Broad beans...

[mrswadders]

So my first year with a polytunnel,I have broad beans with absolutely masses of flowers,I've kept it open to allow the insects in,would it also be worth tickling them with a brush too?

Cheers folks

[Baldy]

Dunno if insects like being tickled...

[nickdub]

So my first year with a polytunnel,I have broad beans with absolutely masses of flowers,I've kept it open to allow the insects in,would it also be worth tickling them with a brush too?

Cheers folks

They need bumble bees really - only the tongues on the bumbles are long enough to reach in to the flowers. I've got some broad beans in my Poly-tunnel too and there has been plenty of interest from the bumbles here. I don't think you'd be able to do the pollinating with a brush.

[Greenleaves]

Broad bean flowers are perfect and self-pollinating, though cross-pollination occurs readily due to insect activity. The flowers open early in the morning and do not shut. The anthers shed pollen the night before the flower opens, but this does not reach the stigma until the flower is tripped, usually by insects.