I found this video of buzz pollination with an electric toothbrush and wondered how effective it would be on coffee blossoms. Anyone try? Coffee is self-pollinating so it should work from that aspect. A paint brush works but seems a bit too rough on the delicate flowers.
Hi Junglekeeper: One of my second generation plants is now flowering and producing berries. I used to pollinate with my finger, but gave up and let them do it themselves. Carl
Hi, Carl. So you don't do anything at all - not even gently shaking flowered branches? I think I'll give buzz pollination a try (somehow) this year and see what happens. It seems like a good way to increase pollination. I'd rather not use the paint brush again.
No. Through laziness and inertia, I've become more of an observer than a fiddler. I don't get a whole lot of berries, but the ones I get seem to be viable seed. The electric toothbrush must be one of the ultrasonic ones. I'd think you'd just have to hold it close to the flower and not even touch it to pollinate. The rotary ones would probably eat your flowers. Are you thinking of a plantation? Or do you like to drink a mug of homegrown for breakfast? "That's why there's forty-three beans in every cup of Nescafe. Real coffee beans that's all you get in Nescafe. The all coffee in-stant coffee with the Let's have another cup taste" I'm stuck with commercials from my childhood running through my head. Carl
My tree is still rather small, about 3.5' tall, so I have to make the most of the few flowers it produces. I'll probably adopt your philosophy once the novelty has worn off.
It shouldn't be a problem if you're not using the toothbrush attachment. Have a look at the video in the first post. The person is using the vibrations from the short metal tip. A pollinator tool available from Amazon is similar except it has a much longer tip. Apparently an electric razor, again without the cutter attached, works as well.
Can't see it, as it needs 'flash' plugin, which I don't have because of its bad computer security flaws.
Yes this is what I saw as well. The tool tip looked much like a screw driver flat head attachment and was never used to brush the actual flower pollen. It simply was used to lightly vibrate the flower to release it's pollen. He also however employed the usage of a fan on light speed to blow the pollen back onto the plant's other flowers ensuring a cross pollination. On a documentary dealing with Colony Collaspe Disorder of Honey Bees in the country of China, where in some regions Honey Bees are extinct because of a number of reasons, they have to hand pollinate every apple and pear tree. They actually used a feather to accomplish this. If there is a need for actual brushing , then I believe a feather would be much more delicate to use and wouldn't damage anything.
It will work even with the brush attachment since it is really the vibration that is doing the job. All it takes is a light touch of the plant. This video is an example of such use. (Michael, I know you won't be able to see this but it's for the benefit of others following this thread.)
