Greenhouse Tomatoes

Can I use a vibrating toothbrush rather than the expensive electric pollinators?

There are a variety of methods for getting the tomato flowers pollinated. All of the methods accomplish pollination by vibrating the flower enough for the pollen to move from the anthers to the stigma, almost entirely within the same flower. The best two methods are the electric pollinator and bumblebees.

The electric pollinator is available from a greenhouse supplier. If a grower has more than 10,000 square feet under one roof, bumblebees should be considered, since they are a tremendous labor savor. For areas between 5,000 and 10,000 square feet (under one roof), the economics of using bumblebees may or may not make sense. A grower needs to compare the costs of bees vs. labor. Other methods of pollinating, which are not as effective as the first two, include the following: electric toothbrush, leaf blower, air blast from backpack sprayer, shaking support wires by banging with sticks, etc. While the electric toothbrush will accomplish some pollination, it will not achieve as high yields as the electric pollinator