In this week’s edition of “Gardentalk,” Master Gardener Ed Buyarski explains what gardeners can do to help with pollination, especially if bees and other insects are not around.
“We would like to have warm and sunny weather so the insects are more active,” Buyarski said.
If vegetable plants and berry bushes are blooming during wet or cool weather, then Buyarski said there may not be that much natural pollination happening.
He suggests moving pollen from one plant to another plant of a similar variety.
Some plants like beans, peas and tomatoes pollinate themselves. Others, like squash, have male and female flowers. There are also other plants, like kiwi, which require pollination between separate male and female plants.
“You can actually tear off those plant (flowers) and in your greenhouse and you can be the bee,” Buyarski said, explaining how the male flowers can be dabbed on the female flower pistils for pollination.
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