Methods for pollinating tomatoes at home and in a greenhouse

Why do you need to pollinate greenhouse tomatoes?

Tomatoes are self-pollinating vegetable crops. To form ovaries, which will later become fruits, they only need their own pollen. It is taken from the same flower or bush (unlike crops, which are characterized by cross-pollination between different plants).

During the flowering period, it is important to maintain a microclimate in the greenhouse that is optimal for fruit formation

Before pollinating tomatoes in a greenhouse, you need to take care of the appropriate conditions for them. After all, flowering itself does not guarantee the formation of ovaries and a tomato harvest.

Often gardeners are faced with the fact that the ovaries fall off or do not ripen at all. There may be several reasons for this:

• lack of lighting;
• a large load on the bush (many buds have formed);
• abuse of fertilizers such as chicken droppings, manure and nitrogen;
• growing tomatoes from your own seeds (often hybrids marked F1 do not produce a second harvest);
• illness;
• nutritional deficiency.

If all these reasons are eliminated, you need to take care that the ovaries do not remain “empty” due to insufficient pollination.

Flowering and ovaries of tomatoes

In open-air garden beds, wind and insects help pollinate pistils. It is more difficult to do this in greenhouses, even if they are regularly ventilated or do not close at all in the heat. When cultivating tomatoes in winter and early spring, there are no insects or ventilation in greenhouses. In order not to jeopardize the harvest, gardeners should think about timely pollination of tomatoes. Use various simple methods for this purpose, providing the plants with the necessary microclimate.

Why is pollination necessary and how to do it

Everyone has long known that the amount of harvest directly depends on how pollination was carried out. If it’s bad, then the harvest will be meager, but the better pollination is carried out, the greater the harvest will be. If you grow tomatoes at home on a windowsill, then you will definitely have to pollinate them artificially. In order for the harvest to be large, all the necessary conditions must be created for it. You need proper lighting, proper watering and all the necessary fertilizing. When hand pollination should be carried out in several ways, this is simply necessary for the plants to grow well and actively develop.

In order for each bush of the plant to produce a larger harvest, it is necessary to have as many ovaries as possible. Very often, gardeners are faced with the fact that flowers and ovaries simply fall off, but there can be several reasons for this, and knowing them, everyone will understand why this happened to their plant: it is possible that there is a lot of ovary on your bush. The bush simply can’t cope, it’s hard for it and because of this it simply drops its flowers.

It is possible that the seedling simply does not have enough light.

When there is too much nitrogen in the ground, the bush also sheds absolutely the entire ovary.

Often the inflorescences and ovary fall off when tomatoes are planted from the seeds themselves.

Very often, the cause of the falling of the ovary can be some kind of fungal disease.

In tomatoes, self-pollinating varieties are very common. Flowers from one bush can pollinate many plants around them. But for proper pollination, the bush needs to create all the conditions it needs.

Fruits may never set on the bushes if the climate is not suitable for growing tomatoes. Thus: if the air temperature is below +13 degrees, then the structure of the pollen changes, and accordingly the plants will not be able to cross-pollinate on their own.

Also, in the heat above +30 degrees, the flowers simply fall off completely, leaving no chance for pollination.

If the humidity is high, then the plants not only run the risk of becoming infected with a fungus, but the pollen does not scatter at all, and accordingly, independent pollination cannot occur.

In any case, if the climate is not suitable for growing tomatoes, then there is no chance of getting a harvest. Tomatoes are generally very picky plants about their environment, and if there is even the slightest deviation from the norm, then the entire ovary completely falls off the bushes.

In order for tomatoes to be able to easily pollinate on their own, they need to create all the necessary conditions for this: you must always monitor and regulate the required air temperature.

In order to normalize humidity, you need to reduce or, conversely, increase the number of waterings.

If the humidity is high, despite the amount of watering, the soil around the bush needs to be mulched. Dry sawdust, straw, etc. are good for this.

When the bush begins to bloom, but fertilizing still needs to be applied, this should be done as carefully as possible and use as little potassium as possible.

