Eileen McCabe

Jay Angler wrote:It's good to refresh our memories about the general parts of a flower, and what they do.



The anther is where the pollen is. Pollen can be quite obvious in a flower like a squash, but be almost microscopic on some flowers.

Many flowers want to receive pollen from a different (non-clone) plant, like a different variety of peach, but some are less fussy.

The pollen needs to land on the top of the stigma to do its job. There are thin tubes in the style that lead the pollen down to the ovule. (It's not the same in all plants - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollination for more detail.)

So if you're trying to hand pollinate, you need to use something delicate like a soft paintbrush or cotton swab. You need to dab it first on the anthers of one blossom, and second on the stigma of a second.

I try to only pollinate a single flower in a cluster on a fruit tree, as it's better for the tree not to have too much fruit too close together.

If a tree has a lot of flowers, I'm known to cheat and pick a blossom and smoosh its anthers against another flower's stigma. I'll use a single blossom on about 5 other flowers, but by then it's pretty much disintegrating in my hand.

If the weather's being weird, I try to do a bit of this every few days for a week or so. The trouble is remembering to...

Hand pollinating in no way replaces good pollinators. However, it usually does get me some fruit when the weather's bad enough that I'm not seeing any pollinators out visiting. One good, sunny afternoon, can make the world of difference. I will admit, I make a fairly lousy bee!

This link does not work. Have you pollinated corn before? Do you know if pollination needs to be from a different plant or the same one?

I am in zone 8b, Puget Sound, WA, USA. I treat broccoli as a perennial, but I think cut-and-come-again is a more accurate description. I have several broccoli plants that are 3+ years old. Their stems are more like trunks now. I am able to harvest starting in March through June, and then again in the fall after vigorous pruning in the summer when it flowers. I don't know if you can do this with any broccoli or only with those varieties described as broccolini. I dry the pruned leaves and powder them and use it as a supplement. There is evidence for it stabilizing blood sugar and it has both C and B vitamins and calcium.

I am  in zone 8b, Puget Sound WA, USA, experimenting with just allowing some windfall plums to sprout in place and see what happens. With cherries, this is happening in my front yard near an existing sweet cherry tree. One of these volunteers is now 3 feet tall and bore its first few cherries this year. I am happy to report that they were exactly what was expected. I have 5 or 6 of the seedlings in the yard now. I let them get a foot tall or so and then move them or pot them to share.

To those in the US Pacific Northwest, have you found effective deterrants to Stellar Jays? They have completely denuded 2 trees in a matter of days. I have hung mylar strips from the branches of 2 other trees, but I still see them perching in the trees. Help!

In greater Seattle, curly or bitter dock are abundant. I have heard of harvesting the seeds for flour. Has anyone done this? How have you separated the seed from the brown papery covering?

I have heard of using sorghum (broom corn) stalks and tops for broom making. Has any one used broom or dock for making brooms? Any tips?

Thank you Cathy. Did you dry the canes before shredding? I am planning a similar process, mixing the shredded cane with straw. I want to use 5 gallon buckets with 1/4" holes covered with surgical tape. I have used the 5 gallon bucket method with oyster mushrooms before using just straw for the substrate, first soaked in lime water to sterilize it.

Do you soak or treat the leaves in any way before using? Do you have any photos to share of how you have used them. Thank you.

Has anyone used daylily stems and leaves for basketry?

To clarify, it is the Turkish ones that are not bearing. I started them from sprouted nuts from a pair of trees that have been bearing consistently for many years. The originating trees do not have a pollinator of another variety.  Do they need to be pruned back? I have heard that hazel nuts  bear better when pruned rather severely. Can anyone confirm that from their own experience?