Pumpkin is a frequent visitor to household plots; it is used for cooking and as food for pets. Why do pumpkin ovaries turn yellow and fall off? This question often arises for summer residents with the onset of the growing season. Pumpkin ovaries rot for various reasons. This could be bad weather, a rainy summer, or a lack of nutrients in the soil. Even when growing the best varieties, this problem is not uncommon. You can cope with it if you follow the rules of agricultural technology for growing melons. The laying of the future harvest occurs at the stage of planting seeds and growing seedlings. It is this stage that needs to be given special attention.
Difficulties in seed germination
Pumpkin fruits fall off due to “drowsiness” and rotting of the planting material. Planting seeds in unheated soil in early spring creates a problem with germination.
Planting in early spring leads to the fact that the seeds begin to germinate poorly. This is due to the capricious weather, sudden cold snap and rain. Pumpkin seedlings are planted in open ground after the soil has been well warmed up in the sun. You can plant seedlings in the sun. The optimal temperature is above +15 degrees. Before planting, small grooves are dug and thick fabric is laid on the bottom.
Then the seeds are planted, covered with soil and watered abundantly. This measure prevents planting material from freezing in the spring at night, when frosts occasionally occur.
Weak sprouts
Another reason why the inflorescences do not set well and the flowers turn yellow and fall off is weak sprouts. In this case, fertilizing with mineral and organic fertilizers is necessary for plants to grow well. A solution of bird droppings should be used in a ratio of 1:15.
Planting and growing seedlings is a crucial moment during which the foundation of the future pumpkin harvest is laid. If from year to year the sprouts emerge frail and turn yellow, then the situation can be saved if small mounds of rotted manure and potato tops are built at the place where the seeds are planted.
Root rotting after transplanting seedlings
Often, after applying nitrogen fertilizers after transplanting seedlings, the ovaries of pumpkins in open ground disappear.This is due to the fact that when fertilizer is applied to unheated soil, it reduces the overall frost resistance of the soil and the root system of seedlings begins to rot.
Experienced gardeners apply nitrogen-containing fertilizers after the soil has warmed up to at least +12 degrees. To protect seeds from frost, they are placed in a solution of potassium permanganate before planting.
Another reason for the rotting of the root system of seedlings during the seedling growing method is that after thinning out weak shoots, the roots of neighbors are damaged. To prevent yellowing of pumpkin seedlings, weak sprouts are cut off to the very root with a sharp knife.
The ovaries rot and there are few of them
The pumpkin does not bear fruit and forms a small number of ovaries if the weather is cold and rainy during the first time after planting and the appearance of sprouts. Pollination of inflorescences therefore rarely occurs due to the lack of insects on the street. Most often this happens in the northern regions, where the weather in summer is not always warm.
Artificial pollination will help save the situation. In warm weather, male inflorescences are cut off and their petals are carefully removed with tweezers. You can distinguish male inflorescences from female ones by their appearance; they are distinguished by long pedicels and form several stamens. Then you need to use your finger to press 2-3 anthers of the stamens onto the protruding pollen of the pistil of the female flower.
An effective way to attract bees is to spray your plants with honey. Dissolve 50 g of honey in 1 liter of warm water. Mix thoroughly and treat each inflorescence with honey solution. After a while, the smell of honey will attract insects that will pollinate the inflorescences.
If few ovaries are formed in the greenhouse, then the reason is either a lack of pollination or a lack of nutrients in the soil.
The soil in a greenhouse is different from the soil in open ground. It needs to be constantly updated and fertilized every season. Superphosphate is used as a top dressing. A tablespoon in a bucket of warm water. Fertilizers are thoroughly mixed and watered on the soil. In the fall, after harvesting, manure or bird droppings are added to the soil. They dig it up with fertilizer and leave it for next year.
The second reason why few ovaries are formed in a greenhouse is the lack of pollination. When growing crops in greenhouse shelters, this problem is not uncommon.
It can be solved if, with the onset of the pumpkin flowering period, you place a hive with bees in greenhouse shelters. After some time they will have to be removed. For a small greenhouse, one hive will be enough.
Lack of ovaries
The absence of ovaries can put an end to growing a good harvest. The problem of lack of ovaries in pumpkin is associated with planting planting material in poor, infertile soil. In such conditions, the pumpkin is stunted in growth and does not form ovaries. You need to sow seeds in fertile soil rich in humus.
But you shouldn’t add too much fertilizer to the soil. In dug-up soil, plants form long vines and a large amount of foliage, rather than ovaries and inflorescences.
