I did exactly as you suggested, how can I tell if I have done it correctly and the flowers have been pollinated? Should I lift the flower downside up then vibrate it? I noticed as soon as a touch it the pollen falls on the ground not sure if it hit the stigma?
I started manually pollinating my tomato plant a week ago after watching your video....it worked! I've noticed significant growth in the last few days, and this was noticeable particularly because although I had many blooms, they weren't turning into fruit, but now they are, thank you! :-)
Awesome! Glad to know that the hand pollination method is working out well for you! I just posted a method for pollinating eggplants in my latest upload as well. Happy Gardening!
kaity i do it whenever i see new flowers open up. i will inadvertently go over some more than once but it is their fault for not showing little tomatoes fast enough. lol i had heard of this method for a while but usually just shook the plants but was watching a gardening show on my local pbs station and the lady on there said if the temps get too high the pollen gets sticky and does not want to drop. she said with the electric toothbrush she was getting better results even when the temps were hotter. that sounded good so i went to my local dollar store and bought one for about 6 dollars. since then i noticed a lot more tomatoes developing. i'd recommend this method.
Vibrating works although It Isn't as effective as simply licking a q-tip and rubbing into every flower! I've been doing this for over 50 years and I consistently yield racks of 10 to 12 tomatoes so I need to help them support and not break off! I constantly harvest over 99 0/0 of pollinated sets, If they don't break off, but that's rare as I watch over every day! I use organic milk cow manure, I break off all the lower branches to allow for air circulation as their growing. Intensive plant, 6 inches apart each way, plastic covering on top to keep rain off and roll up on both sides for air circulation. only slow drip ground watering one hour morn and one hour evening. Suckers are broken off every day. I use jute string from the ceiling to twist each plant for climbing, once their six feet high i cut the tops and continually trim the foliage. I drop more jute between every tomato plant and plant cucumbers or pickles between every plant, I twist them around the jute and they climb up on their own with their little tentacles. Tomatoes and cucumbers love each other, as you can see their foliage love each other! Later In the season everyone Is finished, no more tomatoes and those that are left develop black mold! This Is common In Vancouver B.C. because of all the rain! Because of my covering, air circulation and slow drip watering my growing season Is extended by 2 to 3 months, an extra 2 or 3 hundred pounds of excellent mold free tomatoes, cucumbers, another month or 2! Thanks and happy grow!
Thank you SO MUCH for posting this video. I used this method this spring and now have a tomato growing from every single bud on my plants. I can't believe how well this method works!! (Last year, relying on nature alone, my plants produced less than half the amount of tomatoes.)
Hmm, interesting... I can imagine you might have problems with toms growing under glass in unfavourable conditions, but I find it hard to imagine so few toms being pollinated that are exposed to nature. I wonder if you don't have many flying insects where you live? By contrast I should think at least 95% of my toms come to fruition (Yorshire, England) - been growing toms for years.
Even though I have been gardening for decades, I watch your videos to get more ideas and reassurances that I am doing the right thing as I set up our large greenhouse in the desert. Than you for your efforts!
This is a fantastic technique. I have around one hundred tomatoes already by applying this technique (Melbourne, Australia). They are still green but at least they are there, and growing, in mid-spring. :) Thanks!
Thank you for getting to the point, I've seen some videos where they just go into detail for 5-6-7 minutes how the pollination works and falls on the flower.. Thank you for sharing!
I noticed you were doing it the most efficient way possible and that is using the electronic brush to turn the flowers completely upright. That is the best way for success in this awesome process. Thumbs up Thanks and God bless.
A tuning fork (Middle C) is the most efficient, because it mimics the sonicating bee. Middle C is the resonant frequency of the tomato flower, and it will release the most pollen. Touch the vibrating fork to the flower stem. If it is ripe for pollination, pollen will shoot out the blossom.
+Dave Green Interesting, Thanks for sharing this. I was just watching a documentary on BBC where they breed bumblebees in greenhouses and they explain the frequency of their buzzing and how it increases yield. So you posted this tip at the perfect time!
I live in a metropolitan area and also pollinate my blossoms by hand. We just harvested 85 lbs. of squash and in July will harvest other veggies for the summer. A Q tip or water color paintbrush do well for this purpose. Any gentle vibrating motion will spill pollen onto the female flower. Yes, where we live and unfortunately with the bees losing some colonies, we have to take over the job for them. That's why farmers are in a world wide crisis. Without the bees to pollinate, acres and acres of fruit and vegetables are at risk of simply failing to thrive.
