Why Kiwifruit Needs Hand Pollination and the Correct Method
Kiwifruit, also known as the kiwi, has extremely high nutritional value. If you like eating it, you will find the taste very good, sweet and sour, but if you do not like it, you will find the taste a bit odd, and the price of kiwifruit on the market is still quite expensive. The cultivation of kiwifruit has no great demands on conditions. During the pollination process, insects usually handle pollination, but sometimes the yield is not ideal, so to increase the yield, we go to great lengths. Let's take a look below.
Reasons for Hand Pollination
Although kiwifruit has both male and female parts, the male flowers are more vigorous, so pollen must be transferred between male and female flowers for the plant to bear fruit. Moreover, fruit produced without external help is generally not of good quality, so hand pollination is needed. Under normal circumstances, if the fruit is only for the family's own enjoyment, wind can be relied on for pollination, but the fruit produced will be few and not very large. However, if you are running a business growing large tracts of kiwifruit, then you should use hand pollination as much as possible, because the kiwifruit produced this way will be more nutritious and the yield will be higher.
Methods of Hand Pollination
1. Pollen Collection
Pollen is generally collected at nine or ten in the morning or at six or seven in the evening two days after the flowers open. Of course, it is best to choose a sunny day, because collecting on a rainy day will seriously affect the quality of the pollen. The flowers collected must all be male flowers. After collection, spread the flowers flat on paper; do not pile them up, as this affects quality. Finally, process the pollen. After the pollen has been shaken loose, the pollen ratio needs to be prepared so as to reach the highest standard.
2. Pollination Time
After the pollen is prepared, we need to choose a relatively sunny morning to carry out pollination. Generally, the best time for pollination is around eight or nine in the morning. Pollinating at this time gives the best effect, which can greatly increase the fruit-setting rate, and the quality of the fruit will also improve noticeably.
3. Pollination Techniques
There are two pollination techniques. The first is to directly smear the stamens of the male flower onto the female flower, applying them several times repeatedly, and afterward place the male flower over the female flower so they make even closer contact. However, the pollination time is relatively longer, generally requiring five or six days, but the effect of this pollination method is the best. The second is to dip the collected pollen with a wet towel and then pour it into clean water for spraying. Although this is fast, the pollination is not so even. Finally, you can also use a relatively light medium such as a feather to apply the pollen, and the effect will be better than with a wet towel.
4. Check and Reapply Pollen
Two days after hand pollination, female flowers that have generally not been pollinated are white, and after successful pollination they turn yellow. If the color of the female flower has not changed, or the color change is not obvious, that means pollination was not successful, or that you missed some when pollinating, so pollen needs to be reapplied. The method of reapplying pollen is the same as the first pollination, depending on which one you prefer.
The above is the simple tutorial brought to you today by Qinnong Web on why kiwifruit needs hand pollination and how to carry it out. Of course, there are also some other pollination models, such as putting a large number of bees into the orchard during the kiwifruit flowering season for pollination, which is also quite advisable.