Only in soil in which there are enough nutrients does fertilization and the formation of ovaries occur. The male flower produces enough stamens to pollinate the female inflorescences. Therefore, to plant pumpkins, you need to choose areas where fertilizers were applied 1-2 years ago. During this time, other plants will not have time to take all the nutrients, but the soil will not be overfed either.
Abundance of irregularly shaped ovaries
The reason why pumpkin fruits turn yellow and fall off may be due to the formation of irregularly shaped inflorescences. Such an inflorescence draws out most of the nutrients, while preventing other inflorescences of the correct shape from developing normally.
If several such lashes form on each bush, this significantly affects the yield of the pumpkin as a whole.
To prevent the formation of irregularly shaped ovaries during flowering, the lashes are formed independently. When pollination is completed, 3 lashes are formed on large-fruited varieties. There should not be more than one ovary on each lash. At most two.
In June, the tops of the 5-6 leaves are pinched after the fruit. In small- and medium-fruited varieties, all barren flowers are removed. They are pinched in early August. After the last fruit, 3–4 leaves are left.
Irregularly shaped ovaries are also formed due to a lack of nutrients. To prevent the formation of “ugly” ovaries, fertilize the leaves. Use organic fertilizers or phosphorus- and nitrogen-containing complexes.
Slow fruit development
When grown, pumpkin grows poorly and forms few ovaries due to the strong foliage of the plants. The leaves prevent sunlight from reaching the ovaries, and as a result they are stunted in growth. This causes the pumpkin fruits to wither and turn yellow. Under a dense canopy of foliage, bees do not always pollinate all the inflorescences. And if its female flowers are pollinated, then you can’t expect a good harvest.
In order for the pumpkin to grow well, remove excess leaves that darken the entire bush. The leaves are cut off with sharp pruning shears. It is important to ensure that the cut is even.Another reason for the slow development of pumpkin fruits is poor absorption of nutrients by the plant. To do this, the base of the stem is sprinkled with earth and lightly compacted.
Breaking off and rotting of fruits
If the pumpkin is rotting in the garden and the fruits are rotting, then most likely the ripening fruits are lying on the ground. Especially if the weather is rainy for a long time and the soil does not have time to dry out, the pumpkin begins to rot and break off.
To solve this problem, just place a wooden board under the fruit. Hanging fruits can be placed in a net and tied to a support so that the net does not come into contact with the soil.
How to prevent yellowing of ovaries
Pumpkin is an unpretentious crop, but it also requires minimal care at the stage of ovary development and fruit formation.
Tips to prevent crop damage:
- If it is supposed to rain, and the ovaries begin to rot, then you need to drain the water from the garden bed.
- The soil needs to be loosened regularly.
- If the warm weather at night has not yet settled, then the pumpkin is covered with material. It is desirable that it allows oxygen to pass through. If this is not at hand, then several small holes are made in the film. This is necessary for air circulation.
- To improve pumpkin fruiting, once every 2 weeks the bushes are watered with a fruit formation stimulator, for example, Gibbersib-U.
- If yellow leaves begin to appear on the garden bed, then feed the pumpkin with potassium sulfate. Mullein diluted in warm water is suitable for feeding.
- Pumpkin bushes are watered only with warm, settled water.
- Pumpkin is one of the crops that prefer to grow in open, sunny areas. Bushes planted in the shade begin to turn yellow and form few ovaries.
- Excess, as well as lack of nutrients, negatively affects the process of inflorescence formation and fruit formation. With an excess of nitrogen, pumpkin vines become large and the foliage becomes very dense.
- The ovaries fall off due to a lack of phosphorus and potassium. When there is an excess of it in the soil, the same thing happens.
- When the outside temperature becomes high (above +30 degrees) the inflorescences become sterile. And even if bees pollinate them, ovaries are not formed in the future. At low temperatures down to +16 degrees, plants begin to feed poorly. In this regard, the growth and formation of ovaries in the pumpkin slows down; if inflorescences appear, they quickly fall off.
- When there is an excess of moisture in the soil, the inflorescences and fruits begin to rot and then fall off.
- Pests are often the cause of poor formation of ovaries. Bushes are regularly checked for the presence of meadow moth. By eliminating weeds, insects will be prevented from appearing on the site.
By observing the specifics of growing pumpkins, you will be able to immediately prevent problems with the formation of ovaries on the bush and the falling of inflorescences.
