Planting in Pairs - Pollination

ASlatzer 5/1/2013, 10:12 pm

Hellloooo, hope someone out there can answer my question or clear up my confusion ... I am planning out my garden and am curious if there are any plants that need to be grown in pairs for pollination.... In Mel's book it says that we shouldn't have any of the same plants in adjacent squares but don't some plants need to be planted in pairs, like peppers? And some are just allotted just one per SF.... not sure how this should affect my planning...

Thank you for any help!

angela

littlejo 5/1/2013, 10:58 pm

I've not heard of vegetable plants that must be planted in pairs. Some fruits have to have a pollinator, but they don't have to be planted next to each other. Bees or other insects pollinate by going from plant to plant. Peppers are self pollinating. You can get a pepper if you only have 1 bloom on the plant. Tomatoes are the same way.
Jo

**Turan** 5/2/2013, 12:35 am

Welll corn is wind pollinated and needs to be planted in blocks.

ASlatzer 5/2/2013, 9:44 am

Thank you Jo and Turan! This will help with my planning : )

littlejo 5/2/2013, 5:21 pm

Sorry, I did not think about corn. I grow corn, but I have lots of room. Lots of folks put their corn in a Three Sisters garden, sometimes in the ground, rather than SFG.
Jo

Pollinator 5/2/2013, 7:47 pm

Turan wrote:Welll corn is wind pollinated and needs to be planted in blocks.

Actually it's easy for you to be the pollinator for corn, even if it isn't in blocks.

http://gardensouth.org/2011/07/09/you-can-avoid-corn-pollination-failure/

yolos 5/2/2013, 10:08 pm

Pollinator - I have read that if you are trying to manually pollinate corn, before you drop the pollen on the silks, cut the silks back partway. One reason to do this is to keep track of which silks you have pollinated. Does this sound reasonable.

Pollinator 5/3/2013, 9:32 am

yolos wrote:Pollinator - I have read that if you are trying to manually pollinate corn, before you drop the pollen on the silks, cut the silks back partway. One reason to do this is to keep track of which silks you have pollinated. Does this sound reasonable.

I've never heard of this. What you want is a grain of pollen on each silk. Each one that doesn't will produce a gap where there should be a kernel of corn. In light of the very short window of time when the silk is receptive, I wouldn't want to play around with this; I want to "git-er-done."

Those doing experiments in seed hybridization may think differently than the home gardener.

**sanderson** 5/3/2013, 4:12 pm

Planting in Pairs - I've heard that the only veggie that needs more than one plant is corn. The more the merrier, and the more community pollination!

As far as summer squash and cucumbers, I think they both have separate male and female flowers. Close relatives can cross pollinate, creating hybrid seeds. Not a problem if you don't save the seeds for the following year.

If you are growing cucumbers vertically, this is a good video. I swear that You Tube has some really good "how to" videos! I'm growing zucchini vertically. And trying to raise one lousy cantelope seedling vertically! It may be in the wrong sun location?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2Cw_UHWBWg

jazzycat 5/3/2013, 6:06 pm

sanderson wrote:Planting in Pairs - I've heard that the only veggie that needs more than one plant is corn. The more the merrier, and the more community pollination!

As far as summer squash and cucumbers, I think they both have separate male and female flowers. Close relatives can cross pollinate, creating hybrid seeds. Not a problem if you don't save the seeds for the following year.

If you are growing cucumbers vertically, this is a good video. I swear that You Tube has some really good "how to" videos! I'm growing zucchini vertically. And trying to raise one lousy cantelope seedling vertically! It may be in the wrong sun location?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2Cw_UHWBWg

How exactly do you grow zucchini vertically? I would like to do that, but it's a kind of a bushy plant. I've been trying to find information about it, but so far, no such luck.

littlejo 5/3/2013, 8:17 pm

jazzycat, It's in a thread here somewhere!

Will try to explain, but this will be my first yr to try it.
Plant seed/transplant. Get fencepost/stake and put in ground near plant (This maybe should be done first!) As plant grows train and tie to the stake. I'm not too sure about this, I'll have to find that thread soon. I usually just train it to go over the side of the box, but room is getting tight in the isles.
Jo

**camprn** 5/3/2013, 8:25 pm

Jazzycat, there are many threads discussing pruning. Look in the search feature with the word 'prune'.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
To answer the OP question of multiple plantings for good pollination, I know that tommitillos require more than one plant for pollination.
Also needing neighbors of the same plant, cucumbers, squashes, melons...

Here is a little info about pollination.
http://msucares.com/lawn/garden/vegetables/pollination/

littlejo 5/3/2013, 9:06 pm

zucchini grown up a post. Jo
http://thewealthyearth.com/zucchini-in-1-square-foot/

jazzycat 5/4/2013, 12:47 am

littlejo wrote:zucchini grown up a post. Jo
http://thewealthyearth.com/zucchini-in-1-square-foot/

Thanks Jo! That's a pretty decent picture showing it.

jazzycat 5/4/2013, 1:28 am

Also, looking through the zucchini threads, I found this video. This guy explains and shows how he does it really well. I'm glad I kept searching. Very Happy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ogPfOrJM0Ho#!

(didn't mean to go OT. sorry!)

**sanderson** 5/4/2013, 1:53 am

Thank you. I think now I WILL try vertically training my big zucchini. I was letting it, and the crookneck, spill over their corner boxes.

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