Been wondering about this for a few days

[Francis Barnswallow]

Most likely a dumb question but, can you pollinate your own plants?

[DoubleDogFarm]

Yes,

Go here and type in pollinating or pollination.
http://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/search.php

[lorax]

Why not? I use a sable paintbrush.

[soil]

some people have to, there is a place in china that i saw on a documentary. they killed off all the bees in the area for miles and miles. so now if they want fruit or anything that needs pollination. they have to do it themselves now.

[rainbowgardener]

Depends on what plants though. Some are a lot easier than others and some don't need any help.

[garden5]

Depends on what plants though. Some are a lot easier than others and some don't need any help.

That's right.

Plants like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants are all self-pollinating. Each flower has both male and female parts, so all they need is for a bug to crawl across one and sprinkle pollen from one part to another. You can help this process if you jiggle the plants a little when the flowers are open.

Other plants like squash have separate male and female flowers, which need pollen to be taken from a male flower to a female one. You can do this yourself by using a small paintbrush to transfer pollen or just taking the whole male flower and smushing it into the female one.

Other plants, like beans, are so strongly self-pollinating that they can pollinate themselves before the flower even emerges.

[Francis Barnswallow]

I'll try the paintbrush technique.

What about watermelon flowers. Can I pollinate them as well?

[stella1751]

Francis, watermelons (and pumpkins) are the most fun to pollinate. You pluck off the male flower, strip its outer petals, and use the center of the flower itself (the anther?) to pollinate the female flower. No muss, no fuss, and you should always have an extra male flower or two to spare

[Francis Barnswallow]

How can you tell the difference between the male and female blossoms?

[stella1751]

The female flowers have a teeny tiny watermelon at their base (behind the flower; the males just have a regular flower stem behind their flowers. Here's a photo of the two from Wikipedia.

I like this illustrated website on pollinating watermelons: My Balcony Jungle. That's what I read when another member clued me in, earlier this summer, to how it was done

[Francis Barnswallow]

Awesome. Thank you all for your help.


btw, can I do this with cucumbers as well? I've noticed that I have a ton of little cucumbers that just turn yellow and die off. Is that b/c they haven't been pollinated as well?

[garden5]

Awesome. Thank you all for your help.


btw, can I do this with cucumbers as well? I've noticed that I have a ton of little cucumbers that just turn yellow and die off. Is that b/c they haven't been pollinated as well?

Usually, that's the case. You can pollinate them just like you do with squash...only on a way smaller scale .