Tomato Love to Increase Pollination

Here's a little tip you may or may not have heard of: To increase fruiting on your tomato plants, make sure the flowers are getting pollinated. You can do this by simply shaking the tomato stem, thusly shaking the the pollen onto the stigma (part of the complete female part, or pistil) of the flower. You can also accomplish this by flicking each individual tomato blossom å la Yvonne Savio. When you do this, you can actually see a little cloud of pollen waft into the air. Very exciting. Above is a pic to demonstrate this procedure with my raggedy-ass manicure.

PS- Tomatoes, unlike say cucumbers or squash, have both the male and female sex parts contained in one flower. These types of flowers are called perfect, bisexual, or hermaphoditic.