Hand pollination

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Hand pollination

Hand pollination (also called "mechanical pollination") is a technique used when natural, or open pollination

Open pollination

Open pollination is pollination by Insect#Roles_in_the_environment_and_human_society, Bird#Ecology, wind, or other nature mechanisms. The seeds of open-pollinated plants will produce new generations of those plants; however, because breeding is uncontrolled and the pollen source is unknown, open pollination results in plants that vary widely...
is insufficient or undesirable. The most common techniques are for crops such as cucurbit

Cucurbitaceae

Cucurbitaceae is a plant family commonly known as melons, gourds or cucurbits and includes crops like cucumbers, squash , luffas, melons and watermelons....
s, which may exhibit poor pollination by fruit

Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
abortion, fruit deformity or poor maturation. Hand pollination is only an option on a small scale, but is a common technique by gardeners who transfer pollen with an artist brush or cotton swab.

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Encyclopedia

Hand pollination (also called "mechanical pollination") is a technique used when natural, or open pollination

Open pollination

Cucurbitaceae

Fruit

Petal

A petal is one member or part of the Corolla of a flower. The corolla is the name for all of the petals of a flower; the inner perianth whorl, term used when this is not the same in appearance as the outermost whorl and is used to attract pollinators based on its advertising coloration....
is removed from male flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
s and the flower itself is brushed against the stigmas

Gynoecium

A gynoecium is the female reproductive part of a flower. The male counterpart is called an androecium. A gynoecium is composed of one or more pistils....
of female flowers.

Hand pollination can be the simple act of shaking, with tomatoes and other self fertile flowers. Tomatoes grown in greenhouses generally need aid in pollination, and this has been done by hand or with an electric vibrator for a long time. Recently it has been mostly supplanted by cultured bumblebee

Bumblebee

A bumblebee is any member of the bee genus Bombus, in the family Apidae; there are over 250 known species primarily occurring in the Northern Hemisphere....
s.

When pollination is needed on a large scale, such as for field crops, orchards or commercial seed production, honeybees or other pollinators are cultured and provided for pollination management

Pollination management

Pollination Management is the label for horticultural practices that accomplish or enhance pollination of a crop, to improve yield or quality, by understanding of the particular crop's pollination needs, and by knowledgeable management of pollenizers, pollinators, and pollination conditions....
.

The primary reason for hand pollination is lack of pollinator

Pollinator

A pollinator is the biotic agent that moves pollen from the male anthers of a flower to the female carpel of a flower to accomplish fertilization or syngamy of the female gamete in the ovule of the flower by the male gamete from the pollen grain....
s which may be due to crops being moved from home areas (as in vanilla

Vanilla

Vanilla is a flavoring derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla native to Mexico. Etymologically, vanilla derives from the Spanish language word "", little pod....
beans) without also taking the natural pollinator. Pollinator decline

Pollinator decline

The term Pollinator decline refers to the reduction in abundance of pollinators in many ecosystems worldwide during the end of the twentieth century....
or the concentrated pollination needs of monoculture

Monoculture

Monoculture is the agricultural practice of producing or growing one single crop over a wide area. The term is also applied in several fields. It is usually developed by extensive growing farmers....
may also be factors in pollination shortage.

Another reason for hand pollination is in order to control the parents of the seed to be produced. For example, all F1 hybrid

F1 hybrid

F1 hybrid is a term used in genetics and selective breeding. F1 stands for Filial 1, the first filial generation seeds/plants or animal offspring resulting from a cross mating of distinctly different parental types....
s are the result of pollinating one specific variety with another specific variety, in order to produce a uniform crop.

For pest prevention with some high-value crops, row covers of mesh are used to prevent pest insects from access to the plants. However, this may necessitate hand pollination when bloom starts.

Hand pollination is used with date palm

Date Palm

Phoenix dactylifera, commonly known as the Date Palm, is a Arecaceae in the genus Phoenix , extensively cultivated for its edible sweet fruit....
s to avoid wasting a lot of space and energy growing sufficient male plants for adequate natural pollination.

Variable techniques for hand pollination have arisen for many specialty crops.