Tomatillo pollination

strive4impact · August 9, 2012

I'm growing tomatillos on my patio in a pot.

I should say one tomatillo... and it's about 6 feet tall.

It has about 100 flowers on it.

It drinks more than 1 gallon of water a day.

I'm like it's water-carrying slave.

For that effort, I expect some tomatillos.

The problem... I'm on the 7th floor of an apartment complex. From time to time I see wasps or flies out there, but never bees.

The first batch of flowers (about 2 weeks ago) I attempted to pollinate with my finger, and with a toothbrush.

All the flowers fell off... none grew fruit.

I started reading forums.

Most people agree that tomatillos won't self-pollinate, but some people seem to disagree.

I attempted to post my real address on another gardening forum to see if anyone would send me pollen, but the post was removed and I was banned. Nice welcome to their forum.

So now I'm here. Hoping for some help/a solution.

There are about 100 flowers on there... but I'm concerned that where it's sitting, it won't get natural pollination, but that doesn't even matter if there aren't tomatillos anywhere nearby.

It's a lone tomatillo in search of a lover... any suggestions for:

1. Will it self-pollinate?
2. If not, will it pollinate naturally (by some odd chance that there might be a tomatillo plant somewhere nearby and some flying bug would just happen to carry the pollen to the 7th floor)?
3. If not, any suggestions for how I can get this plant to bear fruit? I won't make the mistake (again) of asking in an open forum for people to send me pollen. Holy flamers.

Okay... hoping for any help.

Thank-you!

Jonathan Kraft
http://www.GreenJoyment.com

August 9, 2012	#1
strive4impact Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Denver, Colorado USA Posts: 1	Tomatillo pollination I'm growing tomatillos on my patio in a pot. I should say one tomatillo... and it's about 6 feet tall. It has about 100 flowers on it. It drinks more than 1 gallon of water a day. I'm like it's water-carrying slave. For that effort, I expect some tomatillos. The problem... I'm on the 7th floor of an apartment complex. From time to time I see wasps or flies out there, but never bees. The first batch of flowers (about 2 weeks ago) I attempted to pollinate with my finger, and with a toothbrush. All the flowers fell off... none grew fruit. I started reading forums. Most people agree that tomatillos won't self-pollinate, but some people seem to disagree. I attempted to post my real address on another gardening forum to see if anyone would send me pollen, but the post was removed and I was banned. Nice welcome to their forum. So now I'm here. Hoping for some help/a solution. There are about 100 flowers on there... but I'm concerned that where it's sitting, it won't get natural pollination, but that doesn't even matter if there aren't tomatillos anywhere nearby. It's a lone tomatillo in search of a lover... any suggestions for: 1. Will it self-pollinate? 2. If not, will it pollinate naturally (by some odd chance that there might be a tomatillo plant somewhere nearby and some flying bug would just happen to carry the pollen to the 7th floor)? 3. If not, any suggestions for how I can get this plant to bear fruit? I won't make the mistake (again) of asking in an open forum for people to send me pollen. Holy flamers. Okay... hoping for any help. Thank-you! Jonathan Kraft http://www.GreenJoyment.com