The process might sound tricky, but it is necessary to help your plants bear fruits. Hand pollination refers to the manual transfer of pollen from one flower to another, but you must follow some techniques to go about it the correct way.
Your squash or zucchini plants are growing rapidly, exhibiting abundant bloom, and you are expecting a bumper crop. Despite producing flowers profusely, there is a possibility for the harvest to be meagre. The main culprit is inadequate pollination - it can affect the growth of your tomatoes, corn, strawberries, and other garden crops. Check out the guide below to find out how you can try hand pollination techniques to enjoy an abundant harvest.
Hand Pollination: What Is It?
Plants are pollinated either by insects, birds, or the wind, and hand pollination requires manual help to imitate the natural process of pollination. The kind of flowers that a plant produces depends on how it is pollinated. Hand pollination is used to transport the pollen obtained from a male flower to a female flower’s stigma.
Why Do Some Plants Require Hand Pollination?
The extensive use of harmful pesticides and loss of habitat has led to a widespread decline in the population of pollinators. In some cases, pollinating insects that are highly specialized are absent when crops are grown in places outside their natural habitat. About 20 commercial crops face this issue, including passion fruit, date palm, and vanilla beans. For producing fruits, these crops require hand pollination.
When Should You Hand Pollinate?
When it becomes clear that a plant is not bearing fruits, it is too late to find a remedy for the problem for that year's harvest. Keeping a close watch on the plants and increasing the number of your pollinator plants, and familiarizing yourself with the technique of hand pollination can yield a better harvest the following year. The tips and techniques of hand pollination may vary from plant to plant, but one thing remains common: hand pollination works best during the morning hours owing to high humidity, thereby helping the pollen to activate.
How to Hand Pollinate?
Tomatoes, strawberries, peppers, tomatillos, peas, eggplant, okra, and beans produce perfect flowers. Insects are not needed for transporting the pollen in these plants - some vibration or air movement can do the task. Theoretically, they can self-pollinate, but you may also do it manually by gently tapping on the blooms or with the help of a small brush to transfer the pollen to the pistil from the stamen. If you own different varieties of the same plant, you must clean the brush properly after using it on one plant to avoid cross-pollination.
Using this technique, you don't have to worry about declining harvest anymore.
