pbs Digest, Vol 18, Issue 9
Hannon (Fri, 10 Aug 2018 09:39:09 PDT)

George,

The short answer is "yes", various environmental factors are important for
the successful pollination of flowers. A bromeliad hybridizer told me that
humidity can be a critical factor in stigma receptivity (lower humidity
being a bad thing). Some amaryllids like Eucrosia and Stenomesson I have
selfed and everything looked good (pollen, stigmas) but no seeds were
formed. In subsequent years, with the same individuals (clones), I repeated
the selfing and got lots of good seed. It is difficult to say what changed
but it may have been local humidity.

Aside from the importance or actual necessity of crossing different clones
to get the best fertility and seed set, I would say it is best to pollinate
earlier in the life of a flower rather than later. Pelargoniums for example
can be successfully pollinated before the stigma lobes are open. Nocturnal
flowers are ideally pollinated in the evening but I don't think this is an
absolute requirement. I suspect each grower will learn more from
experimentation than combing the literature on this subject, which probably
covers few geophytes.

Dylan

*"Reason is itself a matter of faith. It is an act of faith to assert that
our thoughts have any relation to reality at all."* ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton

Is the time of day a critical factor in hand pollinating geophytes? Are

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