Thank you so much I played around last year not knowing anything i just had an idea, and i had a million tomato's my neighbors couldn't believe how many now I really know how Thank you
Thank you so much. I live in the NE USA and many years my tomato plants grow very large but produce few tomatoes. I will definitely give this a try this coming year.
Your yellow power brush looked like a bumble bee. Very smart! My tomato produce was very poor the last 2 yrs, will try this method this year. Thx for sharing
I snagged my children's old toothbrushes and am using them. I just did my cherokee purple, and mild jalapeno plants right here by the house. Will do the others out in the garden during nap time. Can't wait to see how well it wprks.
Ok, it worked! I now have lots of tiny green tomatoes set! It is very easy to do and I feel much better about all the work I've put into getting those tomatoes plants growing. You all know the amount of work involved. It is always so disheartening when you don't get fruit set. However, now I know the magic solution. :) Many thanks!
Great tip! My tomato plants are flowering right now. This is the first time I plant tomatoes on my balcony and I will definitely try your suggestion. Thanks!
Fabiana Testa Yes it will definitely help on your balcony plants. There is less air and less bees on a balcony so the pollination should help. Good luck!
Thanks so much!!! I'm going to college this August and I want to have some cherry tomatoes in my dorm room. Since they won't be going outside I was wondering how they could get pollinated. I'm so excited to try this out when my little sprouts grow big enough to have flowers.
Really, Really liked your videos. Please do more. :-) I had wondered about hand pollinating and you certainly make it look so easy. I can't wait to try this on our 25-30 vines tomorrow. Thank you for posting your videos (saw two, looking for more).
PRO TIP for people who want to use this technique but save some time and money. Every video suggests using paint brushes or q-tips or tooth brushes to get the job done and I'm here to tell you that's not needed. Go outside and find a piece of grass that's grown a bit, observe the stem and you should see lots of short hairs on the stem. The hair on grass stems works wonderfully for hand pollination and you'll notice the hairs perform very similar to the hairs on a honeybee. So you simply get to go out to your squash plant, pluck a piece of grass, pollinate, and then chuck the piece of grass right back on the ground and walah you've saved yourself time and money.
I use the tooth brush and Veggie Bee as well. I've heard there is a particular time of day to do this when the pollen is dry and available to drop, otherwise, the humidity causes the pollen to stick together and not pollinate the flower. Have you heard that? Best time is between 10 and 12am - or so they say.
+Sheri Karanasos Isn't it fun when the kids help you in the garden! Everybody has fun and it just makes gardening so much more enjoyable. My 4 year old has helped us many times in our garden and its always a lot of fun. See him helping me harvesting the peppers here: th-cam.com/video/N9Fjbhr3a48/w-d-xo.html
I don't want to say California gardening is wrong, but there is no point in keeping them alive through winter. It'll be hard. The temperature in your home will be too stable, unlike the changing temperature outside. There will be less air circulation, which can also attract pests. And normally by the end of the season tomato plants are already full of diseases, and it's just better to start again after winter. Lol I know it's hard to say goodbye to the beautiful tomato plants we have put so much work and time into, but it's for the best.
i was watching your garden , it looks so beautiful and please can you tell me how to grow beautiful and healthy vegetables . i planted 9 heads of tomatoes and my plants only produced only 10 tomatoes from 9 different plants.
Hello Sir/Madam; for my kind concern can you please upload a short video on hand pollination of Cauliflower or Broccoli. Its been a perfect period of pollinating them..Will look forward to it.Thank you!!!
Love the music. I notice you seem to choose good music for your vids--good job! I also did not know the toothbrush simulated the vibrations of bees (always thought this was weird advice until you explained the reason behind it) so thanks! Will be trying this out as my 'maters are just now starting to flower.
LL Mcbee Thanks for the feedback on the music, much appreciated! Yes the toothbrush method works very well for areas with no bees/wind to pollinate the tomatoes. Good luck!
+Roxanne Cox Thanks! Yes squashes, melons etc do benefit from this method. See this technique for zucchini, cucumber, pumpkin: th-cam.com/video/jqLWlT1lhgQ/w-d-xo.html
+California Gardening , this is not true. Squashes have male and female flowers, and pollen must be moved (generally by bees, although you can do it by hand), from the male flowers to the female flowers. Shaking a squash flower is useless
+Dave Green Did you see the video link I posted? Its exactly what you said :) Squashes do have different male and female flowers and the videos demonstrates exactly that. Happy Gardening!!
