HAND POLLINATION
Hand pollination is the most common method used for indoor fruiting plants . It is cheap , flexible , and if carried out correctly , highly efficient . The main consideration with hand pollination is timing . Pollen is only viable for a short period and flowers open quickly under good growing conditions , so there is a short window of opportunity to get the job done . For self-pollinating plants like tomatoes and capsicum , hand pollination simply involves tapping , shaking , or flicking the stem behind the flowering truss or the flower itself . The gentle , but rapid , movement of the flower releases pollen from the anthers inside the plant — you can see this as a cloud a yellow dust billowing from the flower . Once released , the pollen falls on the stigma and rapidly begins to germinate . The resulting pollen tube then grows down the style , and the process of fertilization then occurs within a few hours . Fertilization of the flower results in the formation of seeds . In fruit such as tomato and capsicum , the number of seed and the growth hormone these release determines final fruit size . For fruiting crops such as melons , hand pollination is a little more complex . These plants produce separate male and female flowers and pollen must be transferred from one to the other . While insects carry out this process outdoors , indoor-grown male flowers need to be plucked from the plant , have their petals stripped back , and their stamens , which contain the pollen grains , wiped across the stigma of the female flowers . Female flowers can be identified by the small , green fruitlet at the base of the flower .
“ Indoor-grown male flowers need to be plucked from the plant , have their petals stripped back , and their stamens , which contain the pollen grains , wiped across the stigma of the female flowers .”
Female melon flowers can be distinguished from male flowers by the small fruitlet at the base .
Maximum Yield USA | February 2017 137