When tomatoes are growing in a greenhouse, in order for them to be pollinated either naturally or artificially in the heat, you need to create a draft in the greenhouse so that the pollen scatters as best as possible. Or you can simply open the windows and let bees and bumblebees in.

If it is not possible to regulate the ventilation of the greenhouse, then for this case there are automatic vents. And in order for insects to fly into the greenhouse on their own, you can attract them by placing sugar syrup in the greenhouse or planting (as a last resort, simply bringing in) plants that attract bees with their smell. Natural pollination is always better than artificial pollination.

The amount of harvest directly depends on pollination. If this does not happen, then all the flowers will simply fall off and there will be no ovary. In order to pollinate plants yourself, there are only two ways: natural and artificial.

Pollination of tomatoes in a greenhouse: conditions

For successful pollination in the greenhouse, temperature and humidity requirements must be met. This is one of the “advantages” of cultivating tomatoes indoors, because it is impossible to independently regulate such indicators in the garden beds. If the air is only heated to +13 °C or even less, the pollen quality deteriorates. At temperatures +30-35 °C and above, it loses its viability.

Attention! Changes in pollen quality occur even with short-term overheating during tomato flowering. Also, at high temperatures, flowers may completely fall off.

The optimal humidity for pollination is 70%. Drier air has a negative impact on pollen. Constant excessive moisture is also harmful to it. The pollen sticks together and can no longer fly away.

After pollination, the flower petals open completely

To maintain the necessary microclimate during tomato flowering, do the following:

• reduce watering;
• mulch the soil - this way you will retain moisture in the soil and reduce it in the air;
• ventilate the greenhouse.

The ovaries will form better and the harvest will be richer if you spray the tomatoes with a solution of boric acid. To do this, dissolve 10 g of powder in 10 liters of hot water. It is recommended to treat tomato bushes three times: during budding, during the formation of ovaries and fruiting.

Some gardeners advise irrigating tomatoes with a solution of boric acid during the flowering of the second and third clusters. In addition, there are special preparations (“Bud”, “Ovary”) that also help the formation of ovaries. It is believed that if you use them, there is no need to additionally pollinate the plants.

Advice. Better formation of ovaries and ripening of fruits is facilitated by the application of fertilizers with potassium. For example, you can use complex fertilizers with nitrogen and phosphorus. However, do not use potassium chloride on tomatoes.

Self-pollination process

It is not without reason that complete pollination of plants is considered the key to high yields of tomatoes. It is this stage of the growing season that is considered key, since it is pollination that leads to the formation of ovaries, from which fruits eventually grow.

How to determine whether plants pollinate themselves or need help? It’s very simple: a pollinated flower moves its petals back. If this is not observed, the gardener is obliged to help the plant and create suitable conditions for it to bear fruit normally.

Methods of natural pollination

There are three ways to pollinate tomato bushes growing on a balcony, veranda or in a greenhouse:

1. Spraying the ovaries with a sugar solution will help attract .
2. For tomatoes that grow in a greenhouse, natural growth conditions are created. Insects are attracted to the pollination process. Flowers are planted in a greenhouse for them, and sweet water is placed in the spaces between the rows. Basil or marigolds planted next to tomatoes will attract bees and further enhance the taste of the fruit.
3. If the weather is hot and windy, the room is ventilated . The wind promotes the natural process of pollination. Open two windows on opposite walls of the building and create a draft.

On a note . Attracting bumblebees increases productivity by 30-40%. It is no coincidence that these insects are used in modern industrial greenhouses.

Natural pollination: options

These methods are closest to the conditions due to which pollination occurs in open ground. These include:

Natural pollination of tomatoes

1. Ventilation . Helps pollen to fall onto flowers. If you decide to pollinate tomatoes using this method, create a draft in the greenhouse in windy weather. Repeat the procedure several times to increase the likelihood of a successful outcome.
2. Attracting insects . This can be done in several ways:

• plant bright annual honey plants (for example, bergamot) between the rows of tomatoes;
• bring containers with flowers into the greenhouse;
• put hives with bees and bumblebees in the greenhouse, which increases the yield of tomatoes by 30-40%. This option is the most expensive and labor-intensive and is more suitable for growing tomatoes in large volumes (for example, for sale).

