I have a greenhouse grow right now which has given me a much more personal relationship with my plants. Since the greenhouse doubles as my man-cave in the winter, I have been spending a lot of time brooding over about 40 bhuts, 5 prik kee noo, 2 7Pod Douglahs, 1 Datil and 1 TS Butch T. I have isolated each variety with Agribon to prevent crosses.
Through careful observation I have noticed that the Douglahs seem to be pollinating before the flowers open. When the flowers do open, there is already a formed pod and this is on 100% of the flowers so far. You can see the flowers getting abnormally large just before they open. The TS Butch T had this happening as well for the first few flowers but I have since turned to hand pollinating it with 100% success so far. The Bhuts have always needed hand pollinating in the greenhouse (NO pollinating insects) and even then I only have about 60-70% success and rarely to I get self pollinated pods on them.
I know that nightshades have the ability to pollinate themselves under the right conditions. I use an electric toothbrush to force my tomato plants to self pollinate in the greenhouse by vibrating the flowers before and after opening. Any ideas on what mechanism is causing the high rate of self pollination in one variety but not the others? Has anyone else seen this in their indoor grows? I would love to figure this mechanism out so that I am not spending 4-5 hours a week acting like a bumblebee. And yes, I do make the "buzz buzz" sound when I do it!
Through careful observation I have noticed that the Douglahs seem to be pollinating before the flowers open. When the flowers do open, there is already a formed pod and this is on 100% of the flowers so far. You can see the flowers getting abnormally large just before they open. The TS Butch T had this happening as well for the first few flowers but I have since turned to hand pollinating it with 100% success so far. The Bhuts have always needed hand pollinating in the greenhouse (NO pollinating insects) and even then I only have about 60-70% success and rarely to I get self pollinated pods on them.
I know that nightshades have the ability to pollinate themselves under the right conditions. I use an electric toothbrush to force my tomato plants to self pollinate in the greenhouse by vibrating the flowers before and after opening. Any ideas on what mechanism is causing the high rate of self pollination in one variety but not the others? Has anyone else seen this in their indoor grows? I would love to figure this mechanism out so that I am not spending 4-5 hours a week acting like a bumblebee. And yes, I do make the "buzz buzz" sound when I do it!