Pollinating tomato blooms with a battery powered toothbrush increases your crop AT LEAST 50%....kids battery toothbrushes cost less than $4....I do one side of the row and then the other......easy and also works great on cucumbers....but on cucumbers it's important to understand the difference between male and female blooms and touch the inside of the blooms....amazing how much this technique increases your yield of both vegetables....happy pollinating!
So have you had greater success using this method? I'm currently in Singapore for work and started a tomato patio garden. I just returned from a 3 week trip and noticed I have a bunch of blossom drop. I'm suspecting it's because they weren't pollinated. I'm also concerned of the climate here. It's a constant 80> and high humidity. I've begun using the electric toothbrush on the blossoms in hopes of pollinating the blossoms. How many times should I do that for each blossom? Once? Twice? Any thoughts?
hello I have question,what is the different between top soil and garden soil,please explain to me thank you so much you inspired me I am starting to garden now,I already start potatoes and ginger and I already bought all kind of seeds lol.
+Marietta Brennan Top soil is the soil scraped from a variety of land types. The top 1-2 inches are used and packaged. Garden soil is a mix of top soil as well as organic materials like wood chips, composted leaves etc. Nice to know the videos inspired you to start your veggies!
What part of California are you from? I'm in San Mateo. I recently built a little greenhouse. roughly 60 sq'. My tomatoes outdoors did horribly this year. I was busy doing projects on my house so I stuck 5 plants in the ground and tended to them minimally. I've been planting Sun golds the last few years. they are one of my favorite. I noticed after all the other plants, my sun gold was still producing and the plant looked pretty healthy. I figured I'd dig it up and put it into my greenhouse. See if it can survive and maybe I an keep harvesting tomatoes. I plan on planting more tomatoes when the time is right. Do you think I will need to hand pollinate my tomatoes in the greenhouse? Do you have any suggestions for growing in a greenhouse? Do you know of any solar fans and/or heaters that can be used in a small greenhouse? If there was an efficient way to heat it, it would be nice to have summer crops during the winter. Thank you for your time.
+Stefano Hamam I am in Irvine, Zone 9B. Yes 2015 was not a great year for tomatoes and peppers here in SoCal. I was still able to grow a couple pepper varieties (Big Bertha was my fav pepper and Juliet my fav tomato). I see your option of using a greenhouse as a good one. Yes, a greenhouse has very little air, so hand pollinating your tomatoes will increase yield significantly. Good luck and let us know how it goes! I do not use large greenhouses, so no idea about the solar fans/heaters. This winter I am planning to use a larger, walk in greenhouse (This one: amzn.to/1JOgzUq - For $60 its a bargain). Happy Gardening!
Amit Kumar That's nice to know. Depending on the strain, it might take up to 2-3 months to see fruit. Please be patient, its worth the rewards! Good luck!!
Green Organic Love, this method works only for plants that have both male (stamen) and female (pistol) processes in each blossom. It won’t work on cucurbits of any kind or on any plant that has separate male and female blossoms (cucumber, squash, melon) or on any plant that requires cross pollination with a second plant variety (honeyberry, blueberry, plum, etc).
Wind can help pollunate them so place the plants where they gain good winds. I have mine placed in a outside corner of the house so that they gets the maximum amount of sun all day that they need for fruit production. I feed it dymanic lifter (a brand of chicken poo plant fertilizer) once everyweek. I have a sprinkler set to automatically water for 10 minutes everyday at 10am. The winds that I get here handles the pollunation for me and if not, I get insects everywhere that handles it and I get all those lovely tasty tomatoes. Only problem I have is fruitflies stealing my tomatoes but that can b e solved by using exclusion bags. Fruitflies seems only to be a problem in summer. My plants can survive our winter as it did. We are 2 weeks into spring and the plants are in full swings of flowers. :)
+Ian Melief I use different kinds of soil, See this for 5-1-1 mix: th-cam.com/video/-oFtE0O-fHA/w-d-xo.html and this for a coco peat based mix: th-cam.com/video/crFjC1Z8IUU/w-d-xo.html
My fower just bloomed yesterday and I would like to know when it would be ready to be pollinated. I'm scared to be too early or too late. Could you give me some advice?
xXENINAJXx Yes it applies to peppers, eggplants and gourds - very important for gourds though because they have different male and female flowers. While wind and bees pollinate most tomato plants, for gourds - its only bees. Hope that helps!
what do u do when the flowers dont open and half of the blooms are not even close to being open but instead i noticed the flowers them selfs are dieing before they fully open like the ones u have in the video open
Buy this cheap toothbrush to pollinate your tomatoes: amzn.to/2pKVnOY
My tomatoe plants have little holes in the leaves.. Should I be concerned?
