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pollinating by hand?

13 years ago

I'm wondering if anyone has ever attempted to pollinate native milkweed by hand?

My native transplant of A variegata has a nice bloom but I don't see any bee's or other pollinators flying around it. It occured to me I might be able to use something like the tip of a toothpick to try and pollinate in order to get a seed pod forming. Has anyone ever tried?

Maybe glue a few strands of cotton from a cotton ball on the end of the toothpick to mimic the fine hairs on the legs of insects. Or, use the tip of a tiny paintbrush. That might work even better.

Mary

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Comments (2)

lycopus
13 years ago
Normally I would use a paintbrush with soft bristles but pollination in milkweeds is a little unusual. They produce specialized structures called pollinia. They consist of two little sacs of pollen connected by a narrow thread that gets caught on the legs of insects. You should see the pollinia get stuck to whatever tool you are using, otherwise it probably isn't going to work.
Mary Leek
Original Author
13 years ago
lycopus,

My thanks for this helpful information and the instructions. Since I have other flower buds coming on, I decided to try with this first bloom. I did use a tiny water color paint brush and I did see something that looked like tiny little gold strings on the tips of the bristles. I've no idea if this was the pollinia but at the time, I thought it unusual. Sure do hope that's what it was and that it spread the pollen among the little flowers. It will be fun to watch and see if any seed pods develop.

On the other hand, I noticed quite a few seed pods forming on the tropical milkweed so something 'IS' out there doing some pollinating. I saw a busy bee early this morning, the first one I've noticed this year so maybe things are beginning to come together. Also read that ants are capable of pollinating and if that's the case, I do have some help as they're always climbing all over this new bloom. Nature is soooo interesting.

My thanks once again for taking the time to reply.

Mary
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