Can you pollinate your own fruit trees?

Okay this is a really stupid idea I know, but I have several columar apple trees that are flowering right now and haven't seen a bee anywhere. I was thinking about what happens if all the bees do die off, can I polinate the trees using a Qtip?

Butterflies, birds, and other flying insects can also pollinate them.

Doing it by hand is a huge PITA. Going on memory of helping my grandfather when I was young, we collected the end of the stamen from some blossoms when the flowers were just barely open and then dried them in the oven (don't remember the temp, but I'm sure it was a low temp.) He was picky about the timing of when to pollinate, but I don't remember those specifics, either, but a day or two later we mixed the dried pollen with some flour and rubbed it on with the filter end of a cigarette. He did it to one tree because the mixture of a specific kind of apple with that one made for the sweetest apples, and he wanted to be sure it was pollinated the way he wanted.

Probably not much help, other than to say it's a pretty big job. I don't think a Qtip would work, as the pollen would go into the loose cotton.


Read more: How to Pollinate Apple Trees Without Bees | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_4473648_pollinate-apple-trees-bees.html#ixzz2QqKliOxt

Thanks for the info and the website!!

Interesting ....thanks for sharing.

Have you seen any flies? There are more than just bees that do the pollinating. As far as pollinating ... yeah, you can hand pollinate. That is actually what they do when they are breeding new species of plants, trees, etc. Dixie cup and a little paint brush is what my grandfather did when he was playing around in his orchards.

Just don't tell anybody your have sex with your trees.

I use a qtip in my greenhouse in the winter for tomatoes and it works.

You don't even need a Q-tip!!

Just break off a freshly opened blossom from a cluster, and gently pull the petals off (or just sort of pull them back out of the way). Then brush the pistils and stamen from that blossom lightly into up to a dozen or so blossoms (don't bother pollinating more than 1-2 blossoms per "cluster"- or you'll have to thin them back off anyway!).

When you reach a dozen or so "consummations", drop that bloom and grab another (or you can pick a few dozen off at the start- taking one or two out of each cluster- see my comment about thinning above; keep them shaded while you're working, and they'll hold up fine for a couple hours- plenty for your purposes)

It really isn't as much trouble as it sounds unless you have many trees, or standard sized trees.

Summerthyme (thankful for the neighbor's bee hives!)

Yes I've noticed flies around but mostly in the house. I bought some mason bees but they haven't come out yet.

Publius said:

Just don't tell anybody your have sex with your trees.

Click to expand...

very cute.

Publius said:

Just don't tell anybody your have sex with your trees.

Click to expand...

If all the bees die off would that count as panic sex?

Thanks Summerthyme, I have three of the columnar apples which grow on a single pole and only get about 6 feet tall so there's not a lot to do if I have to. I'm hoping the mason bees come out soon. It's supposed to get into the 70's this weekend.

You can also use a feather to transfer the pollen from blossom to blossom.

The wind can also be a vehicle to transfer pollen from tree to tree if they are close to one another.

Good Luck!