brooklyn boy
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Can bees pollinate female flowers without male flowers?

(I'm a beginner from the city so my question might seem a little dumb)
anyway can/do bees stimulate female flowers to grow veggies without transferring pollen from the male flowers just by going in to the female flower and tickling it ?

garden5
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In the strictest sense, no. Pollenation requires pollen from the male flower PART to be transferred to the female flower PART.

Now, sometimes these parts are on separate flowers, like pumpkins and squash for example. Other times, they are on the same flower, like with tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. When they are on the same flower, all a bee (or you) really has to do is to crawl around on it so that there is a transfer from one part to the other.

Some flowers, like beans, have the male and female parts on the same flower and often pollinate themselves before the bees even show up.

I hope this answers your question :).

brooklyn boy
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garden5 wrote:In the strictest sense, no. Pollenation requires pollen from the male flower PART to be transferred to the female flower PART.

Now, sometimes these parts are on separate flowers, like pumpkins and squash for example. Other times, they are on the same flower, like with tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. When they are on the same flower, all a bee (or you) really has to do is to crawl around on it so that there is a transfer from one part to the other.

Some flowers, like beans, have the male and female parts on the same flower and often pollinate themselves before the bees even show up.

I hope this answers your question :).
thanks for you answer :D just out of curiosity if a flower gets pollinated from a different type of plant will change some thing like the taste?

Moley
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brooklyn boy wrote: thanks for you answer :D just out of curiosity if a flower gets pollinated from a different type of plant will change some thing like the taste?
The seeds saved from a theoretical fruit cross pollinated would not grow true of the mother plant. So no, I don not believe so.

Also sup, Brooklyn all up in the veggy forums

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TheWaterbug
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brooklyn boy wrote:thanks for you answer :D just out of curiosity if a flower gets pollinated from a different type of plant will change some thing like the taste?
For the vast majority of plants, no. It would change the type of fruit in the _next_ generation, but not in this generation.

Corn is an exception, and "wrong" pollination can cause sweet corn to become starchy.

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rainbowgardener
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Waterbug is right. If for example a squash plant female flower gets pollinated with pollen from a gourd plant, it will still produce squash. But if you save the SEEDS from those squash, and planted them the next spring, the resulting plant would likely produce some kind of weird squord hybrid.

But note that squash and gourds are very closely related, all cucurbits.

If a bee goes from a tomato plant to a squash plant, nothing happens. Plants can only get pollinated by plants that are at least in their same genus, if not species... apples need to be pollinated by different variety of apples, but it still has to be an apple....

tomc
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Just to keep this as murkey as possible, oaks need something new in it's* family to pollinate it with. And thats why oaks endlessly hybridize. (Rather like apple do). So if they don't sleep around with pollinator help productivity drops way off.

Red or white oak family trees that is...

imafan26
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To add to the complexity of pollination and pollinators
1. Not all plants are pollinated by bees. Ever see a flower on a fig? They are inside the fruit. Figs are pollinated by a tiny wasp that flies into the eye and pollinates the flowers within. Plants in deep shade usually are pollinated by ants, beetles, flies or midges. Cacao is pollinated by midges.
2. Some plants are not designed to be self pollinated. Nature planned it that way to get the widest genetic diversity possible. Most Avocadoes require pollination from another tree. Avocadoes produce both male and female flowers but they will not be open at the same time. There needs to be an A tree and a B type tree. The A tree will have all the female flowers blooming while the B tree will have all the male flowers blooming. If you have two A trees, you are out of luck unless there is a B tree within a mile. This is why avocadoes do not grow true from seed and most avocadoes are grafted.
3. Vanilla orchids have a sheath over the ovary to prevent self pollination. It is pollinated by a specific species of bee in the family melipona which is not common outside of vanilla's home range. All commercial vanilla is hand pollinated.
A vanilla flower blooms for less than a day.
4. As already mentioned, plants have to be closely related in order to breed, but even with close relationship there could still be obstacles to successful propagation. Some orchids are mules. Parents were bred to produce offspring but the offspring are unable to reproduce. Some phalaenopsis are diploid and others are tetraploid. You have to know which one you are breeding since the different chromosome counts mean that the diploid and tetraploid cannot be bred together.
5. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and corn do not require pollinators, but it doesn't hurt. These plants are primarily wind pollinated so just a shake of the raceme is all that is needed for the flower to drop pollen and self pollinate or pollinate nearby plants. Most of these plants have heavy pollen and they don't drift far. Most of the spread is from birds and animals that eat the fruit and spread the seeds. They can cross pollinate but I have grown different varieties of peppers side by side for years and except for hot peppers with bells, I haven't had other accidental crosses. To prevent accidental cross pollination different corn varieties should be planted two weeks or more apart so they will not be in bloom at the same time. It is also why corn is planted in blocks not rows, to get fuller ears, you need a lot of pollen and spacing the plants in a block helps the silk to capture the most pollin. I still usually will have some ears that will not be totally filled on the perimeter of the block.
6. Some plants rarely produce flowers and are most often propagated by division or cuttings. Other plants like stevia may have a lot of variation in sweetness if grown from seeds, so cuttings are faster and more reliable. Stevia has a germination rate of about 15%.

7. Some plants are promiscuous and will readily cross breed with their cousins. To keep the genetics pure, they should have a minimum distance for proper isolation or be isolated in time.

theforgottenone1013
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There are several varieties of plants in the cucurbit family that are parthenocarpic and require no pollination to set fruit. If one is growing in an area with very little pollinators around or are growing under cover, then parthenocarpic varieties are worth trying.

-Rodney

imafan26
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However, if parthenocarpic fruit get pollinated somehow, the fruit may end up fat on the bottom with larger seeds. Still edible though, not what you want.

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jal_ut
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"can/do bees stimulate female flowers to grow veggies without transferring pollen from the male flowers just by going in to the female flower and tickling it ?"

NO!

It is required to have pollen from the male part moved to the female part. Sometimes this simply takes a little shake, like in the case of tomatoes. If grown indoors and no wind, just shake the plant a bit to do the pollinating.

You can make a Bee Board. Take a piece of 2X4 about two feet long and drill a whole bunch of 7/32 holes in it and them hang it up under the eves of your shed or house. The little cutter bees will nest in the holes and work your flowers.

Or, if you really want to get into it, get a couple of hives of Honey Bees. Now you have something else to play with. :)

mauser
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There are also a few types of trees that are only Male of Female. Ginkgo comes to mind off the top of my head but I remember there being more. It has been a while since my wood science class.

The ginkgo trees planted around cities and Universities (they always have one) are all male plants. The fruit I'm told of the females smells like something died.

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!potatoes!
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like toe-cheese died, really. I like the nuts themselves, so I've braved it a few times. some cities didn't get the memo.



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