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[email protected] · 11-08-2006, 11:10 AM posted to rec.gardens

wrote:
Hope people aren't bored with pumpkins, I see someone else has already
posted about them today...

I have recently moved to Newfoundland, Canada and after growing
pumpkins for the last two years in the UK I thought I would try here,
and hopefully have some ready for the kids for Halloween. The plants
are growing well and look healthy and are producing lots of male and
female flowers but the embryo pumpkins at the bases of the female
flowers never develop into anything, they just shrivel up and fall off
when the flower dies.

I have been Googling tonight and I think I have found the answer:
pumpkins are usually pollinated by bees, there are very few bees in
Newfoundland so my plants are probably not being pollinated. So I
guess I'll have to get a small paintbrush and pollinate them by hand.
Is this likely the right diagnosis, and has anyone else had this
problem when growing pumpkins in out-of-the-way places?

Peter

We have had success in growing pumpkins in newfoundland by attracting
bees. A tip that has been passed down was to surround the perimeter of
the patch with several varieties of perennial flowers that bloom
throughout the summer months and several potted or container plants in
the patch itself.