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gatrops

Pollination of Ornamental Bananas

gatrops
18 years ago

Tropicalkid asked in a seperate post about pollinating ornamental bananas. My reply was getting kind of long with several images so, I thought I'd start a new post. This is by no means the best way to do this, it is just the way I choose to do mine. You can use a paint brush to transfer the pollen as well. I would be very happy to hear thoughts/suggestions/criticisms from others.

With some varieties (like velutina) the pollen inside the female flower develops long before the bract ever rolls back which means if you are going to cross pollinate you have to get to the female flower before that happens or the velutina pollen will have beaten you to the job.

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female flowers of velutina exposed by rolling back the bract a day or 2 early

After the female flowers are exposed, I remove the fleshy tissue covering the stigma. (I also remove the anthers from the flower as well.) I used to employ a knife or razor blade but now just use my fingernails to "cut" the tissue off the bloom.

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female flowers with tissue removed and stigmas exposed

The male flowers are taken from the pollen donor. (The male flowers are located further along the infloresence after the female blooms have all opened.)

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One thing that I like to do (I don't think it is necessary but it does make for a cleaner job) is to remove the nectar sac from the male bloom. If you don't do this the nectar pours over the anthers and stigma when you pollinate the female bloom.

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male flower (The pollen is usually a little whiter than it appears on this flower. This one has been in the refrigerator for a few days.)

The nectar sac is located inside the tissue covering surrounding the anthers.

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The nectar sac is located below the left hand side of the forceps. On some varieties it is much larger and sometimes protrudes outside the fleshy material covering the anthers. On fresh male flowers you will see the nectar in the bottom of the sac.

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Side shot of male flower with nectar sac extended and ready to be removed. I usually just reach in with my fingers and remove the sac. No need to use forceps.

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After removing the nectar sac, I use my fingers to gently squeeze the anthers back together. This forms an opening that you can invert over the stigma and transfer the pollen.

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Female flower after pollen transfer.

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