I did exactly as you suggested, how can I tell if I have done it correctly and the flowers have been pollinated? Should I lift the flower downside up then vibrate it? I noticed as soon as a touch it the pollen falls on the ground not sure if it hit the stigma?
I started manually pollinating my tomato plant a week ago after watching your video....it worked! I've noticed significant growth in the last few days, and this was noticeable particularly because although I had many blooms, they weren't turning into fruit, but now they are, thank you! :-)
Awesome! Glad to know that the hand pollination method is working out well for you! I just posted a method for pollinating eggplants in my latest upload as well. Happy Gardening!
How often are you meant to do this?
kaity i do it whenever i see new flowers open up. i will inadvertently go over some more than once but it is their fault for not showing little tomatoes fast enough. lol
i had heard of this method for a while but usually just shook the plants but was watching a gardening show on my local pbs station and the lady on there said if the temps get too high the pollen gets sticky and does not want to drop. she said with the electric toothbrush she was getting better results even when the temps were hotter. that sounded good so i went to my local dollar store and bought one for about 6 dollars. since then i noticed a lot more tomatoes developing.
i'd recommend this method.
Vibrating works although It Isn't as effective as simply licking a q-tip and rubbing into every flower! I've been doing this for over 50 years and I consistently yield racks of 10 to 12 tomatoes so I need to help them support and not break off! I constantly harvest over 99 0/0 of pollinated sets, If they don't break off, but that's rare as I watch over every day! I use organic milk cow manure, I break off all the lower branches to allow for air circulation as their growing. Intensive plant, 6 inches apart each way, plastic covering on top to keep rain off and roll up on both sides for air circulation. only slow drip ground watering one hour morn and one hour evening. Suckers are broken off every day. I use jute string from the ceiling to twist each plant for climbing, once their six feet high i cut the tops and continually trim the foliage. I drop more jute between every tomato plant and plant cucumbers or pickles between every plant, I twist them around the jute and they climb up on their own with their little tentacles. Tomatoes and cucumbers love each other, as you can see their foliage love each other! Later In the season everyone Is finished, no more tomatoes and those that are left develop black mold! This Is common In Vancouver B.C. because of all the rain! Because of my covering, air circulation and slow drip watering my growing season Is extended by 2 to 3 months, an extra 2 or 3 hundred pounds of excellent mold free tomatoes, cucumbers, another month or 2! Thanks and happy grow!
Thank you SO MUCH for posting this video. I used this method this spring and now have a tomato growing from every single bud on my plants. I can't believe how well this method works!! (Last year, relying on nature alone, my plants produced less than half the amount of tomatoes.)
Hmm, interesting... I can imagine you might have problems with toms growing under glass in unfavourable conditions, but I find it hard to imagine so few toms being pollinated that are exposed to nature. I wonder if you don't have many flying insects where you live? By contrast I should think at least 95% of my toms come to fruition (Yorshire, England) - been growing toms for years.
@@festerboyle4840 But are you growing under cover in greenhouse/polly tunnel ? if so you need to hand pollinate.
@@festerboyle4840 he might be in an area that doesn’t get a lot of wind too.
Knew about shaking for pollination but the battery operated tooth brush idea was brilliant! Thanks for sharing.
Even though I have been gardening for decades, I watch your videos to get more ideas and reassurances that I am doing the right thing as I set up our large greenhouse in the desert. Than you for your efforts!
This is a fantastic technique. I have around one hundred tomatoes already by applying this technique (Melbourne, Australia). They are still green but at least they are there, and growing, in mid-spring. :) Thanks!
Still going strong. Many tomatoes. Amazing technique. So easy and works 95% of the time.
aaand this is why we need to #savethebees. I hope everyone is inspired to plant more bee friendly flowers in their garden this year
My tomato plants around about 200 yards from an apiary, but unless they learn to unzip my polytunnel door no amount of then will do this work for me!
