What am i doing wrong?

[colleyprior]

I am trying to grow pumpkins for the first time this year, i have had several flowers on my plant some with a swelling under the flower and some without. The only problem is that as soon as the fruit reaches golf ball size it just falls off. What is causing this to happen and what can i do to prevent this happening in the future?

[johntheplamf]

Stop using gol ball seeds and start using pumpkin seeds :-)

[colleyprior]

very funny but not very helpful but what do you expect from fool and idiots

[johntheplamf]

oooooo, touchy

[Clanad]

Sounds like a pollinization problem.  The action you describe is normal for the male flowers (if, when it falls off you're left a straight stem)... plants normally have both male and female flowers and if you've only planted a few seeds, you could have predominatly male flowers.  Some growers find they need to pollinate by hand with a Q-tip.  You can alleviate the problem next year by planting more seeds as well as planting flowers like Bee Balm (monarda) to attract bees to do the pollinization for you...

[dothawkes]

oh definately a faulty batch of seed, go back to the shop for a full refund.

[mullein2]

its not a faulty batch of seeds at all...i have grown pumpkins for years..and this happens to everyone..next year try to grow 3 or 4 plants..put some flowers nearby that attract insects so they will polinate them..dont give up yet ..as you still have time to get one where the fruit will set..thats the flower withe swelling behind it..you still need the other flower as its male..you have till the first frost to get a pumpkin it may not be as large as you would like but you still have time..give it a good feed ...and dont give up hope..this hasnt been a brilliant year for pumpkin growing so better luck next year..p.s....even though the fruit has fallen off its not faulty seed its just not been polinated..you can do it by hand i dont i just leave it up to the insects.i have only got half the amount of pumpkins i normally get so dont despair..