How to Pollinate Greenhouse Plants

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By Joshua Bailey
eHow Contributing Writer

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Greenhouses are great for growing vegetables and other plants all year round. This is made possible by the sun, which heats the greenhouse up to a perfect temperature to grow almost any type of plant. The problem is pollination, as indoor growing usually prevents pollinating insects from coming in and doing their job. However, you can do their job for them and pollinate your greenhouse plants yourself.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Step 1

Cut off a male flower of the plant you are trying to pollinate. Male flowers have reproductive organs that look like tiny cotton swabs with yellow heads. This is called the stamen, and it consists of two parts: the anthers and the filaments. These are used to fertilize the female flowers.
Step 2

Peel back the protective flowering to expose the stamen. Rub the pollen-covered anthers onto the inside of female flowers, making sure that you concentrate on contacting the stigma, which is what accepts the pollen during fertilization. The stigma is the top of a long tube (the style) that comes from the ovaries.
Step 3

Use one male flower for every two to three female flowers. Perfect flowers consist of both male and female reproductive parts, but imperfect flowers have only one or the other. Some plants have only male or female flowers, so locating the correct flowers on these plants should be quite easy.

Tips & Warnings

Leave the doors and windows of your greenhouse open to allow insects to come in and pollinate the plants for you.
Some plants are self-pollinating, but just need a little help. Shake the plant slightly to allow the pollen to be released and land on the female parts of the plant.