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Jul. 3rd, 2007 07:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ruFor the past couple of weeks, the pumpkins have been flowering profusely. Of course, I'm happy about this, because it hopefully means I'll get lots of pumpkins. The other day, however, I noticed something--there was lots of flowering, lots of *repetitive* flowering, suggesting they were waiting for pollinators, but no signs of any pumpkins forming. This concerned me.
At first, I thought I wasn't getting pumpkins because, from what I remembered from systematics, pumpkins and other cucumber-types are dioecious (i.e. There are boy plants and girl plants), which would mean that if I had all plants of one gender or another, I'd be SOL for pumpkins. However, I looked it up, and it turns out while the flowers are indeed imperfect (i.e. It has boy parts or girl parts--not both), they can be borne on the same plant. *sigh of relief* So pumpkins may still be in my future.
While searching for the answer to the flower question, I stumbled across an interesting recommendation. Due to the decline of bees and other pollinators, if you have a small crop of pumpkins (like me), it's recommended that you hand-pollinate the flowers so that they get a good pollination and can set fruit. This would basically mean taking a Q-tip or paintbrush (a la Mendel), brushing the stamens of the males, then brushing the stigmas of the females.
This means at some point I'm going to need to get up early one morning when I don't have to dash out the door for work (pumpkins apparently are frisky and have their flowers open in the early morning, much to the chargrin of this night owl), grab a paintbrush, and play bee. For the most part, I'm okay with this, but there's a part of me that's really weirded out by it. I mean, I'm going to be helping the pumpkins (and possibly the tomatoes too, if the pollination recommendation holdes true for them) have sex. It's like being creepily voyeuristic, or being in the same room while the plants get it on. Gah. Couldn't I just play "Baby Got Back" for them and be done with it?
Avobaby update forthcoming.
THREE MORE DAYS!!!
At first, I thought I wasn't getting pumpkins because, from what I remembered from systematics, pumpkins and other cucumber-types are dioecious (i.e. There are boy plants and girl plants), which would mean that if I had all plants of one gender or another, I'd be SOL for pumpkins. However, I looked it up, and it turns out while the flowers are indeed imperfect (i.e. It has boy parts or girl parts--not both), they can be borne on the same plant. *sigh of relief* So pumpkins may still be in my future.
While searching for the answer to the flower question, I stumbled across an interesting recommendation. Due to the decline of bees and other pollinators, if you have a small crop of pumpkins (like me), it's recommended that you hand-pollinate the flowers so that they get a good pollination and can set fruit. This would basically mean taking a Q-tip or paintbrush (a la Mendel), brushing the stamens of the males, then brushing the stigmas of the females.
This means at some point I'm going to need to get up early one morning when I don't have to dash out the door for work (pumpkins apparently are frisky and have their flowers open in the early morning, much to the chargrin of this night owl), grab a paintbrush, and play bee. For the most part, I'm okay with this, but there's a part of me that's really weirded out by it. I mean, I'm going to be helping the pumpkins (and possibly the tomatoes too, if the pollination recommendation holdes true for them) have sex. It's like being creepily voyeuristic, or being in the same room while the plants get it on. Gah. Couldn't I just play "Baby Got Back" for them and be done with it?
Avobaby update forthcoming.
THREE MORE DAYS!!!