NewGardenerCanada
Full Member
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri Apr 19, 2013 6:51 am

Hand pollinating watermelons - How-To?

I have a mini black beauty watermelon plant with both male and female flowers. I've been reading about how to self-pollinate the female flowers since the plant is on a balcony and not near many bees. The only problem is that the male flowers don't seem to have any pollen on them... I take a Q-Tip and wipe it across the inside of the male flower but there are NO yellow bits attached afterwards. Should the yellow pollen be more obvious (like for example on the male zucchini flowers you can obviously see yellow dusty pollen bits when you rub them).

THANKS in advance for help!! :D

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TheWaterbug
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1082
Joined: Mon May 02, 2011 5:15 pm
Location: Los Angeles

When I've hand-pollinated in the past (it wasn't necessary, but it made me feel better :D) I didn't use any implements. I just broke off the male part (ouch) and used it to brush the female parts.

You may want to try hand pollinating a few and leaving a few alone to see if it's really necessary.



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