Hand Pollination?

[Ruth B]

I have some cucumber vines I am trying to hand pollinate with a pastry brush. No, despite planting various things for them, no pollinators are around. I did do a forum search, but could not find it specifically so I'm creating a new thread.

Does anyone have experience in it? We did with some tomatoes indoors, but all we had to do was put a fan in front of the plant. This cuke vine is outdoors, so wind should do it, but I am also trying pastry brush. Thanks for talking about experience with hand pollination, successful or otherwise.

 

[Chuck]

I have some cucumber vines I am trying to hand pollinate with a pastry brush. No, despite planting various things for them, no pollinators are around. I did do a forum search, but could not find it specifically so I'm creating a new thread.

Does anyone have experience in it? We did with some tomatoes indoors, but all we had to do was put a fan in front of the plant. This cuke vine is outdoors, so wind should do it, but I am also trying pastry brush. Thanks for talking about experience with hand pollination, successful or otherwise.

Cuc's, squash, melons are insect pollinated, tomatoes are self pollinated, corn wind pollinated. You can pollinate cuc's and squash with a small trimmed artists brush, not a pastry brush. What you try to do is to immitate what a bee or some other insect does when he crawls around inside the flower. The secret is a small artists brush with about half of the bristles cut away. Texas has had some weird weather this year. Just because you haven't seen any pollinators yet it is still a little early in the season. If you are growing squash, squash is the best indicator plant as to whether pollination is taking place as you can easily determine male from female bloom and a baby dead squash is easy to see. Don't give up yet.

 

[Lostvalleyguy]

When it comes to hand pollinating I use cotton swabs. I have had success with this technique growing peppers indoors where I do not have insects to preform the task. I see no reason why this wouldn't work for cucumbers. The main thing is that your pollinating device needs to be able to hold onto the pollen as you move it between flowers. If the plants are outdoors, there probably are some insects around to do the job even if you are not seeing them. Pollen will also survive for a while on a swab so you can use the same swab at a later time if the male and female flowers are not in bloom simultaneously.

 

[Ruth B]

Thanks everyone, much appreciated.

 

[Whitewolf2578]

I was unaware you could do this kind of thing, though my area does not need help in the ways of pollination, I didn't think I could actually take a brush and pollinate the flowers myself, might even speed up the process. Well now that I think of it, I don't really want to sit out in the hot sun doing that. "What are you doing" Oh just getting the flowers pregnant, no big deal....Awkward.

 

[Raff_Out_Loud]

For my zucchini, I just rip a male flower off (they are toast by 2pm anyway), fold the petals back, and use it like a paintbrush to dab the pollen into the female flower. Works great.

 

[headfullofbees]

For my zucchini, I just rip a male flower off (they are toast by 2pm anyway), fold the petals back, and use it like a paintbrush to dab the pollen into the female flower. Works great.

I call it "Marriage Guidance Counselling."