I just use my finger. I've been pollenating my courgettes and pumpkins, but they're quite easy because they're big. Otherwise a slim brush, like and old make-brush.
The pollen virtually jumps on to anything that goes near it, and the females tend to be moist, so the pollen just goes on very easily. They are freakily like us in that respect.
Winnecat, if you need to attract bees ,try planting phacelia near them, they grow easy and are a great green manure to dig in with the beans after your done and bees just love them,
Did you hear them discussing this on Gardeners Question Time? Apparently our bees are not very good at spotting the particular shade of red of runner beans. Humming birds are the normal pollinators where runners originally came from.
We all might have more success with white flowered runner beans.
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Some people would be horrified if I said I pick off the first flowers from the beans to allow the plant to strengthen.
Nor me Bekkie, I pick out the middles so that they make two strong shoots, then I pick off the bottom flowers, so mine havent done much.
I still have some in the freezer from last year, we had a bumper crop,
I just use my finger. I've been pollenating my courgettes and pumpkins, but they're quite easy because they're big. Otherwise a slim brush, like and old make-brush.
The pollen virtually jumps on to anything that goes near it, and the females tend to be moist, so the pollen just goes on very easily. They are freakily like us in that respect.
Winnecat, if you need to attract bees ,try planting phacelia near them, they grow easy and are a great green manure to dig in with the beans after your done and bees just love them,
We all might have more success with white flowered runner beans.
Ain't nature wonderful !!??