Seed Saving: Hand Pollination of Melons and Squash

Saving seeds from melon and squash where more than one variety is growing requires hand pollination to assure that the fruits are 'true' to kind. Mike Kiessel shows us how.

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Science & Technology

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• seed
• saving
• squash
• melon
• get
• farming
• mlui
• jim
• sluyter
• mike
• kiessel
• training
• video
• save
• seeds
• cross
• pollination

[mrdonaldscott]

Please help me understand one thing from your videos. Why do you use tape to close the female and male flower? You lost me. Also, what is the purpose of the string. I need some clarification. Thanks so much. Mr Donald in Savannah Ga.

[MLUIMedia]

@mrdonaldscott I may get more detail from Mike later. My take is that the tape closes the female to make sure that no other pollen gets to it. The string is to locate the flowers that have been selected for pollinating the day before, based on experience with flowers being ready.

[MLUIMedia]

@MLUIMedia This from Mike, who is featured in the video: "The male and female blossoms need to be taped to prevent contamination from pollen that you don't want to pollinating the female blossom. The male blossom needs tp be taped because it can visited by insects with foreign pollen on them thus risking the possibility of mixing pollen.

Yes, the string is for identification purposes only, and in my garden family members can help themselves but must not take any I have strings on.

[ArizonaAdventures]

great video