(no subject)

Brent Thompson (brent@hplbct.hpl.hp.com)
Tue, 26 May 1998 10:53:19 -0700

> Are chile plants 'self pollinating' or will they need some human
> intervention ?

If you have an indoors situation where no insect pollinators are present,
and where breezes are insufficient to effect any wind-pollination (i.e.
wind shakes flower causing pollen to fall onto stigma), manual
pollenization would be a good idea, if you want any chiles to harvest.
Only C. baccatum plants seem to be so lusty they often set fruits in
totally lonely, calm environments.

If manual pollenization is desired, you may find even something as
rudimentary as simply tapping/vibrating flowers you wish to become
pollenized and letting the released pollen just fly wherever it wishes
might work fine, though possibly some varieties are more responsive to this
than others.  (e.g. maybe it works better in varieties having physical
flower orientations where anthers typically are higher/above stigma, so
that gravity automatically moves released pollen onto stigma).

A tuning fork is very good for inducing pollen-releasing vibrations,
whether you let the pollen fly around on its own, or you collect it to
purposefully place it directly onto stigmas of your choice.

 ---   Brent