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4 Responses to Pumpkin female flower withered before pollination, but the fruit keeps growing. Will it be edible?
It could have selfed.
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Why are you growing pumpkins? For seeds or for pumpkin flesh? Pumpkins only bear fruit when the flower has been fertilized. Pumpkin flowers have both male and female reproductive organs. A gentle breeze would be enough to fertilize your pumpkin flower. Good luck with that big orange squash.
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Your pumpkin will be fine. The flower fertilized itself before it died. It died when the fruit started forming. There is nothing wrong with your pumpkin.
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The ovary looks like a tiny fruit when the flower is open and still sits there when the flower withers. If the fruit is actually growing beyond that then it must have been fertilized. Because the pollen is relatively heavy (and can NOT be moved easily by wind) pollination is by insect (or by hand) and is generally best between individuals because, in my experience, they don’t self all that readily (although it is not impossible).
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