Handling and Application of Pollen to Fruit Trees

Abstract

ARTIFICIAL POLLINATION of tree fruits on a commercial basis was started in the state of Washington approximately 20 years ago. Since that time, many orchards with inadequate pollination by natural means have been pollinated artificially; these, for the most part, produced greatly increased crops as a result of the practice. In general, the increase was greatest where pollination by natural means was not satisfactory. The need for artificial pollination is most generally with apples, although some attention has been given to pears, sweet cherries and plums in recent years