Pollinating Chili and Tomato Plants

Although chilies and tomatoes have "complete" flowers (both male & female parts), in the outdoors, these plants are helped along by visiting insects.  To the right is a pot containing four jalapeno starts.  They've about tripled in size since I planted them.

The white plastic pipe things are some of my experiments at under-surface watering my potted plants.  The verdict's not in on that, but my idea is that by watering just beneath the surface, I can keep the soil more uniformly moist in a hot greenhouse.

To the left are some pots containing "super chilies" (whatever those are).  They're thriving and beginning to put out blossoms.


I spent quite a bit of time searching around for advice on pollinating these plants.  Do you need to help?  What's a good technique.  After reading several articles and watching some funny and slightly strange videos, I've reached the conclusion that if you're growing these plants in a greenhouse, you should definitely get into the pollination business.

On the right is my poblano plant.  It's easily the largest so far!


The best videos (IMO) were from a couple of guys who, from their accents, I assume to be in the UK. Here's a link to a vid they've posted on YouTube.  The vid talks about chilies, but I think that the technique will work just as well for tomatoes and eggplant.  These guys have a YouTube channel called The Chili Guys, which is worth a visit.