When towers are located indoors, in a greenhouse or in a sheltered area, the lack of wind and/or the lack of bees mean that the pollen is not being carried to the ovule of the female flower.
In this case, we advise you to hand pollinate your plants (cucumbers, tomatoes, melons, zucchinis, eggplants, beans, peppers, okra, strawberries etc.) with the help of a fine brush or with a Q-tip. There are many videos on YouTube showing how to hand pollinate and we believe that it is worth your while to spend some time getting educated accordingly. It is a very simple process which is easier to explain by the means of video than in writing.
Alternatively, if you do not have enough time to pollinate your plans by hand, you may “cheat” by using a ‘pollinating spray’ also referred as a ‘blossom set spray’.
The active ingredient of pollinating spray is kinetin, a natural plant growth hormone which fosters cell division. In other terms, it allows the fruit to develop even when the blossom has not been pollinated.
Using a blossom set spray with tomatoes will dramatically increase the crop yield and it will also give birth to bigger fruits. Furthermore, tomatoes “born” from a blossom set spray are generally meatier and seedless.
At our Tower Farm in Spain, due to the regular trade-winds and the abundance of bees, we never had to hand pollinate nor use a blossom set spray. However, if you are compelled to help the pollination process, we recommend hand pollination over spraying.
