The first flowers will start emerging at about 8 weeks. The pumpkin plant carries both male and female flowers. Remove all female flowers closer than 3 meters from the main root tap. We don't want pumpkins closer because the vine lifts up as the pumpkins get bigger and if too close could hurt the main plant. The female flower is easy to distinguish because it has a small pumpkin at the base.
If you live in an area where there's a lot of bees, leave pollination to nature, it's proven to be successful. If there's no bees or you need to pollinate by hand for whatever reason, do it early in the morning between 8 and 10. Take a small paint brush and collect pollen from the stamen of a few male flowers. Now rub the pollen onto the stigma of a newly opened female flower.
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