Chili plants pollinate blossoms

In the garden and on the balcony, bees and insects pollinate chilies. They are attracted by nectar. Wind also transfers the pollen to other flowers and thus fertilizes them. If your chilies grow outside in the garden or on the balcony, you don’t need to worry about pollination them. It happens all by itself.

If you grow indoor chilies, you should help your plants to reproduce. Virtually all indoor plants from which you wish to obtain fruit or seeds will be more reliably artificially pollinated. It is rare for anemophilia (wind pollination) or zoophilia (animal pollination) to occur indoors.

In windless greenhouses it is more effective to pollinate the open chili flower. It is rare for a bee to get lost in a closed greenhouse. And even if it does, it will hardly pollination all the flowers. You can also use a fan for wind and good air circulation. A flower that is not pollinated will not form a chili pepper.

If flowers form on chili plants in the garden at a windless time and bees stay away, you can also pollinate your chillies yourself here. It is too bad if many flowers fall off unfertilized. In such a situation, however, you should think about the environmental factors. You may want to set up a wild bee or insect hotel whose inhabitants contribute to a better pollination performance.

With few visitors in relation to the flowering plants, the Habanero is often avoided first.

The chilli flower is pollinated by transferring pollen to the scar of the fruit leaf. The pollen is easily transferred by insects, both the pollen and the scar are sticky.

With a soft human hair artist brush or cotton swab you can play bee and pollinate flowers yourself. It is best to proceed systematically from top to bottom. Be gentle and careful. Dab each flower with circular movements. Roll the brush lightly between your fingers.

Use the brush during the whole flowering period. If you value purity and avoid cross-pollination, use an extra brush for each chili variety. Red sable human hair brushes are available for pennies on the dollar from model builders or artists. Cotton buds are available at discounters or drugstores. We prefer a soft brush of size 6.

A faster way to pollinate your chili plants is to shake the whole plant. For about three seconds you jerk the chili stem. Vibrations cause the pollen to dissolve and transfer to the same flower or to other flowers. This variant is often used in larger plants where there is little air movement. Electric toothbrushes are also popular there, which makes the work much faster and easier. Especially since the process has to be repeated every day for the highest possible harvest.

An air humidity of over 60% contributes to the success of pollination. The temperature should be between 20 and 28°C (68 °F - 82 °F). From about 33 degrees Celsius , flowers drop slightly. 33° Celsius correspond to 91 degrees Fahrenheit

Chili growers who value variety purity should plant chili plants half a kilometer away. Alternatively, a plant fleece can be stretched over the chillies.

Tea bags knotted around each individual flower also protect against cross-pollination. The risk of unintentionally crossing Capsicum plants is lowest in the home. Of course only if the varieties are divided into different rooms.