With the bee problem this year some of us have to resort to pollinating our crops by ourselves. It's very easy, just a little time consuming. For my squash I got a new painting brush - just a small one - and first got pollen from the male plant, then rubbed the brush on the female plant. If you don't know how to tell the difference in a female and male plant of a squash, here are some pictures.
Above is the male flower.
Here is the female flower. Notice the difference?
href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hc7HGyc-4Xk/SJyKtV2jjoI/AAAAAAAAAPg/VoWEa4-bfHY/s1600-h/IMG_1375.jpg">
Here is an easy way to tell if the flower is female. It has a little bulb at the base of the flower.
Now that you know what to look for, happy pollinating:)
2 comments:
Help the honeybees! Prevent the loss of the world food supply.
Learn how you can help cure Colony Collapse Disorder. What is the bee tree?
thebeetree(dot)org
I do not believe the bees are just dissapearing. We have personal friends who raise bees way out in the country where no pesticides or genetically modified crops are - and their bees are fine.
I have a friend 10 minutes up the road who bought genetically modified corn that was made to have natural insecticides. She finds dead bees on her corn.
I think it's pretty obvious what's going on. It's whether or not people choose to believe it or not.
Post a Comment