Advice. Marigolds or basil are considered good partners for this vegetable crop. This proximity not only attracts butterflies and bees that will pollinate the tomatoes, but also has a positive effect on the taste of the fruit.

Hand pollination, methods for different types of plants

Pollination techniques for cucumbers

In case of bad weather (average daily air temperature 14-16°C) and the absence of bees, pollination processes are significantly

To prevent this from happening, you need to pick the opened barren flower, remove the petals of the corolla and, carefully touching

The technique is also used on zucchini, pumpkins, and squash. Each female flower must be pollinated by one or two

In the afternoon, all pumpkin flowers close. The male ones fade the next day. How successful the pollination was can be seen in a few days: the fruit will begin to grow or die. If pollination fails the first time

How to avoid delayed fruit formation

Therefore, when it gets colder, you should try to increase the temperature by 1-2°C where vegetables with predominantly male flowers grow. In the case of a north wind, they provide protection in the form of screens, plant curtains,

Attracting beneficial insects to the garden is also our task. The flowers are sprinkled with honey, honey plants are planted around the beds - clover, mint, borage (borage), various onions, physalis, broccoli, mustard. They attract insects not only with pollen and nectar, but also with the color of the corolla and aroma.

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Methods of artificial pollination

Before manually pollinating tomatoes in a greenhouse, make sure this procedure is necessary. Most often, artificial methods are used in cases where pollination does not occur naturally for some reason. This can be determined by the appearance of the flowers. In pollinated petals, the petals are folded back.

Hand pollination using a brush

If not, start pollinating them yourself in any of the following ways:

1. Shaking. Holding the bush by the trunk, shake it slightly so that the pollen falls down. If the tomatoes are tied to trellises, lightly tap the strings.
2. Use of a fan. Use it to create wind in the greenhouse by carrying an electrical device between the rows of tomatoes.
3. Using a brush. This is the easiest way. First you need to collect pollen from the flowers, and then touch the pistils with a brush.
4. Pollination using an electric toothbrush. It must be turned on above the flowers. The vibration will cause pollen to fall on the pistils.

Tomatoes should be pollinated by hand only when it is sunny outside, the interval is 3-4 days throughout the entire flowering phase. It is better to do this in the morning, since pollen ripens at night. After using any method, you should water the tomatoes or spray them with a spray bottle. This is important to do so that the pollen germinates. When 2-3 hours have passed after watering, be sure to ventilate the greenhouse to prevent an increase in air humidity.

Pollinating tomatoes with an electric brush

Advice. It is likely that you will not have to artificially pollinate tomatoes completely, but on individual bushes. Having carefully examined all the plants once, mark the necessary brushes with bright ribbons or stickers so as not to get confused.

Usually in a greenhouse the yield of tomatoes is several times higher than in open ground. Knowing how to properly pollinate tomatoes will help you increase the number of fruits you harvest. It should not be forgotten that good results are guaranteed not only by pollination, but also by compliance with other growing conditions.

How to pollinate tomatoes correctly

Without pollination there will be no harvest. In a greenhouse, the requirements that help the plant to pollinate and form fruits are not always met. In order for a crop to successfully form fruit ovaries, it requires special conditions.

Flowering and pollination characteristics of tomatoes

Tomatoes in a greenhouse bloom and pollinate only if the following conditions are met:

• Watering the bushes is done only at the root;
• the soil is moistened infrequently, but abundantly (2 times a week, 3 liters of water per plant);
• loosening is carried out at least 2 times a month;
• after each watering, the soil is mulched with peat or humus;
• air humidity is not lower than 60% and not higher than 75%;
• the air temperature in the greenhouse is not lower than +18 and not higher than +30 ° C.

On a note. The optimal conditions for growing tomatoes in a greenhouse were determined practically. Their organization requires effort, but it will not be in vain, but on the contrary, it will lead to a bountiful harvest.

How to maintain a favorable microclimate?

