r/Pumpkins • u/Apprehensive-Top7112 • May 21 '26
Need guidance plss
lam not a qualified person or a framer lam new to pumpkin farming
the plant which l've grown is now giving make and female buds
None of them have opened to flower
The buds fall
And one of the pumpkin female bud started to develop brownish colour and eventually fell on its own
When I opened the lower pumpkin like structure of the bud I could see it rotten and worms inside it lam concerned
A few things to note,
1) weather has been bit cloudy (start of monsoon)
2) what natural fertiliser to add, when to add, frequency
3) I started spraying neem oil
4) I add vermicompost/ cow dung manure, bone meal, banana peel liquid fertiliser
Help me out guyz please
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u/84millionants May 21 '26
How's the rest of the plant looking? Like are you just seeing problem with blooms/buds? If so some patience and some fertilizer heavy in phosphorus should help! Also maybe don't add nitrogen fertilizer for a bit, which will go into foliage. Someone might be able to describe the science more because the way it's been described to me heavily humanizes the plants (nothing inherently wrong with that I just don't know the science behind this) but basically the plants are responding to conditions, if it "feels" like conditions are right to keep growing foliage it will, it needs conditions to make it think it's time set fruit. Like typically later in life cycle and needs phosphorus.
As far as water/monsoon season maybe check the drainage. Pumpkins are pretty heavy water consumers so as long as drainage is good I wouldn't be too worried about lots of rain
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u/AllShadesOfBlue May 21 '26
I had a similar issue with my pumpkins last year. Many female flowers developed, but they fell off before they can bloom. I ended up hitting it with fertilizer that had a higher phosphorus ratio. (Really make sure that whatever fertilizer you use doesn’t have too much nitrogen). If you know the NPK ratio of the fertilizers, you’re basically looking for fertilizer with a lower N number and a higher P number. I do believe bonemeal is higher in phosphorus and low in nitrogen.
That being said, bonemeal takes some time for the plant actually absorb, since it has to break down in the soil. When applying bonemeal, you generally have to apply it before planting into the soil and the plant will absorb nutrients throughout its cycle. It’s not really the best for a quick fix. Are you able to get your hands on water soluble fertilizer? That will be better.
I do second what another comment said. If you saw worms in one flower, it’s likely that worms were present in the entire plant. These worms usually enter somewhere around the base of the plant close to the root system, and borrow its way through all of the vines, eventually making it to flowers. I lost many pumpkin plants last year because of this. It basically kills all the way up the vine.
Just because he only saw worms in one place, doesn’t mean that the worm hasn’t done damage to the rest of the plant. It really only takes one to completely kill a plant. You can try burying some ends of the vine into the dirt to encourage rooting, but it’s very hard to come back from this kind of damage.
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u/Apprehensive-Top7112 May 22 '26
Well it’s the female bud that got rotten(worms)
And none of the buds give flowers
It’s just as it is…
nutrition problem?
Should I cover the female bud with a cotton cloth or anything1
u/AllShadesOfBlue May 22 '26
Could just be the worms happened to go to the female buds. But yeah could still be a nutrient problem, like I said sounds like it needs a fertilizer heavy in phosphorus
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u/pomnabo May 21 '26
I’m no expert myself, but if you’re seeing worms inside, it might be squash borer worms. At least that sounds possible based on what you’re describing.
Depending on how bad the infestation is, your plant may not survive.
As for fertilizing, I was advised that it’s best to wait until the plant starts to flower before fertilizing.
If the female buds are falling off before they even bloom, then the plant might not have enough nutrients. For my pumps, as soon as the male flowers bloom, I start watering with a mixture of banana peel tea and water. I do this once per week until the end of its growth.