Bulbs
Flower Basics
Flower Beds & Specialty Gardens
Flower Garden
Garden Furniture
Garden Gnomes
Garden Seeds
Garden Sheds
Garden Statues
Garden Tools & Supplies
Gardening Basics
Green & Organic
Groundcovers & Vines
Growing Annuals
Growing Basil
Growing Beans
Growing Berries
Growing Blueberries
Growing Cactus
Growing Corn
Growing Cotton
Growing Edibles
Growing Flowers
Growing Garlic
Growing Grapes
Growing Grass
Growing Herbs
Growing Jasmine
Growing Mint
Growing Mushrooms
Orchids
Growing Peanuts
Growing Perennials
Growing Plants
Growing Rosemary
Growing Roses
Growing Strawberries
Growing Sunflowers
Growing Thyme
Growing Tomatoes
Growing Tulips
Growing Vegetables
Herb Basics
Herb Garden
Indoor Growing
Landscaping Basics
Landscaping Patios
Landscaping Plants
Landscaping Shrubs
Landscaping Trees
Landscaping Walks & Pathways
Lawn Basics
Lawn Maintenance
Lawn Mowers
Lawn Ornaments
Lawn Planting
Lawn Tools
Outdoor Growing
Overall Landscape Planning
Pests, Weeds & Problems
Plant Basics
Rock Garden
Rose Garden
Shrubs
Soil
Specialty Gardens
Trees
Vegetable Garden
Yard Maintenance
How to Hand Pollinate Adenium
How to Hand Pollinate Adenium. Adenium obesum is a flower of vibrant color from Arabia and Africa. The plant presents as both shrubs and trees. Cross-pollination of Adeniums is a common practice, since the flower has such showy colors that are a joy to mix through hybridization. Horticulturalists use multiple methods to cross-pollinate Adeniums....
Adenium obesum is a flower of vibrant color from Arabia and Africa. The plant presents as both shrubs and trees. Cross-pollination of Adeniums is a common practice, since the flower has such showy colors that are a joy to mix through hybridization. Horticulturalists use multiple methods to cross-pollinate Adeniums. It’s best to start off with a simple approach if you are a beginner.
Things You'll Need
Toothpick
Scissors
Adhesive tape
Magnifying lens
Cut open a flower that you want to pollinate from.
Locate the pollen in the tiny chamber immediately below the hairy filaments at the top of the central flower structure.
Wet the tip of a toothpick with water and scoop off some pollen. You may need a magnifying glass to verify that you actually got some onto your toothpick.
Cut the corolla of the receiving flower vertically from the circular edge at the top downward about three-quarters of an inch.
Fold the corolla back and over on itself to expose the inner structure of the flower.
Locate the "gel cap," which is a silvery pearl-like bead right under the pollen chamber.
Tap the toothpick to knock pollen onto the surface just under the gel cap. This is called the "receptive surface" because it receives the pollen.
Fold up the corolla again, join the severed sides where you cut it, and tape it shut with adhesive tape to reduce its trauma. In a week or two, you’ll see seedpods growing in pairs out from the base of the flower like little horns.
Tips & Warnings
According to Lap Huynh at FlowerPictures.net, experts believe that you need two Adeniums to produce seedpods. So even if you aren’t interested in cross-pollinating, but just pollinating, this technique may be necessary without the help of pollinating insects.
