do peppers need to be pollinated

If you are new to growing peppers or are not getting fruit yet, you might be wondering if you need to pollinate your pepper plants. After all, if helping them along the way will produce more peppers, then why not do it? So, do peppers need to be pollinated? Pepper plants have flowers that are self-pollinating. However, the flowers can fail to pollinate themselves for several reasons, including extreme temperature, humidity, or lack of pollinators such as bees. In that case, there are several methods you can use to hand pollinate pepper plants. Of course, even hand pollination of pepper plants may not help much if the temperature or humidity is too extreme. In this article, we’ll explore the reasons that pepper plants fail to pollinate and what you can do about it. We’ll also look at some ways to hand pollinate peppers. Let’s get going. Do Peppers Need to be Pollinated? Pepperepper plants do need to be pollinated to produce fruit. However, it is important to remember that the flowers of pepper plants are perfect. This is not my biased opinion on pepper flowers – it is actually a scientific term. A perfect flower contains both male and female parts. Pepper flowers are perfect, meaning that they contain both male and female parts. Under the right conditions, the male part of the flower will release pollen onto the female part of the flower. This results in pollination and fruit set. A flower on a pepper plant can also receive pollen from: other flowers on the same pepper plantother flowers on other pepper plants Usually, the transfer of pollen from one flower to another is done by bees and other pollinators. Pollination of a flower will lead to a pepper fruit forming and growing from where the flower was. Do Peppers Need to be Planted in Pairs? You do not need to plant peppers in pairs to get pollination and fruit. Since each plant has perfect flowers, a single plant (or even a single flower) is capable of pollinating itself. Although pepper flowers are perfect, cross-pollination is still possible. Cross-pollination occurs when pollen from a flower on one pepper plant pollinates a flower on a different pepper plant. Although not required to get fruit, planting peppers in pairs will result in more flowers. This will attract more bees, which will increase the chances of pollination. Planting more peppers results in more flowers, which attracts more bees to help with pollination. According to Texas A&M University, if hot peppers and sweet (bell) peppers cross pollinate, the resulting sweet peppers will not be hot. However, the seeds of those sweet peppers could produce entirely different plants and fruit in later generations. Are Peppers Self Pollinating? Pepper plants are self-pollinating, which means that a single plant (or even a single flower) can set fruit by itself. It does not need another plant in order to make peppers. For this reason, peppers and other self-pollinating plants (such as tomatoes) are ideal for indoor gardening. You can plant just one of these crops and still get fruit! One drawback of self-pollination is that a pepper plant cannot evolve in response to a changing environment. This is because later generations have the same genetic material as the mother plant. It is important to remember that self-pollination does not mean guaranteed pollination. There are several things that will prevent a pepper plant’s flowers from self-pollinating. Temperature Extreme temperatures are one cause of a lack of pollination in pepper plants. According to the Oregon State University Extension: “Normal pollination and fruit set don't occur when night temperatures fall below 58 degrees.”https://extension.oregonstate.edu/news/why-vegetables-drop-blossoms Temperatures much below 58 degrees Fahrenheit will slow down growth of the entire pepper plant, and may even cause damage. Frost will spell the end for pepper plants, so avoid transplanting them outside too early. If this is a concern, you can learn how to protect peppers from cold in my article here. Pepper plants are warm-weather crops, and frost will spell the end for them. On the other hand, if you transplant too late, high temperatures later in the summer will cause pepper plants to drop their flowers entirely. According to Texas A&M University: “Most peppers will drop their blooms when daytime temperatures get much above 90 degrees F. in combination with night temperatures above 75 degrees F. They will also drop their blooms in the early spring if temperatures remain cool for extended periods.”https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/vegetables/pepper.html Providing a little shade during the hottest part of the day may keep your pepper plants cooler. Keeping them watered will also help to avoid drought stress during hot, dry weather. Humidity Level The humidity in the air can also affect pollination of pepper plants. When the air is too humid, the pollen gets too sticky. This prevents the male part of the flower from releasing its pollen. When the air is too dry, the pollen is not sticky enough. This prevents the pollen from sticking to the female part of the flower. The inside of a greenhouse can have high humidity levels, so consider