Pollinating toms and courgette.

Hi All,

May be a very silly question but I dont know the answer, so here goes. I have tomato plants 3 of which are going in a grow house but as yet unable to get them in there as it is being used as an overspill for other plants that I am trying to get hardened off in this weather and I have 1 outdoor tomato plant that is going in a hanging basket and I also have 3 out door variety courgettes all are in my conservatory at them moment due to the weather. All of the plants are in flower at the moment and are not readly available for pollinating insects. Do i need to pollinate these myself with a small paint brush which i have seen done on you tube?

Cheers
Rusty

 

With Toms you just need to tap the flower truss around midday when its warm and sunny.
Outside toms are likely to get pollinated by insects.

With the courgettes you need to pick the male flower once its fully open, strip it of the yellow petals and rub the centre around the centre of the female flower.
You can use a brush if you like to take the pollen from the male to the female.

Once outside, in good conditions, the bees will do this for you.

 

Hi there.

As far as I'm aware, toms don't require insects to pollinate. All that's required is pollen transfer. Personally, I like to do this myself, using a soft brush. I know that this is probably over the top, as most here will advocate just a gentle shake of the plant, but in the past I've had failures, so it's just something that gives me confidence. It's also important (I think) to keep the atmosphere a bit humid as this helps the pollen to stick. Hope this helps.

Cheers...Freddy.

 

I'm sceptical that Courgettes will pollinate yet - needs to warm up more. No harm in trying though, but if they turn yellow and drop off just be patient