more like 4 or 5 days. glad you finally found some. i pollinated 3 nuckle heads this morning.

terry i've been watching youtubes on self pollinating. this guy took the male flower, pulled the petals off and stuck the stamen directly into the female. i think i'm going to try that instead of the qtip thing. lol, aiding in plant sex :)

Did they open? Pollination go okay?

no, they both shrivelled up before they opened. i'm sad about it too. i have 1 more potential female bud on that vine. if it too shrivels, i'm trimming the vine back. its up to 20ft now. if the female makes it, i'll let it grow obviously.

but i dont understand it. the bud turns orange the day before(i assume) its supposed to open, i go out there the next day to check it and its shrivelled and closed?

bees are out there like crazy doing their thing in the males. males are thriving.

i've watered deep daily, i use Miracle Grow once a week after the sun goes down. i'm not sure whats happening. there are no bite, claw marks or anything on the dead females either so i'm convinced its not an animal. but then the heat index has been 110+ for the past 5 days. its finally 80 today. that may be why? (sorry for the ramble)

too hot.

i found a orange female flower tonight! its slightly open but not fully. i read online to tape shut the opening night before it opens. so i did that. hopefully i can pollinate it successfully tomorrow. (everything crossed, lol)

Taping shut is only useful if you intend to save seeds. And then you need to cover again after you pollinate.

Today I pollinated and the rain was coming. I closed up the flowers for fear the rain (which was torrential) would wash away the pollen. I too have many females shriveling up before the flower is mature enough to open.