What about indoor gardens?
I agree. I'm planting Bee's Friend and Bergamot (Lavender) this year. Do you have any other favorites that really attract the bees?
Sunflowers sunflowers sunflowers
The heads make tons of pollen. Bees love them
Thank you for getting to the point, I've seen some videos where they just go into detail for 5-6-7 minutes how the pollination works and falls on the flower.. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for your feedback! Watch our other videos too!
You won the Internet today my friend just for this tip. :-)
I noticed you were doing it the most efficient way possible and that is using the electronic brush to turn the flowers completely upright. That is the best way for success in this awesome process.
Thumbs up
Thanks and God bless.
Wow! This was 8 years ago 😮😍. Thanks for this video. It's my first time to plant cherry tomatoes and this will help me a lot.
Glad it was helpful!
A tuning fork (Middle C) is the most efficient, because it mimics the sonicating bee. Middle C is the resonant frequency of the tomato flower, and it will release the most pollen. Touch the vibrating fork to the flower stem. If it is ripe for pollination, pollen will shoot out the blossom.
+Dave Green Interesting, Thanks for sharing this. I was just watching a documentary on BBC where they breed bumblebees in greenhouses and they explain the frequency of their buzzing and how it increases yield. So you posted this tip at the perfect time!
wow wow thank you.
how to use it?
I live in a metropolitan area and also pollinate my blossoms by hand. We just harvested 85 lbs. of squash and in July will harvest other veggies for the summer. A Q tip or water color paintbrush do well for this purpose. Any gentle vibrating motion will spill pollen onto the female flower. Yes, where we live and unfortunately with the bees losing some colonies, we have to take over the job for them. That's why farmers are in a world wide crisis. Without the bees to pollinate, acres and acres of fruit and vegetables are at risk of simply failing to thrive.
Thats a great tip, this is a great idea for greenhouse growers. thanks
Fruits For Life Thank you!
This is a great tip, I have been using it with good results. Thank you
Thank you so much I played around last year not knowing anything i just had an idea, and i had a million tomato's my neighbors couldn't believe how many now I really know how Thank you
Thanks for sharing this technique. I will try to follow to pollinate my tomatoes.
Thank you so much. I live in the NE USA and many years my tomato plants grow very large but produce few tomatoes. I will definitely give this a try this coming year.
RPS1 Glad you like it, I am sure it will help you in getting better tomato yields! Happy Gardening!!
I wasn't able to find a Angry Birds toothbrush, would a SpongeBob toothbrush have the same success rate at pollinating?
shill194 You bet! LOL
Lol I use a spiderman brush and it's awsome
SpongeBob toothbrush would be softer but last longer.
:)
Spongebob would add the love so they will probably turn out better.
Love the steel pan music. I'm from Trinidad in the Caribbean
keitth58 Glad that you liked it! Happy Gardening!!
Your yellow power brush looked like a bumble bee. Very smart! My tomato produce was very poor the last 2 yrs, will try this method this year.
Thx for sharing
I snagged my children's old toothbrushes and am using them. I just did my cherokee purple, and mild jalapeno plants right here by the house. Will do the others out in the garden during nap time. Can't wait to see how well it wprks.
Great video! We have a lot of bees in my area, but I'm going to have to try this to see if I get a better result on a few plants. Thanks for sharing!
I m going to try this. It is mid-spring here in Melbourne Australia and I have so many flowers on the tomato plants. Wish me luck! :)
Ok, it worked! I now have lots of tiny green tomatoes set! It is very easy to do and I feel much better about all the work I've put into getting those tomatoes plants growing. You all know the amount of work involved. It is always so disheartening when you don't get fruit set. However, now I know the magic solution. :) Many thanks!
Great tip! My tomato plants are flowering right now. This is the first time I plant tomatoes on my balcony and I will definitely try your suggestion. Thanks!
Fabiana Testa Yes it will definitely help on your balcony plants. There is less air and less bees on a balcony so the pollination should help. Good luck!
Great informative video, thank you!
Thanks so much!!!
I'm going to college this August and I want to have some cherry tomatoes in my dorm room. Since they won't be going outside I was wondering how they could get pollinated.
I'm so excited to try this out when my little sprouts grow big enough to have flowers.
