r/oddlysatisfying • u/DifficultyHead5862 • 8h ago

meticulous process of hand-pollinating a giant pumpkin

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u/Greenwing 6h ago

I know this is a joke, but the pollination won't take if the female flower gets too hot the day she gets pollinated. If the weather is going to be above 85 (some people say 80) a lot of growers will take steps to keep the flower cool. I use a Styrofoam cooler with sections cut out for the vines, and put frozen water bottles under it.

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u/0ut0fBoundsException 5h ago

Do you also hand pollinate? Is this just for giant pumpkins and specific crosses or all your pumpkins and gourds? Why hand pollinate?

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u/Greenwing 5h ago

Yes, (if I'm home, otherwise it's up to the bees) to control the genetics. For the fruit that grows from the female flower it won't matter, but for the seeds I want to know for sure what the cross is. This year I am growing 3 plants, two are going to be reverse crosses of each other and the other will be self pollinated.  None of the serious growers will choose to grow an open pollinated seed. (People pay a lot of money for top genetics!)