Re: Cucumbers and zucchinis & bees

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

Hi Bill.  I saw hand pollination being done on Martha Stewart, believe it or not!  The idea is to set fruit as soon as possible.   There is a lady in the East who grows heirloom veggies and hand pollinates much of it.  She was demonstrating using a large squash blossom--so it looked easy but tedious.  The female flowers have an "ovary" or a fruit beginning at the base of the blossom.  The night before, she actually taped the male flower closed I assume to keep the bees out.    Next morning---she opened the flower, broke it off, opened it wide, carefully,  then brushed the pollen  onto the female flower stamens--then taped it shut.  I imagine that the taping is a bit far to go with cucumbers-but that is the idea.  Hope I remembered it all correctly--anyway, see the site below--it is great.     Lorri

See the website below for a great description of why and how with pictures.
 
                      http://www.bigpumpkins.com/HowTo/Pollinate/
 
 

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