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Hamilton Nj

hey everybody, suns out and i finaly got my first good male flower to open lastnight , i have a female i want to polinate and its been on the vine for a week its about 1 inch around but the flower is not open how long is it till they open in most cases 1 week,????? just curious im around 8-1/2-9 foot on my vine!!!! thanks pizza!!! ps. theese flowers look nice when they bloom!!! oh yeah!!!!!

6/28/2009 10:48:17 AM

Boise City, Oklahoma, USA

Cone of petals and the bulb, 1 inch or less, at least a week, possibly 10 days. Cone of petals and bulb, 2 inches, about 3 days. The night before the female opens the cone of leaves will lighten a few shades from an obvious green to a more yellowish, and you may see the tips separate a touch. You will get males blooming before the plant matures and blooms a female.

6/28/2009 12:45:15 PM

Western PA

Usually females will open about 7-10 days after they emerge from the growing tip. If you keep and eye on the female every day you will notice the day before it opens the flower will still be closed but will be real puffy looking and you will see some yellow where the petals come together.

The flowers mostly open bright and early in the morning and tend to stay open for the day.

Both female and males flowers are only good for the day they open on. if the male you are referring to is open today then the pollen will not be good tomorrow if your female opens then.

If you are not worried about genetics the Bees do an excellent job of pollinating, infact better then most growers can do.

GOOD LUCK

Maybee somebody can post a pic of a female evening before opening.

6/28/2009 12:46:34 PM

Covington, WA

These guys have given pretty good answers. All I can add is that the females flowers will be pretty big and the color change is very obvious. If you don't want the bees to get to it before you do get some old knee high nylon stockings from your wife, daughter, mother, aunt, girlfriend or someone elses and cover the flowers, both male and female with them the night before. By the way, the stupid questions are the ones being asked by someone long after everybody else gets it.

6/28/2009 1:21:20 PM

Hamilton Nj

ok thanks everybody i can tell the difference between the two and will apply info! with some luck!thannks pizza

6/28/2009 2:37:56 PM

Pataskala,OH

I would let the vine get bigger 12 ft at least.That should only take about a week.

6/28/2009 2:56:15 PM

Colorado Springs.Co

I saw the female on your diary. If I were a betting man I'd put my money on seven days, but I'm still a little wet behind the ears and haven't seen the whole plant. I'd imagine the agressiveness of the plant is a factor as well.

6/28/2009 3:04:20 PM

Hamilton Nj

they say good things comes to he who waits???? thanks everyone plant is strong and growing hoping for the best!!!!!!!!!

6/28/2009 7:53:27 PM

Upstate S.C.

I would just like to add my to since worth. I am learning alot of good info this year. I'm also writing down as much info and doing alot of documentation for the futher. One of the things I am focusing on is pollintation. Just yesterday I saw a female that I would have bet the farm that it would open the next morning, so much so I put a ziploc bag over it. I woke up at 6:30 am went out with my male flowers and LOW AND BEHOLD it was still close, and I mean TIGHT, lock up. I was like $#!^.....So I took the bag off(mistake), and went back to bed. when I woke up again around 10:00, I went back outside to check on thing and there it was wide @$$ open. How could this be. Ever other flower that was going to open was opening. All this being said. Some flowers DON'T open up at the crack of dawn. Some don't even open when the others do. However THEY WILL OPEN, sometime during that morning. If they havent opened first thing give it another hour and check again. Just don't take the bag off.

6/28/2009 11:20:45 PM

Boise City, Oklahoma, USA

Okay, I took these last year:

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=87363

This is #238, a series showing females and males the day before they open, in the bag, and as they open. The series is #238-248 and skip #241. Most of the time if it is daylight and you jostle the flower in bag OR pull the bag a little to let pressure off, it'll pop open. I use mesh bags to keep the condensation from happening and let the flower 'breathe'. Sometimes people take a hairdryer to the patch and GENTLY give a stubborn bloom a warm air shower and it'll pop.

6/29/2009 9:58:14 AM

Owensboro, Ky.

Pizza, it won't take ya long...if yer payin attention, to remember, what they look like the night before they are a gonna open!!! I cut males the night before, and bring em inside!!! Lot's easier than tyin all dem boys up!!! Put em in a S. (sunshine) facing window and they are UP!!!(open) and ready !!! Peace, Wayne
PS...Gal knows!!!

6/29/2009 11:37:55 PM

Boise City, Oklahoma, USA

Just got back in, been having abysmal luck on females not looking near ready (me guessing another 3 days) even about 4 pm, go out for late bedcheck just at sunset and gods she turned yellow and is going to go in the morning! You can not have enough prebagged males some mornings, trust me... Check her, and check her again and be ready to go with the bags with a flashlight in your teeth! (yes I got the bags on the girls and enough boys last night at the last minute)

6/30/2009 9:21:00 AM

Hamilton Nj

thanks everybody its almost there yhe end of the flower are getting soft but the bottom is still firm any day now, wayne that idea sounds great gonna try your method instead of running around trying to grab flowers in a panic, saw a bee today 930 am ,ran over ,thank god my flower was closed got my bag ready standing by pizza

6/30/2009 9:40:57 AM

Owensboro, Ky.

OGal, not sure what time the sun sets in Oklahoma...but I do my final inspection...just before the sun sets!!! Much better idea as to what the lil gal will do!!! Peace, Wayne
PS...a lot happens b/tween 4pm and sunset!!!
PPS...Pete, I picked males again this evenin!!! Busy in the mornin I guess!!! LOL Make it fun yawll!!! Grow em BIG!!!

7/2/2009 10:28:57 PM

Lloydminster/AB

So around the 23rd of June, we actually had some rain. This story may sound like an old guy spinning a yarn but here it goes...the important to thing to remember up north here around the 23rd, we really do not have much of a night. Now I checked the night before and neither of my plants that had females that were closing in on pollination time looked as if the flowers were ready. In fact, they weren't even showing color on the petals yet. But both plants were growing at a good clip, up to 16 inches of growth a day. The rain quit at around 4 pm and the sun came out. I made it around the patch at around 8 pm to check to see if the females were going to be ready to pollinate the next day. To my surprise, both plants had females that were open. I quickly grabbed the males that had apparently just opened as well and pollinated. To further my surprise, both took. The lesson from all this is...once you know all the rules you will find out the rules are not actually rules at all and are just a general guideline. I think my plants got mixed up and as far as they knew, it was morning. Once of those is still growing and one is culled so far.

7/4/2009 11:01:45 PM