Warren, the females will come, but I think you will not have any for the Thanksgiving feast. I think you will need to plant earlier next year, but good luck! maybe I'll be wrong.

Sandy

Thanks for your reply. I was afraid that we might be eating flowers or vines if we wanted anything off of these plants. I planted as early as I could, I thought, because of the extreme heat here. I will try earlier next year. We were well over 100° for the first couple weeks of their life. The plants shower thei little heads after only about 4 days! So, next year for Thanksgiving pumpkins! Ha! Thanks so much, Sandy.
Warren

Warren,

I have an old reference book that says female flowers are more likely to develop on shoots that branch off from the main vine. It recommends cutting the ends off of the vines when they are 10 feet long which encourages side growth to develop. I've done it for several years on my gourds and pumpkins and have seen a big increase in early fruit set.

Kate