Due to the fact that bee's are far and few between I've been reading about hand pollinating. I now shake the tomato and pepper plants every day. Squash has me a little confused. My plants have lots of blooms but 90% of the blooms are male. I think I read somewhere to cut most of the male blooms off. Any advice would be appreciated.
I have never hand pollinated my squashes, and I do not often see bees in them, but somehow they do produce fruits. You could hand pollinate them though and that would work just fine, I think. If you do this I would use a number of male blooms with the petals removed so that you can work directly with the male organs. Personally, I have never removed a portion of male blooms; because I figure the more blooms I leave, the more attraction they will provide for various pollinators...and the more pollinators there are, the better the chances that the female blooms will be pollinated. That is just my take, and I have never read anywhere that this is valid. I will say though, that I have a super abundance of squash each year. This doesn't prove anything, but I like to think it has to do with my technique. chuckle
Donna, we've always had loads of squash, even before we started keeping bees. Hand-pollinating seems unnecessary to me. There are other pollinators out there other than bees that will do the job. Got any wasps, butterflies, moths?
1. How can you tell a "male" bloom from a "female" bloom? 2. Thankfully, I have an abundance of bees in my area, so hand pollination is not needed. 3. Plant flowers that ATTRACT pollinators. S-H says his blue butterfly peas attract bees, but many other plants will also attract them. Perhaps do a search for what kinds might be do-able in your garden. A friend on another gardening board planted tomatoes in a 5 gallon bucket. The tomato plant got over 10 feet tall, and reached the second story of her building. However, she did not plant any flowers to attract bees, so she had no tomatoes. I guess there was a shortage of bees where she was. 4. Many other kinds of insects also pollinate crops and what not. If you have flowers to attract butterflies and all kinds of pollinators, that is also good. 5.Flowers are beautiful and add to the loveliness of your garden. Some guy I am acquainted with here claimed he "only plants food plants" in his garden. He has several acres, but claims he has no room to plant flowers. I have no idea what his thinking is, because if he were to have a shortage of pollinators, he would have NO FOOD. A garden is not only about food, it is also for beauty and sustaining the earth. I just think he is very ill-informed. Hopefully, he has learned better since that conversation. 6. CHEMICALS such as HERBICIDES/WEED KILLERS, FERTILIZERS, and PESTICIDES will destroy your pollinators too. If you or your neighbors are using them, you could be poisoning not only the pests you want to be rid of, but the planet and yourselves. These chemicals not only destroy the pests and the good bugs, but also any wildlife such as birds that depend on them for food. They STAY in the land, in the FOOD CHAIN, and can even poison humans and other animals. DDT was banned in the US for that reason. However, many third world countries still use it. The chemical used in ROUND-UP [and other such products] is just as bad, it is absorbed in the food grown by the farmers who use it, and is passed on into our bodies. http://www.motherearthnews.com/homestea ... z331Ju1OaA http://www.motherearthnews.com/homestea ... z331Ju1OaA http://www.motherearthnews.com/homestea ... z331Ju1OaA http://www.motherearthnews.com/homestea ... z331Ju1OaA Ok, these links are about GMO foods. However, they use TONS of chemicals such as ROUND-UP and its ilk to produce the crops. They are all poison, and many countries have banned them. Congress and the chemical producers are in cahoots together, and it is about money for them, not us. My sister lost a section of bowel due to GMO foods. Her doctor told her so. My point is, be very careful and sparing about what chemicals you do use around your home and garden. They will kill your pollinators. 7. A few plants around my place that attract lots of pollinators: red flowering quince, sedums, Dame's Rockets, Bee Balm [also known as Bergamot and Horse Mint], all species of hibiscus, hollyhocks and mallows, WEEDS [I have lots of them!], lilacs, roses, ox-eye daisies [ditto there, I have to pull lots of those], morning glories, honeysuckle [tons of them too] and many other kinds of flowers. They love the day lilies,irises, and ZINNIAS also. Learn how to save seeds if you have not already done so. It will save you tons of money on buying plants.
I agree with the first two posts there is not much need for hand pollination. However, I must confess I do get tempted as soon as I see the first flowers because I want to see the first fruit as early as I could. Oh! who am I kidding I did that two days back myself scraped the pollen with a tiny mulch stick and dropped it onto the female flower. Sorry, I am a rookie gardener. Wish you a good harvest Donna.
Greenfingers, all gardeners are learning. It takes time and patience, and practice. Sometimes I joke that I have one green thumb and one brown thumb, because I loose a lot of plants that grow easily for others. Some family members think I am a "Master Gardener"...? I never took the class and got certified, and there is certainly tons of stuff to learn. Everyone starts at the beginning with gardening. Even if your family taught you as a toddler--you started then. Maybe we are something like doctors. Our mistakes land in the compost heap.
Just plant them close enough together and they will pollinate themselves. Or give them the same shake as the tomatoes. Ocassionally you will have a plant that has more male flowers than female, I have one in my garden. Thats a matter of genetics. It will produce a bit later which if you have as many as I do,, that's a good thing.
Thanks all for the advice. I'm going to leave the squash plants alone and let them do their own thing. As for the no bee's - I am thinking the new sub division behind me has sprayed. The grounds are taken care of by a lawn company. We have no bee's, butterflies or moths. And very few birds. So I guess it's shake , shake, shake if I want pollination to happen.
If you have a bit of a breeze,,no need for even that. Mine are close enough that the leaves overlap each other.
Donna, All of my squash are covered with row cover as of yet. We just looked under there today and lo and behold there were SQUASH. Beautifl golden yellow and green zucchini's. do. there must be something pollinating them besides the bees. AA, The way to tell a female blossom from a male blossom is by the "stem" attached to the flower. The long skinny "stem" is a male flower. The short fat or bulbous "stem" is the female flower and they grow closer to the plant then the male flowers.