airing out your greenhouse when it is time to pollinate your pepper plants. Lack of Wind The wind is one way that the flowers on pepper plants are pollinated. Normally, the wind causes the flowers to move and vibrate. Wind is one way that the flowers on pepper plants get pollinated. This stimulates the male part of the flower to release pollen. Without any wind, this won’t happen. A lack of wind is a problem if you are growing plants in your home or in a greenhouse, since bees are not able to help with pollination. Lack of Pollinators In some places, bee populations are on the decline. It is suspected that pesticides are causing most of the problem, but there could be other reasons. Extreme heat or cold can also stop bees from doing their work to pollinate flowers. Extreme temperatures will prevent bees from going out to do the work of pollination. No matter what the reason, a lack of pollinators will result in less fruit from your pepper plants. To get as much fruit as possible, you might need to pollinate your plants by hand. How to Hand Pollinate Peppers There are a few ways to pollinate your pepper plants by hand. All of these methods come down to the same thing: the goal is to make the flowers vibrate, which releases pollen from the male part and sends it to the female part. Here are the 4 methods you can use for hand pollination: brush with soft bristlestuning forktoothpickshake the plant Brush A brush with stiff bristles could hurt your flowers, so use a brush with soft bristles. A paintbrush or toothbrush would work well to hand pollinate peppers. An electric toothbrush would be even better, since the vibration is similar to a bee’s wings as it flies around. A brush with soft bristles, such as a toothbrush, will work to pollinate pepper flowers. Just touch the brush to the flowers on the plant. Do it hard enough to make them move a bit, which will stimulate the release of pollen. If you want to try to cross-pollinate between different pepper plants, put the bristles inside the flowers as you go along. Tuning Fork A tuning fork is another interesting choice for hand pollination of peppers. Just strike it on a hard object to make it vibrate. The vibration from a tuning fork mimics the vibration of a bee's wings. Then, touch the vibrating fork to your flowers. This simulates the buzzing of a bee’s wings, and will cause your flowers to release pollen. Toothpick This method is cheaper than the electric toothbrush or tuning fork. First, take your toothpick (or pencil, or stick) and gently push up or down on the flower to move it out of place. A toothpick is a low-tech way to pollinate pepper plants. Then, move the toothpick to let the flower go. When it moves back into place, the movement and vibration will cause the male part to release its pollen. Shake the Plant Shaking the entire plant mimics what the wind would do. It doesn’t require any tools, so you can do it without any preparation. This method will be difficult to use if the pepper plants are tied to stakes or cages. It will also cause the stems or branches to break if you are too aggressive with the movement. How Can You Tell if a Pepper Flower is Pollinated? After hand pollination, you can sometimes see a puff of yellow pollen emerge from the flower. However, this may not always be visible. Eventually, a fruit will start to form where the flower is (the pepper will appear behind the flower). How Long after Flowering do Peppers Appear? According to the University of Georgia Extension, it takes 45 to 55 days after pollination for a bell pepper to mature to full size (at that point, it will be a shade of deep, dark green). It takes another 15 days after that for the pepper turn deep red. So, you are looking at 60 to 70 days from flower pollination to mature red bell peppers that are ready for harvest. Leave peppers on the plant to make them turn from green to yellow, orange, or red! It would be somewhere in between (maybe 55 to 65 days) if you wanted yellow or orange peppers. Be sure to watch them so that you can harvest to get the colors you want. Of course, there are also pepper varieties that produce purple fruit, so that is an option if you want to broaden your horizons! You can also find pepper varieties that produce purple fruit. You can learn all about when pepper plants produce fruit in my article here. How Many Peppers Will One Plant Produce? According to the Michigan State University Extension, a bell pepper plant can produce 6 to 8 fruits per plant. However, it is possible to get more than this with proper care of the plant. You can learn more about just how big bell peppers can get in my article here. It is also possible to get more peppers if you grow varieties with smaller fruit. For example, there are way more than 8 fruits on this pepper plant. This pepper plant has dozens of fruits on it, since each one is so small. Conclusion Now you know that peppers will need hand pollination if there is a lack of bees. You also know about 4 different ways to do it. I hope you found this article helpful. If so, please share it with someone who can use the information. If you want to read some of my most popular posts, check out the “Best of GreenUpSide” page here. Enjoy! ~Jonathon