Sexing Flowers and Pollinating them yourself -HELP!

Ok, so first of all I have a small 6x10 Garden in Tucson, AZ (very arid climate). I have several types of Peppers (Jalapenos, Anaheims, Banana, Red Bell, Yellow Bell, Thai, Cayenne and Poblano). Many of them have begin to flower and some have began to fruit even. However some of the flower appeared to be "duds", simply shriveling up and dying. To me this clearly indicates that they were not pollinated. Now i don't know much about Peppers but from my very limited and unprofessional standpoint it is my understanding the plants themselves are hermaphroditic and the flowers have a sex (unless my father completely lied to me lol). So this raises the question; Can i encourage pollination by doing it myself with a brush?? and if so how do I tell which flowers to pair up?/// sex them?? (male//female)

Anyways any and all info is appreciated. Like i said, i know nothing about peppers so this is all personal inference. Thanks for Help!! pictures soon!

Im in Phoenix so I completely understand dry and arid.

What I have done is that when the flowers open I flick them just a bit and this seems to promote the pollination. Granted I was growing indoors with NFT hydro unit under CFLs. I did however stop because I just couldnt get enough light with the CFLs for fruiting and Im too cheap to purchase a 1000w HPS light just for tomatoes and peppers, so I just start them in the hydro unit and then transplant them to pots outdoors with really good luck. Otherwise Im growing lettuce and cooking herbs in the hydro unit along with keeping clones alive for veg.

You are so lucky to be in Tucson. There is a great source for heirloom veggies in Aravaipa here is their website http://aravaipa.com/

Wow! this is awesome! I had been using a place called Native S.E.E.D. search ( a similar organization with the goal of preserving and cultivating endangered and native species of plants) but this seems a lot more extensive! thanks so much for the link i'm gonna have a lot of fun with this. Oh and i'll be sure to give my peppers a flick!

A fine clean artists paintbrush is ideal for self pollinating , i dont think it matters much about ID'ing the flowers on one plant , i dont even know if its possible.I use the tip of my finger sometimes to help things along but the penny dropped and now i plant bookoo flowers every year which attracts the insects and they sort me out.

Yeah i was planning on planting some Sonoran Wild Flowers but just never got around to it. Next year i think I'm gonna border my garden with Wild Flowers, for aesthetic and pollinating purposes!!

ohhenry said:

Wow! this is awesome! I had been using a place called Native S.E.E.D. search ( a similar organization with the goal of preserving and cultivating endangered and native species of plants) but this seems a lot more extensive! thanks so much for the link i'm gonna have a lot of fun with this. Oh and i'll be sure to give my peppers a flick!

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No problem. We ordered some stuff a while back and had great results, just a pain to drive and have to make a day of it.

i'd look to other reasons besides pollination issues if its just peppers..... from the way i'm taking your post, the flowers drop off as they should, leaving behind the lil stem and pepper bud, and then the stem/bud yellow and fall off right?? This could be due to a few things with peppers..... too much N, too much heat for some varieties, etc...

peppers are hermaphroditic, and as such, rarely have any pollination problems in nature.... only occasionally in an indoor grow.. if you look closely at the flowers, that taller, odd looking portion in the middle, that's the female part.... the other, more abundant smaller pistils are the male parts with the pollen.... and they basically touch....

From what i understand, it's a pain in the ass to make a hybrid because of this.... you have to delicately open the flower, before it opens, and remove the pistils, and then pollinate with the pollen of your choice.....

Awesome! great advice. Yeah I got a few bell peppers, and jalapenos coming in but a lot of the flowers seem to go from white to yellow and shrivel up and die producing no fruit. If it is my N levels is there anything i can do to balance it while keeping the plants in the soil?

ohhenry said:

Awesome! great advice. Yeah I got a few bell peppers, and jalapenos coming in but a lot of the flowers seem to go from white to yellow and shrivel up and die producing no fruit. If it is my N levels is there anything i can do to balance it while keeping the plants in the soil?

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are the bells doing it more??? if so, i'd bet on the heat.

Yeah I was thinking the direct summer sun my be a bit intense for some the of the breeds. Thankfully i just built a makeshift structure out of Trampoline parts that can support shade-cloth and bird-netting.

buzzpopper, thanks for the link for the hierloom plants... Tucson is not far from here.. Interesting varieties they have.

I think my habs pollinate themselves, but they said theirs a better pepper rate of they have help