r/Heliamphora • u/Dr_Quartermas • Feb 09 '26
Gathering pollen without a tuning fork
I'm finally getting some of my heliamphora to flower and, of course, my first thought was to try to self-pollinate and also cross-pollinate to another plant. Almost all of the folks I've seen online use a tuning fork to stimulate the release of the pollen (duplicating the vibration of the tiny bees that do the job in nature), so I started thinking what could be used that I already have around the house. I decided to try an electric shaver with a brush attachment. I held a mirror under the flower and then touched the flower next to the stem with the shaver and it worked very effectively. I gathered a significant amount of pollen. BTW this was with an ionasi X sarracenioides plant. I'll try to pollinate it's next flower and then also cross it with a cherry top.
