I'm growing tomato plants that were thriving at the start of summer but have almost completely stopped producing fruit recently. I'm in Southern California, where it was quite hot for a while, but now that it's cooled down, I have plenty of healthy flowers but not much fruit set. I tried using an electric toothbrush for hand-pollination for the first time today and have a few questions: 1) If I don't see a puff of pollen, does that mean it's not working? I vibrated each flower for about three seconds around 11AM and only noticed a small puff from a few. 2) Should I try again tomorrow since few flowers released pollen, or could that stress the plant? I've read every 2-3 days is best. 3) Any extra advice you might have? Also, some commenters mentioned the electric toothbrush method seems gimmicky, but I've found it to be a legit technique for buzz pollination. Here are a couple of articles supporting it: [link to article 1](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12898-020-00278-7) and [link to article 2](https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/10/12/2592). Thanks a lot for your help!
2 Answers
Honestly, I think the electric toothbrush is a bit of a gimmick. Tomatoes can self-pollinate through regular shaking. Just give the plant a gentle shake, and that can help with the process. You might not need all those tools.
It sounds like your plants might just need some time to bounce back from the heat. You can keep trying to pollinate, but if they're still stressed, they might not set fruit regardless. Have patience and give them a bit of recovery time!
Thanks for the advice! I'll make sure to take my time with them.