How to Grow Tomatoes Inside Without Pollination
Tomatoes give man and nature a challenge when it comes to pollination of the stigma and eventual fertilization of the ovule of the flower. Without movement of wind or insects, a very small amount of pollen is dropped from the anther as it grows within a hollow tube in the plant flower. Tomato blossoms are pollinated ideally by a process called "sonication," which is the rapid vibration of the wing muscles of a bee that is not in flight. Greenhouse operators have used artificial wind, cultured bumblebees and flower agitators or vibrators to pollinate indoor tomato plants. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Check for a period of low humidity between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on a dry, sunny day when night temperatures are ideally between 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
-
2
Place your fingers at the base of the stalk of a tomato plant and gently shake it to loosen the pollen that is protected inside the hollow tube where the anther is located. This is method one for tomato pollination.
-
-
3
Purchase and introduce cultured bumblebee to the environment of indoor tomatoes that are in a greenhouse setting. This is method two, which can be a more costly situation but beneficial to a large crop of indoor tomato plantings.
-
4
Sterilize a toothbrush insert for an electric tooth brushing unit with alcohol.
-
5
Hold the electric toothbrush close to a tomato plant with the brush head next to a blossom.
-
6
Turn the toothbrush switch on and allow the brush to vibrate the petals of the tomato blossom. Pollen should become loosened and will cling to the toothbrush bristles.
-
7
Swab pollen from the brush with a cotton swab tip.
-
8
Brush pollen on to the stigma of the tomato blossom. Watch for several days to see if the flower wilts, which is one sign of successful pollination.
-
1
References
- Photo Credit Martin Poole/Digital Vision/Getty Images