Really, Really liked your videos. Please do more. :-) I had wondered about hand pollinating and you certainly make it look so easy. I can't wait to try this on our 25-30 vines tomorrow. Thank you for posting your videos (saw two, looking for more).
PRO TIP for people who want to use this technique but save some time and money. Every video suggests using paint brushes or q-tips or tooth brushes to get the job done and I'm here to tell you that's not needed. Go outside and find a piece of grass that's grown a bit, observe the stem and you should see lots of short hairs on the stem. The hair on grass stems works wonderfully for hand pollination and you'll notice the hairs perform very similar to the hairs on a honeybee. So you simply get to go out to your squash plant, pluck a piece of grass, pollinate, and then chuck the piece of grass right back on the ground and walah you've saved yourself time and money.
Love the carribbean music. Thanks for the tips on pollinating
We've had no honey bees. None. I'm learning to hand pollinate all my plants because the lack of bees is crippling us. Hope this works!
What an amazing idea! Thank you, I am definitely going to try this method.
i liked your backyard gardening and full of information
You are so smart. Love the electric toothbrush method. BRILLANT
I think I’ve found my new favourite TH-cam channel
Wonderful video thank you for the amazing tips!!
Glad it was helpful!
2:32 "Ensure" as in opinion or facts. Did you counts how many flowers at the beginning and fruits at the end?
I use the tooth brush and Veggie Bee as well. I've heard there is a particular time of day to do this when the pollen is dry and available to drop, otherwise, the humidity causes the pollen to stick together and not pollinate the flower. Have you heard that? Best time is between 10 and 12am - or so they say.
+Kenneth “Mr. Taz” Robb Yes the best time to hand pollinate is from morning to afternoon on dry days. Pollen is naturally released during this time!
Great tip thank you very much sir ,not as hot as your climate in the uk but fingers crossed,
Wonderful video very edifying! Should I do this everyday?
Every 2-3 days or so
I had no idea! Maybe I can get my 2 year old to help me "Burch the tomato flowers teeth"! Great informative video! Thank you!
+Sheri Karanasos Isn't it fun when the kids help you in the garden! Everybody has fun and it just makes gardening so much more enjoyable. My 4 year old has helped us many times in our garden and its always a lot of fun. See him helping me harvesting the peppers here: th-cam.com/video/N9Fjbhr3a48/w-d-xo.html
thank you very much for this tip,
does this also work with other vegetables or fruits ?
Yes it does but the technique is different. See this: th-cam.com/video/jqLWlT1lhgQ/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for the toothbrush idea...genius!
Straight and to the point. Thank you!
i have a few tomatoes in pots, do you think they would survive and produce if i kept them inside during winter if i invested in a grow light
Yes they should!
I don't want to say California gardening is wrong, but there is no point in keeping them alive through winter. It'll be hard. The temperature in your home will be too stable, unlike the changing temperature outside. There will be less air circulation, which can also attract pests. And normally by the end of the season tomato plants are already full of diseases, and it's just better to start again after winter. Lol I know it's hard to say goodbye to the beautiful tomato plants we have put so much work and time into, but it's for the best.
Love your music, it is the national instrument of the country where I live.
Well being tomato plants are self-pollinating this should be a very interesting video
i was watching your garden , it looks so beautiful and please can you tell me how to grow beautiful and healthy vegetables . i planted 9 heads of tomatoes and my plants only produced only 10 tomatoes from 9 different plants.
Hello Sir/Madam; for my kind concern can you please upload a short video on hand pollination of Cauliflower or Broccoli. Its been a perfect period of pollinating them..Will look forward to it.Thank you!!!
Your tomatoes will also have a brighter smile, too! 🍅😁
Thank you for making this video...it's a great tip.
Happy to learn something new today
+Mike l Nice to know you learned something new from the video. Happy Gardening!
Thanks for showing the right way to do it.
Good tips. I shake the flowers but I have never used a powered toothbrush. I surely hope your tips help someone out there.
Love the music. I notice you seem to choose good music for your vids--good job! I also did not know the toothbrush simulated the vibrations of bees (always thought this was weird advice until you explained the reason behind it) so thanks! Will be trying this out as my 'maters are just now starting to flower.
LL Mcbee Thanks for the feedback on the music, much appreciated! Yes the toothbrush method works very well for areas with no bees/wind to pollinate the tomatoes. Good luck!
Nice tips, I will try them in my garden
Thanks for watching!
can you use vegetable oil and soap for pest control on your planior does it have to be canola oil?
