Inamon
Full Member
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed May 16, 2007 8:30 am
Location: PA, USA

Melons. Male and female flowers.

So our 2 melon plants are growing vigorously with some nice buds and flowers developing. I've done my research and know that males appear first then the females and pollination should be encouraged through the use of a fine artists brush. The issue at hand is that the male flowers appear and then disappear quite quickly with no current female flowering.
Should I use the brush to collect male pollen and fertilize the females later when they bloom or should I do a pollen transfer with available males when the time is right, I.e. will the pollen be ok sitting on the brush for 2-3 days (maybe a week or more) or should I use fresh.

sminkah
Full Member
Posts: 21
Joined: Mon Jun 19, 2006 3:28 pm
Location: CHELTENHAM, UK

Hey,

The pollen should be ok on a brush for a couple of days. If you do the pollenating at noonish when the humidity is high you should get a better success rate, I think it is to do with the female plants being more 'open' when the humidity is higher. If your plant is in a greenhouse then if you spray mist about 1/2 an hour before you dothe pollenation then it will boost the humidity.
If the male flowers at still attached to the plant leave them there for a couple of days before you dead head them. If they have fallen off then it is no big deal!

good luck, hope you get lots of yummy melons :)



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