HYB: pollenation, bees

Jan Clark wrote:
> I have 
> succesfully produced seeds with very little pollen. If the Pollen I use 
> has low fertility the bee's pollen can still 'do the job' as far as I 
> can see. Any botanists out there?

Tons of bumblebees here and about 1/3 as many bee pods as intentional
ones on my TBs (I plant them all).  I think we talked about this last
year or year before last - check archives <pollen> and <bees> or maybe
<pollen tube>.  As I recall, somebody who seemed to know said that the
pollen 'germinates' almost instantly and fertilizes the ovum so fast
that you could about stand there and 'supervise' for a few minutes and
be certain that your cross has 'made' it.  Seems like this happens in
seconds?  Hard to believe my memory on this.

However, if a bee got there first, or yours wasn't compatible or viable
and a bee came along later, or you flail around and the flower
self-pollinates, you wouldn't know that the seeds weren't from your
cross except by looking at the babies.

Linda Mann east Tennessee USA
been there, thought that
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