Dave and All

> Time to put the myth of "self pollination" of tomatoes to a final rest...

Absolutely not.

Tomatoes are, in my book, definitely a self-pollinated crop.  They need to
be assisted in that self-pollination, by mechanical vibration (wind or
human-induced) or by visits from insects.  But they are essentially a
self-pollinated crop because most of the time it is self-pollen which
fertilises the ovules (that's fertilise with an 's' <grin>).

Large parts of the world are comfortable with the verb 'to pollinate'
applying to the provision of the pollen (as in, apple variety A was planted
to pollinate apple variety B).  They might have to recruit an insect to
help, but they do pollinate.  To those of us used to using 'pollinate' and
'pollinator' in that way, 'pollenize' sounds very artificial and contrived.

Perhaps this is just another example of our languages diverging, but one
thing is clear: Harold's use of the word would be recognised as valid by
scientists internationally, and gardeners and others in large parts of the
world.

Does anyone know when and who started using the word 'pollenize'?

yours, across the pond,

Gavin.

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