Key Techniques for Artificial Pollination in Pear Cultivation

1. Pollination tools: A brush, soft rubber, sheep's wool, etc. can be used. Place the pollen in a clean, dry small bottle. Once the tool is fully coated with pollen, it can pollinate about 10 flowers.

2. Collecting pollen: Collecting pollen is often combined with flower thinning. Pollen is generally collected from pear trees that bloom earlier and produce more pollen, such as Huanghuali, etc. The best time to collect pollen is when the pear flower buds are ready to open (preferably balloon-shaped) or when the petals have just opened. When collecting pollen, rub the flowers with both hands to separate the anthers from the filaments, and sift out the anthers with a fine-mesh sieve. After the anthers are collected, spread them flat in a tray or on paper, and heat them with an infrared bulb or an ordinary bulb, keeping the anther temperature at 20-25 degrees C. When the anthers crack open and the pollen disperses, collect it for later use.

3. Pollination time: Pollination is effective within 5-7 days after the pear tree blooms, with 3 days being preferable. Pollination can be done from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., with the specific time depending on the climate during the flowering period. When the temperature is below 10 degrees C, the pollination effect is relatively poor; when the daily maximum temperature reaches about 30 degrees C, pollination should be done in the early morning or evening. The suitable temperature for pollination is 15-20 degrees C. When the climate during the flowering period is unfavorable, it is best to pollinate twice.

4. Pollination methods: To save pollen, before pollination you can add fillers such as pine pollen, milk powder, lotus root starch and starch to the pollen for dilution. The dilution amount can be about 2 times the amount of pollen. If a manual pollinator is used, it can be diluted 10-20 times and mixed evenly. If the pollen germination rate is below 30%, there is no need to add fillers during artificial pollination. When pollinating, for flowers on trees below 2.5 m in height, according to the fruit-setting standard, pollinate 2 freshly opened flowers per inflorescence, pollinating about 10,000 flowers per mu. You can also put the diluted pollen in a gauze bag, tie it to a bamboo pole, and then gently tap the bamboo pole with a wooden stick so that the pollen sprinkles onto the flowers. This method requires about 50 grams of pollen per mu. You can also mix the pollen into a 15% sucrose solution and then spray it onto the flower stigmas with a sprayer. This method requires about 80-100 grams of pollen per mu.

In addition, methods such as hanging flowering branches or using top-grafted pollinator varieties and releasing bees during the flowering period can also be adopted. Spraying 0.2-0.3% boric acid, 0.3% urea, 0.2% potassium dihydrogen phosphate, 15 mg/kg naphthalene acetic acid, etc. during the flowering period can also increase the fruit-setting rate of pear trees.