How To Hand Pollinate

To prevent cross pollination when saving seeds, sometimes you need to hand pollinate your crops. Here is when and how to hand pollinate.

Some crops can cross pollinate with each other even when they are a mile away! If your trying to preserve some heirloom varieties you don't want cross pollination.

You can take the place of pollinators and hand pollinate your crops so they never cross pollinate.

Here is a simple overview of the basics to hand pollination.

Hand Pollination Basics

Some plants have "perfect" flowers which means that a single flower contains both male and female parts.

Hermaphroditic plants have these perfect flowers that can pollinate themselves.

Monoecious plants have both male and female flowers. These plants cross pollinate readily as they need pollinators to carry pollen from male flowers to female flowers.

You can read more on Hermaphroditic plants here and Monoecious plants here. For the sake of understanding, and ease of reading, we will just go with imperfect and perfect flowers.

So, why did I just give you a simple botany lesson... because knowing the different flower types lets you know which plants need hand pollination.

Plants with perfect flowers can be grown close together without cross pollinating. However, imperfect flowing plants need to be hand pollinated to prevent crossing.

Here is a list of some imperfect and perfect flowering plants.

Plants With Perfect Flowers (Self Pollinating Flowers)

Tomato
Pepper
Tomatillo
Eggplant
Sunflower
Bean
Pea

Plants With Imperfect Flowers (Separate Male And Female Flowers)

Squash
Cucumber
Corn
Gourds
Melons

Isolation Distances

Isolation distances are the amount of space you need in-between your crops to prevent natural crossing. Here are some isolation distances for common plants.

Corn - minimum 500 feet
Squash - 2,640 feet
Broccoli - 800 feet

I don't know about you, but there is no way I am planting my squash varieties half a mile apart! That is why hand pollination is so great!

Basic Hand Pollination Steps

Each crop is a bit different, but here are the main steps to hand pollination.

Step 1: Seal Immature Flowers

Seal immature flowers off from bugs and wind that could have pollen.

Step 2: Collect Male Flower Pollen

Either pick male flowers or collect male pollen from sealed flowers or tassels.

Step 3: Pollinate Female Flowers

Use the male pollen to pollinate those sealed female flowers.

Step 4: Seal Female Flowers

Seal female flowers to prevent any crossing after pollination.

How To Hand Pollinate Squash

Cucumbers, squash, pumpkins, and luffa gourds are all pollinated the same way. Here is a quick summary of using the above steps to hand pollinate them for seed saving.

Go out in the evening, the day before you want to pollinate, and find male and female flowers that are unopened. They should have a little color as they would open the next day.

zucchini flower sealed with a clothes pin

Seal these flowers with a clothes pin or masking tape.

In the morning go out and pick all your male flowers. They are longer than the females and do not have a tiny fruit behind the flower.

Male squash flower sealed with clothes pin

Take the petals off the male flower so you are left with the stamen. The anthers should be covered in yellow pollen.

Now carefully open the female flowers and stick the male stamen in to pollinate the female stigma. (Simple terms - Stick the male flower in the female flower and rub it all around.)