Have I ever mentioned how much I love pumpkins? I love their color, I love them in food and I love to grow them. I also love that they signify the change in seasons and represent the harvest.
Native to North America the United States produces 1.5 billion pounds of pumpkins each year. The states producing the most pumpkins are Illinois, California, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Nestle produces 85% of the processed pumpkin and the state of Illinois produces 95% of pumpkins intended for processing.
I have grown pumpkins for many years but the last two years I got large, gorgeous blooms that just fell off of the vine, never producing pumpkins. After some research I discovered that pumpkins produce both male and female blooms that have to be cross pollinated by bees in order for the bloom to produce a pumpkin. Because of the decline in the bee population farmers now have to hand pollinate their pumpkins.
Last year I assumed that because I bought pumpkin plants from a nursery that maybe I only got male or female plants. So this year I started my pumpkins from seed with the same result. Could the decline in the bee population have caused this problem? Makes me wonder.
Has anyone else out there had a similar problem?
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Enjoy!
