Some female flowers will bloom before there are male flowers to pollenate. It also occurs when a large load of fruit is set and the plant is using all of it's resources to develop them. Be patient. You can pollenate the flowers yourself if time permits. Hopefully you will have a great crop.

Hi H.H! Thanks for the reply and advice. I'm afraid I reacted prematurely--I now have at least 3 ovaries forming as of this morning. I guess I assumed I should have pumpkins forming NOW like I did last year but last year I grew a larger, different pumpkin which possibly bore fruit earlier. This year I grew a smaller pie pumpkin. With any luck, I'll have a good crop with lots of extras to give to neighborhood kids for Hallowe'en!

I have another pumpkin problem. One of them got accidently removed from its stem when I was moving it. Will this pumpkin ripen and turn orange despite this? Thanks!