Four Best Methods for Hand Pollinating Plants
When everything in nature works out as it should, plants produce flowers, then bees and other pollinators fly in to grab the pollen from those flowers, and as they fly from one flower to the next, they redistribute that pollen. Some of that pollen will likely come out of the male flower and land on the female flower, and boom: pollination. Now this pollinated flower should bear fruit.
But sometimes conditions are not ideal. Whether it’s due to a lack of pollinators or a lack of flowers, sometimes conditions go against the natural order of things. If you are caring for a houseplant where there are no pollinators at all, or you are simply concerned and want to control the pollination process, you can do this with hand pollination. Here are four ways to make the magic happen.
Direct pollination of flowers
Some plants have such large flowers with distinct stamens (male) and stigmas (female) that the easiest way to hand pollinate is to simply take one of the male flowers, pull off the petals, and use the stamen as a brush. Lightly touch the stigma of any female flower you wish to pollinate with the stamen. This method has a really high success rate because it is very difficult to mess up.
The hardest part is learning to differentiate between male and female flowers , and even that part is pretty easy because female flowers always have the bulb just below the flower.
This method works great with pumpkin, all squashes including squashes, summer and winter squashes, and cantaloupe. After pollination, simply sit back and wait a few days to see the fruits begin to develop.
Brush pollination
While the previous technique involves a brush-like movement, this technique uses a literal brush. Although almost every article you read about hand pollination mentions the brush method, I personally find that it does not have much success. So I only use it when it’s the only method that actually works. A great example is citrus fruits, which I hand pollinate indoors during the winter. The flowers are small, but not as tiny as, for example, a cucumber or a tomato. Each citrus flower has both male and female parts, so each flower can become a fruit.
Using a very clean and dry brush, you softly paint the male parts (which are around the center), then lightly drag it over the female part, right in the center of the flower. Then do the same for every other open flower. While I’ve had limited success with this method, if you don’t have bees, this may be your only option.
Shaking pollination
Corn grows tassels that contain pollen. The wind carries this pollen to the receptive corn silk. For large planting blocks this is a reliable method, but home gardeners do not plant enough corn to achieve 100% success. So shaking the tassels by hand, causing the pollen to fall directly onto the waiting plant below, is a good way to ensure success. Your corn will have ready tassels in about a week, and I just give it a good shake every time I pass it, at least once a day.
Vibratory pollination
My favorite method, as it is the most successful, quick and effective, is to vibrate the plants to loosen the pollen and send it into the air to land on the waiting female flowers. When you have plants with very small flowers, like tomatoes , trying to identify male and female flowers and cut them open to get to the pollen is absurd. If you have open flowers, you can apply anything that vibrates to the plant (toothbrush, massage gun, sex toy) and you will see the air fill with yellow pollen. Do this for ten seconds once a day and you will notice a high level of pollination. This method works great in indoor hydroponic gardens that need pollination, but you can also use it outdoors to grow peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, tomatillos and peas.