Yes you can use vegetable oil!
Just enough to coat the plants lightly correct? Thanks for answering my questions!!
Yes that is right!
Thank you! Can u please tell us what soil u use? How do u mix it up? I enjoy watching your videos. Appreciate it!
See this: th-cam.com/video/E3d0f7224A4/w-d-xo.htmlm36s
Great video! What other vegetables benefit from this method?
+Roxanne Cox Thanks! Yes squashes, melons etc do benefit from this method. See this technique for zucchini, cucumber, pumpkin: th-cam.com/video/jqLWlT1lhgQ/w-d-xo.html
Thanks!
+California Gardening , this is not true. Squashes have male and female flowers, and pollen must be moved (generally by bees, although you can do it by hand), from the male flowers to the female flowers. Shaking a squash flower is useless
+Dave Green Did you see the video link I posted? Its exactly what you said :) Squashes do have different male and female flowers and the videos demonstrates exactly that. Happy Gardening!!
Pollinating tomato blooms with a battery powered toothbrush increases your crop AT LEAST 50%....kids battery toothbrushes cost less than $4....I do one side of the row and then the other......easy and also works great on cucumbers....but on cucumbers it's important to understand the difference between male and female blooms and touch the inside of the blooms....amazing how much this technique increases your yield of both vegetables....happy pollinating!
Electric tooth brush pollinating - how often do you do this? Is it a one time thing or do you vibrate the flower more than once?
Very interesting, I will try this and will keep you posted
jafarym77 Thanks, do try it out! Good luck!!
Very instructive. And, I like the music.
So have you had greater success using this method? I'm currently in Singapore for work and started a tomato patio garden. I just returned from a 3 week trip and noticed I have a bunch of blossom drop. I'm suspecting it's because they weren't pollinated. I'm also concerned of the climate here. It's a constant 80> and high humidity. I've begun using the electric toothbrush on the blossoms in hopes of pollinating the blossoms. How many times should I do that for each blossom? Once? Twice? Any thoughts?
Yes, much better success, hand pollination will ensure more tomato flowers will set fruit. Just once is enough!
We went from about 20% pollinated to probably 75%. The toothbrush is a great idea!
GREAT TIP
the yellow gloves Thanks, glad you liked it!
Hi CG.you know anything about hot peppers?are they also autopollinating and will this technic work for them too?happy gardening!
***** Yes, this technique works just as well on peppers. Happy Gardening!
Thinking this would work on a larger scale with a stronger vibration and and vibrating the entire plant
thanks for the informative video. Question: I usualy just shake the branch the tomato flowers are on. Is this enough?
does mustributer work instead toothbrush
Thank you very much for your answer to question
is the vibrator do the same trick?
Thank you - a very helpful tip. Col, NZ
hello I have question,what is the different between top soil and garden soil,please explain to me thank you so much you inspired me I am starting to garden now,I already start potatoes and ginger and I already bought all kind of seeds lol.
+Marietta Brennan Top soil is the soil scraped from a variety of land types. The top 1-2 inches are used and packaged. Garden soil is a mix of top soil as well as organic materials like wood chips, composted leaves etc. Nice to know the videos inspired you to start your veggies!
Can we use this method for cucumbers pollination..
I use my girlfriend's rabbit vibrator, works great but the neighbors look at me funny!
Just be careful to wash it afterwards so your gf doesn't get impregnated by a tomato.
Hilarious!!
Lmao!!
@@_chimera_ The cabbagepath kids will be turning green at the thought of tomatillo babies. ;-)
You mean her Billdo?
Hello again! Does the electric toothbrush method work for pollinating pumpkins or other fruits?
No, the technique is different for pumpkins and other fruits as they have different male and female flowers
Great, thank you!
What part of California are you from? I'm in San Mateo. I recently built a little greenhouse. roughly 60 sq'. My tomatoes outdoors did horribly this year. I was busy doing projects on my house so I stuck 5 plants in the ground and tended to them minimally. I've been planting Sun golds the last few years. they are one of my favorite. I noticed after all the other plants, my sun gold was still producing and the plant looked pretty healthy. I figured I'd dig it up and put it into my greenhouse. See if it can survive and maybe I an keep harvesting tomatoes. I plan on planting more tomatoes when the time is right. Do you think I will need to hand pollinate my tomatoes in the greenhouse? Do you have any suggestions for growing in a greenhouse? Do you know of any solar fans and/or heaters that can be used in a small greenhouse? If there was an efficient way to heat it, it would be nice to have summer crops during the winter. Thank you for your time.
