Hand-pollination
Jane McGary (Fri, 27 Oct 2017 11:28:30 PDT)

I'd like some expert guidance on hand-pollinating various genera of
geophytes. I never used to worry about it because I grew my bulb
collection in a rural area in frames, open in mild weather, and bees and
other pollinators such as hummingbirds found them readily. Now I live in
an insect-poor suburb, where the only early pollinators are a few
bumblebees, and they can't seem to get through the wire mesh sides of
the bulb house (they could if they would land and crawl through, but
they just fly at it and bounce off). I rarely get seed on early species
now, notably crocus and fritillaria, although I have attempted to
hand-pollinate them.

How does one tell when the flower's reproductive parts are mature? I can
tell when the pollen is dehiscing, but I don't know when the stigma is
receptive. In many plants, the two processes occur at different times to
avoid self-pollination. Is there some visual cue to this?

Thanks,

Jane McGary, Portland, Oregon, USA

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