Hand Pollinating Melons - How To Hand Pollinate Melons


Hand pollinating melon plants like watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew may seem unnecessary, but for some gardeners who have difficulty attracting pollinators, like those who garden on high balconies or in high pollution areas, hand pollination for melons is essential in order to get fruit. Let's look at how to hand pollinate melons.
How to Hand Pollinate Melons
In order to hand pollinate melons, you need to make sure that your melon plant has both male and female flowers. Male melon flowers will have a stamen, which is a pollen covered stalk that sticks up in the center of the flower. Female flowers will have a sticky knob, called a stigma, inside the flower (that the pollen will stick to) and the female flower will also sit on top of an immature, tiny melon. You need at least one male and one female flower for hand pollinating melon plants. Both male and female melon flowers are ready for the pollination process when they are open. If they are still shut, they are still immature and will not be able to either give or receive viable pollen. When melon flowers open, they will only be ready for pollinating for about a day, so you need to move quickly to hand pollinate melons. After you make sure you have at least one male melon flower and one female melon flower, you have two choices on how to hand pollinate the melon flowers. The first is to use the male flower itself and the second is to use a paintbrush.
Using a Male Melon Flower for Hand Pollinating Melons
Hand pollination for melons with the male flower starts with carefully removing a male flower from the plant. Strip away the petals so that the stamen is left. Carefully insert the stamen into an open female flower and gently tap the stamen on the stigma (the sticky knob). Try to evenly coat the stigma with pollen. You can use your stripped male flower several times on other female flowers. As long as there is pollen left on the stamen, you can hand pollinate other female melon flowers.
Using a Paintbrush for Hand Pollination for Melons
You can also use a paintbrush to hand pollinate melon plants. Use a small paintbrush and swirl it around the male flower's stamen. The paintbrush will pick up the pollen and you can them “paint” the stigma of the female flower. You can use the same male flower to hand pollinate other female flowers on the melon vine, but you will need to repeat the process of picking up the pollen from the male flower each time.
Gardening tips, videos, info and more delivered right to your inbox!
Sign up for the Gardening Know How newsletter today and receive a free download of our most popular eBook "How to Grow Delicious Tomatoes."

Heather Rhoades founded Gardening Know How in 2007 and built it up to what it is today.
-
Pantone’s Color Of The Year 2024 Is A Gardener’s Dream – Discover 7 Flowers That Are ‘Peach Fuzz’ Perfection
The global authority on color has spoken, and 'Peach Fuzz' is the shade we'll all be seeking out in the coming year. Find out why this gorgeous pinky orange deserves a place in your garden, and be inspired by our top flower picks
By Melanie Griffiths Published
-
15 Garden Trends To Avoid in 2024: Experts Warn Against These Outdated Designs
Garden trends come and go. We asked gardening experts to share the outdated trends that should be retired – and what you can do instead.
By Melanie Griffiths Last updated
-
Will Seeds From A Store Bought Melon Grow - Planting Grocery Store Melon Seeds
Will grocery store melon seeds grow? More importantly, will they produce true to type? Find out here.
By Laura Miller Last updated
-
Vertical Melon Growing – How To Grow Melons On A Trellis
Who wouldn’t like the luxury of growing watermelons, cantaloupes, and other luscious melons in a backyard garden? Melons grow on very sprawling vines that can take up most of a garden bed though. The perfect solution is growing melons vertically. Learn more here.
By Teo Spengler Last updated
-
Canary Melon Information: Growing Canary Melons In The Garden
Canary melons are beautiful bright yellow hybrid melons that are commonly grown in parts of Asia including Japan and South Korea. Interested in growing your own canary melons? The following canary melon information can help with that.
By Amy Grant Last updated
-
Christmas Melon Plants: Learn About Santa Claus Christmas Melons
Melons are grown in many countries around the world and have unique forms, sizes, flavors and other characteristics. Christmas melon is no exception. What is a Christmas melon? Find out in this article and learn how to grow these melons in the garden.
By Bonnie L. Grant Last updated
-
What Is A Casaba Melon – How To Grow Casaba Melons
Casaba melon is a tasty melon related to honeydew and cantaloupe. Successfully growing a casaba melon vine in the home garden requires a little knowledge about care and harvesting but is generally easy and similar to growing other melons. Learn more here.
By Mary Ellen Ellis Last updated
-
Types Of Melons: Different Melon Plant Varieties For The Garden
Melon is a favorite summer fruit. Few things are better than a cold slice of watermelon on a hot day after all. These are pretty easy plants to grow in the garden too, and there is a seemingly endless variety of different melons to try. Learn about them here.
By Mary Ellen Ellis Last updated
-
What Is A Gac Melon: How To Grow A Spiny Gourd Plant
Unless you dwell in regions from Southern China to Northeastern Australia where gac melon hails, it?s probably unlikely you've heard of it. What is gac melon? Click this article to find out about growing gac melon fruit, its care and other gac melon information.
By Amy Grant Last updated
-
Melon Seed Harvesting And Storage: Tips For Collecting Seeds From Melons
Collecting seeds from garden fruits and vegetables can be thrifty, creative and fun for a gardener. Saving melon seeds from this year?s crop for next year?s garden requires planning. Read this article for tips about collecting seeds from melons.
By Teo Spengler Last updated