A gardener can create favorable conditions in a greenhouse for pollination of tomatoes:

• ventilation;
• maintaining a comfortable temperature for tomatoes;
• decreasing or increasing indoor humidity;
• fertilizer with potassium preparations;
• use of stimulants.

In the simplest film shelter, you need to open the entrance doors and lift the canopy on the other side. Modern designs include sliding walls or a special system of vents for air circulation. Ventilation reduces elevated temperatures. To increase humidity, the soil is watered. Mulching will retain moisture and watering will need to be done less frequently.

It is better to ventilate greenhouses in the morning, since pollen forms at night.

Features of tomatoes

For a deeper understanding of pollination processes, you need to know that tomatoes are monoecious plants, that is, flowers with anthers and pistil are on the same plant. Pollen can pollinate both your own flower and neighboring ones. After pollination, fruits develop, which are classified as berries according to the botanical classification. In their unripe form, they contain the toxic substance solanine. Ripe fruits are rich in vitamins A and C, group B, rich in fiber, macroelements and microelements, contain sugars, organic acids, pectins, and proteins. A special place among the numerous carotenoids of tomatoes is occupied by the pigment lycopene, which has strong antioxidant properties.

The stem is erect or lodging, from 30 cm to 2.5 m or more in height. The growth of the stem occurs with the displacement of the main shoot every three leaves. There are varieties with unlimited growth and with limited growth.

Dissected, odd-pinnate leaves give the plant a decorative appearance, and tomatoes were originally grown not for food, but as an ornamental exotic. The beautiful pattern of leaves combined with small yellow flowers and smooth, small fruits looked unusual in the winter gardens of Europe, which it came to from South America in the 16th century. Wild and traditional forms, bred over many centuries by local residents, still grow in their homeland. The Aztec name “tomatl” has been preserved among many peoples. The word “tomato” goes back to Italian and is translated as “golden apple”.

Why do cucumbers produce empty flowers?

For this crop, the pollination problem is somewhat more acute than for tomatoes. The thing is that cucumber is a dioecious plant, i.e. It is necessary that the pollen, which was formed in the stamens of the male flower, fall on the pistil, which is located on the female flower.

Give barren flowers, i.e. a male flower that does not form an ovary can only be produced by “traditional” bee-pollinated varieties of cucumbers. “Parthenocarpic” cucumbers are completely unfamiliar with the problem of barren flowers for the simple reason that all their flowers are female and in principle do not need pollination.

As for pollinating “ordinary” cucumbers, help may be needed here. However, before you start pollinating cucumbers, you should check whether you have met all the conditions necessary for the plant to produce a sufficient number of female flowers. If there are too few of them, then you can’t count on a rich harvest.

Can tomatoes pollinate themselves?

Many plants are self-fertilizing or self-pollinating. Edible plants, such as fruits and vegetables with self-pollinating flowers, are called native plants. In other words, you can plant just one variety of plant and get a consistent harvest from it.

Tomatoes are self-pollinating because their flowers have both male and female parts. However, nature does not always cooperate with tomatoes. While wind usually moves pollen around these plants, when there is no wind or other factors such as high temperatures and excessive humidity occur, pollination problems can occur.

Tips and tricks

If you come to your dacha no more than once a week, experienced gardeners advise installing an automatic window in the greenhouse. The costs for it will quickly pay off with a rich harvest.

Advice ! A mechanism for automatically opening and closing greenhouse windows and doors can be made with your own hands from 2 containers of different sizes, a cork, a connecting hose, a tube and a cord. All this can be easily found at any dacha. The containers are connected by a tube, filled with liquid and secured in the greenhouse. One of the containers is connected to the window using a cord. The system works independently. For its functioning, only the air temperature in the greenhouse structure matters.

Fans are also installed in the greenhouse - they also stimulate pollination of plants.

According to experts, it is better to choose varieties specially bred for cultivation in greenhouses. They tolerate greenhouse conditions more easily and respond well to artificial pollination.

Even if the flowers are naturally pollinated, check them. If there are unpollinated ones, fertilize them artificially.