Tomatoes are among the many hottest and thrilling greens to develop in your backyard, however what must you do when your crops solely produce flowers and no fruits? These juicy purple (or orange, yellow, or purple) fruits require pollination from wind and bees, or in some instances, people.

In case your tomato crops are dropping flowers or failing to provide fruit, you might must hand-pollinate them to make sure you develop a harvestable yield. Let’s dig into why, when, and methods to hand-pollinate tomatoes. It isn’t as difficult because it sounds!

Why Hand-Pollinate Tomatoes?

Hand pollination can enhance tomato yields, notably in an enclosed surroundings (like a greenhouse or indoor container backyard) or throughout unhealthy climate when pure pollinators aren’t lively.

Even when rising outdoor, nature typically fails to pollinate our tomatoes. In case your crops drop flowers or refuse to develop fruit, a bit human help can go a good distance.

Do You Have to Pollinate Your Tomatoes By Hand?

Your tomatoes will in all probability want pollination help should you’re rising in a greenhouse, plastic tunnel, container, or windowsill. Sure situations name for hand pollination, akin to an absence of wind or rising in a protected backyard space with out airflow.

If there may be unhealthy climate, bees might not be lively. Whether it is humid, moist, and muggy, the powdery pollen can clump collectively and never transfer, and you might must pollinate your crops by hand.

Are Tomatoes Self-Pollinating?

Tomatoes are naturally self-pollinating monoecious crops. Monoecious implies that one plant has each female and male elements.

Self-pollinating means one plant can reproduce by itself. Furthermore, tomato flowers are thought of “good” or “full” flowers as a result of they’ve each the feminine (pistil) and male (stamen) flower elements inside every bloom. 

In different phrases, you don’t want two tomato crops to provide a tomato fruit… Properly, typically. All botanical jargon apart, tomatoes aren’t all the time good at pollinating. There are specific cases the place pure pollination isn’t occurring, and so they want help shifting the pollen from the feminine half to the male half.

Wind and bees are the standard purveyors of tomato sexual favors, however wind often does the majority of the work. Air both quivers the plant and knocks the pollen unfastened or blows little pollen granules from the anthers (male elements) to the sticky stigma (feminine elements). In different phrases, the pollen falls throughout the flower to pollinate itself.

When your backyard has considerable floral sources, bees fly in to assist. As they attempt to attain the nectar inside a tomato flower, their furry our bodies collect pollen and roll it round, successfully shifting the pollen from the anther to the stigma. In case your crops regularly battle with pollination, attempt to appeal to extra pollinators to your backyard by way of native crops.

8 Steps to Pollinate Tomatoes by Hand

Hand pollinating is less complicated than it sounds. You don’t even must know the botanical science behind it! Simply think about your self as a bit bee gathering pollen and shifting it round. You solely want the best timing, a paintbrush or toothbrush, and endurance.

Select the best time

One of the best time to hand-pollinate tomato flowers is in the midst of the day when a plant has a number of wholesome, open yellow flowers. Ideally, select a heat, sunny day with low humidity. 

Happily, this course of nonetheless works throughout unhealthy climate situations. In case you dwell in a loopy humid local weather or simply obtained lots of rain, this technique will nonetheless work, however you might go for the electrical toothbrush to assist distribute the clumpy pollen extra simply.

If you wish to skip all of the steps under, merely shake your crops. A agency shake from the highest of the plant will trigger the flowers to launch pollen and distribute it to the feminine flower elements. Business pollinators use electrical vibrator gadgets to realize this on a bigger scale.

As a bonus, shaking may help you discover tomato hornworms. In case you rattle your tomato trellis round, hornworms will typically hiss at you (these little demons!), revealing their camouflaged spot on the tomato foliage. 

 You can additionally add a powerful fan to the realm to simulate blowing wind.

Use a small brush

You should use a tiny paintbrush or a toothbrush to hand-pollinate your tomatoes. Some individuals even use an electrical toothbrush to ramp up pollen distribution! A Q-tip, or worst-case situation, your finger may work.

Transfer the comb round contained in the flower

As a result of tomatoes have good flowers, you don’t have to maneuver pollen from one flower to a different as you’ll with squash. As a substitute, transfer your instrument round inside every flower, shake it effectively, and transfer to the subsequent. 

Transporting pollen between flowers isn’t any large deal should you develop the identical selection. Nevertheless, you can have a number of funky “off-types” should you cross-pollinate two completely different cultivars after which attempt to save seed from the ensuing fruit. Cross-pollination doesn’t affect the kind of fruit your father or mother plant produces, solely the seeds it generates.

Be very mild

Tomato blossoms are fragile and might simply rip or fall from the plant. It doesn’t matter what technique you employ, watch out to not harm the flowers. In case you’re afraid of touching the flowers, shaking the plant is the best technique for you.

It’s finest handy pollinate together with your naked fingers so gloves don’t impede your nimble fingers. In case you unintentionally knock a number of flowers off, no large deal! Most tomato crops will develop again extra in a number of days.  

Repeat each 2-3 days

To make sure optimum yields, it helps to shake, vibrate, or switch tomato pollen each few days whereas situations are splendid. This isn’t 100% obligatory, however it offers you the utmost likelihood at success.

In my backyard, I prioritize the tomatoes that want it most: these rising within the excessive tunnel and those who produce the biggest heirloom fruits.

Examine that tomatoes are pollinated

Observing the stem is the best method to inform if a tomato flower is pollinated. Each flower emerges from the central stem on a smaller inexperienced stem.

If the stem stays inexperienced and enlarges right into a little inexperienced bulb on the base, the flower is efficiently pollinated, and the fruit is rising. The bulbous progress is an ovary the place the fruit will develop.

Pollination has failed if the flower’s stem turns yellow and begins to wither. You gained’t see any enlarging ovary at its base.

In each instances, the flower will finally drop from the plant, so don’t panic should you see tomato flowers on the soil. A pollinated flower will wilt inside 24 hours and fall off the plant in a few days. 

Relying on whether or not you’ve a determinate or indeterminate plant, your tomato could solely produce flowers throughout a two-week interval (determinate) or proceed producing flowers during the season (indeterminate).

Help plant well being

When you’ve accomplished your tomato pollination mission, examine that your crops obtain every little thing they want. They need to be strong and vibrant inexperienced with sturdy stalks and loads of leaves. They need to actively produce new flowers each week and ship out suckers (which you’ll need to take away for optimum yield). 

When a tomato plant begins flowering and fruiting, keep away from feeding it any extra nitrogen. An excessive amount of nitrogen can promote extreme foliage progress.

We wish the plant to channel its vitality into fruits! Ideally, you must fertilize when planting with an all-purpose mix like Espoma Tomato-Tone. 

After hand pollination, it’s a good time so as to add one other dose of Tomato-tone or any fertilizer excessive in phosphorus. Phosphorus (the center quantity on N-P-Okay) is most essential for producing massive, juicy, scrumptious fruits.

Be affected person 

Most tomato varieties yield mature fruit two to 3 weeks after the flowers open. Nevertheless, it ought to be clear whether or not pollination was profitable inside every week.

As soon as the fruit begins rising, all you’ll want to do is be affected person! Let your tomatoes ripen on the vine for one of the best taste.