Long story short, I have some pepper plants growing indoors. They are beginning to blossom. Any tips on getting these pollinated? I am putting the plants outside on sunny days, but we’ve had a lot of rainy ones and I am getting a ton of flowers.
Just take a Q-tip swab and once the blooms are completely open and you can see pollen, move the pollen from flower to flower, just like a Bee or other insect would do.
Not sure if you need to keep each plant to itself or if you can cross pollinate, or what. I’m sure Ellendra knows.
Look for a very soft paintbrush, and gently stroke the center of each open flower, with your strokes going toward the middle.
Some peppers are even easier, and can be pollinated by just rustling their branches. But if you’re moving the plants in and out without any fruits forming, then yours might need the paintbrush method. Make sure the brush is soft, some of the cheap plastic ones will scratch too much.
I add this for the Good of the Order....
I found out the hard way with pepper plants iny greenhouse.
Peppers and tomatoes, their pollen gets “sterized at temps over 93-95 degrees.
I had my peppers suspended up high iny greenhouse and even with the auto vents opening at 85 degrees...my peppers were not producing fruit....floweri g but not setting the fruit.
As soon as Google told me the problem I pulled the down and viola! Fruit set in 2 weeks.