Pollination | Walter Reeves: The Georgia Gardener

Apple – Pollination

Q: Last fall we purchased a dwarf ‘Fuji’ and a ‘Red Delicious’ apple tree. We knew they had to bloom at the same time to produce fruit. This spring, dwarf ‘Fuji’ bloomed in early spring and the other didn’t bloom...

Pecan – Pollination

Q: A friend of mine in Savannah gave me several male and female pecan trees. Will they thrive here? How do I identify a male from a female tree? A: Pecans don’t have male and female trees. However, many pecan...

Squash/Pumpkin/Cucumber/Watermelon Cross-Pollination – Explanation

I frequently receive from gardeners pictures of crazy-looking squash, cucumbers and gourds. Typically the plants sprouted in a compost pile, from discarded fruit of the past year. The gardeners suspect cross-pollination is to blame for the odd shapes and they...

Pollination Requirement and Seeds in Citrus

(The source of this material is unknown. Please email if you can find it.) Seeds are produced in the plant kingdom, generally, as a result of pollination. Many of the commercial species in the citrus genus, are self-fertile, meaning that...

Tomato – Two Toned

Q: I noticed last week that one of my few tomatoes growing on my tomato plant in a pot was two-toned. I’ve never seen one of these before. A: Very odd! My guess is that incomplete pollination caused it. Tomatoes...

Pollination – In Your Garden

One of the most delightfully informative garden books I’ve ever read is “Sex in Your Garden” by Angela Overy . Ms. Overy (yup, that’s her real name!) describes how plants use false advertisements, bribes, perfume and sometimes pseudo-copulation to accomplish...

Pollination – Further Explorations

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the “Pollinator-Friendly” Plant Sale at the Dunwoody Nature Center (770-394 3322). A recent radio caller wanted even more information on pollination. He queried, “I understand perfect flowered plants (both sexes in one...

Viburnum – Pollination

Although hollies are better-known for their berries, viburnum shrubs can also have striking fruit each fall. Two of the best fruiting viburnums are tea viburnum, Viburnum setigerum and Linden viburnum, Viburnum dilatatum. Just as with hollies, good pollination produces best...

Apple

Malus cv. With the availability of dwarf trees, nearly any backyard can accommodate some of these fruit trees. Standard-sized Apple trees reach 30 feet or more tall with an equal width. Semi-dwarfs reach 15 to 20 feet and dwarfs grow...

Holly – Pollination

I spoke at a training meeting for nursery personnel recently and was inundated with questions about how hollies pollinate. The folks knew that hollies have male and female plants, and that only the females bear berries. They wondered, though, if...

Fruit – Pollination Requirements

In order for a plant to produce fruit, the flowers must be pollinated. In general, insects and wind will take care of the mechanics of this for you. However, you must have flowers that provide the pollen in order for...

Squash – Pollination

Gardeners growing yellow squash and zucchini may notice that many blooms come on the plant early but fall off without forming fruit. Members of the cucurbit family (melons, squash, pumpkins, gourds) have separate male and female blooms on each plant....

Vegetables – Pollination

One of the most delightfully informative garden books I’ve ever read is “Sex in Your Garden” by Angela Overy (Fulcrum Publishing, $19.95). Ms. Overy (yup, that’s her real name!) describes how plants use false advertisements, bribes, perfume and sometimes pseudo-copulation...