It's a good idea to pollinate your growing pumpkin plant. You could wait and see if nature will pollinate it for you, but if it doesn't, your female blossoms will shrivel and fall off and no fruit will form. You would also want to pollinate the pumpkin yourself if you are trying to keep pollen from different varieties of pumpkin from cross pollinating. (And then you would cover the blossom or close it with a close pin.) To pollinate the pumpkin, first locate a MALE flower. You can tell it's male because there is no fruit right below the flower. (in this picture, above because the flower is upside down)
Rip off the petals of the male flower so that the anther (the center yellow part) is exposed.
Find your female flower. You can tell it's female because there will be a fruit below it.
This flower will eventually fall off and the little green fruit will form into a big pumpkin if fertilized.
Transfer the pollen from the stamen on to the stigma of the female flower. You can take your anther to each of your female flowers to pollinate them.
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