+Stefano Hamam I am in Irvine, Zone 9B. Yes 2015 was not a great year for tomatoes and peppers here in SoCal. I was still able to grow a couple pepper varieties (Big Bertha was my fav pepper and Juliet my fav tomato). I see your option of using a greenhouse as a good one. Yes, a greenhouse has very little air, so hand pollinating your tomatoes will increase yield significantly. Good luck and let us know how it goes! I do not use large greenhouses, so no idea about the solar fans/heaters. This winter I am planning to use a larger, walk in greenhouse (This one: amzn.to/1JOgzUq - For $60 its a bargain). Happy Gardening!
+California Gardening I thought Irvine was 10A
Thanks for this electric toothbrush tip! I found out that it can also be used to quickly brush off aphids from leaves.
Great tips! Thanks a lot!
Tommyr Glad you liked the videos. Happy Gardening!
Omg thank you so much!! This helped me out so much! I'll post any fruit that grow from your tip!
Do we put water each day, when not raining, or do we wait that the soil begin to dry??
wonderful tip..am trying it
I have put the seeds today.. And I am so excited to see this video.. Approx how much time will it take before I see a good red tomato? :-)!
Amit Kumar That's nice to know. Depending on the strain, it might take up to 2-3 months to see fruit. Please be patient, its worth the rewards! Good luck!!
Thanks for sharing!
Can you use the same toothbrush on different plants?
Yes
Green Organic Love, this method works only for plants that have both male (stamen) and female (pistol) processes in each blossom. It won’t work on cucurbits of any kind or on any plant that has separate male and female blossoms (cucumber, squash, melon) or on any plant that requires cross pollination with a second plant variety (honeyberry, blueberry, plum, etc).
would that method work the same for cucumber plants? thank you for sharing
How often should you self pollinate? I live in an apartment and have to do it myself.
Could I use anything that is vibrating if one cannot get one of those toothbrushes?
Can I use the vibrate setting on my phone?
Wind can help pollunate them so place the plants where they gain good winds. I have mine placed in a outside corner of the house so that they gets the maximum amount of sun all day that they need for fruit production. I feed it dymanic lifter (a brand of chicken poo plant fertilizer) once everyweek. I have a sprinkler set to automatically water for 10 minutes everyday at 10am. The winds that I get here handles the pollunation for me and if not, I get insects everywhere that handles it and I get all those lovely tasty tomatoes. Only problem I have is fruitflies stealing my tomatoes but that can b e solved by using exclusion bags. Fruitflies seems only to be a problem in summer. My plants can survive our winter as it did. We are 2 weeks into spring and the plants are in full swings of flowers. :)
For the fruit flies, try the sticky trap - it works very well: amzn.to/2cJ534H
Do I do it to every flower Every day? Or just the flowers newly bloom?
So how often is this done? Just once or something that has to be done a few times over a couple of days/weeks?
Weekly at least but I recommend every 2-3 days
You shouId have include this fine print in the vid. would assume the flower last a month so that is 10-15 times.
The power toothbrush is a brilliant idea, I never thought of that! But, I'm kind of a noob.
Hugh Janus Glad you liked the idea. Happy Gardening!!
what sort of soil do you use
+Ian Melief I use different kinds of soil, See this for 5-1-1 mix: th-cam.com/video/-oFtE0O-fHA/w-d-xo.html and this for a coco peat based mix: th-cam.com/video/crFjC1Z8IUU/w-d-xo.html
My fower just bloomed yesterday and I would like to know when it would be ready to be pollinated. I'm scared to be too early or too late. Could you give me some advice?
does this advice also apply to peppers and eggplants? i've been getting a lot of flowers, but not as many fruits on my peppers and eggplants
xXENINAJXx Yes it applies to peppers, eggplants and gourds - very important for gourds though because they have different male and female flowers. While wind and bees pollinate most tomato plants, for gourds - its only bees. Hope that helps!
How often do I need to do this to the plant?
During the flowering season, at least every 2 days!
Thank you very much.
what do u do when the flowers dont open and half of the blooms are not even close to being open but instead i noticed the flowers them selfs are dieing before they fully open like the ones u have in the video open
And how long I have to continue pollinating