It sounds amazing, but your electric toothbrush can help bees and pollination

    One study showed that a simple electric toothbrush that has an insect-like buzz can promote pollination

    He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him

    A simple electric toothbrush can be particularly useful for encouraging the pollination of some plants, including tomatoes. To reveal the trick, which is based on the results of a study, is James Wong, an expert in ethnobotany.





    How can our electric toothbrush replace a bee's job? The secret is in its vibration which, in what way, resembles the hum of the more well-known pollinator insect. 

    Talking about this curious possibility to pollinate is, in The Guardian, the ethnobotanist from the United Kingdom James Wong who has experienced the technique firsthand.

    But let's start from the beginning, everything is based on a study that pioneered the use of an electric toothbrush to improve yields. It should be noted that many plants of the nightshade family, from tomatoes to peppers, from eggplants to peppers, rely on what is known as pollination of the hum. Put simply, the buzz of a bee or other pollinating insect serves to signal the flower that it is time to prepare for pollination.

    As Wong explains, the rapid ultrasonic vibrations emitted by species such as bumblebees and bees allow the release of pollen grains, which otherwise would be held firmly in the anthers of the flowers. It is a finely tuned mechanism over millions of years of coevolution.

    The problem is that, as we all know by now, pollinator species are in serious danger and the population of these insects has been decreasing for some time. (Read also: Apocalypse of bees: 9% of pollinating insects risk extinction, according to the ISPRA report)

    Because of this, some crops may have poor yields and this is more likely if the plants are grown indoors in greenhouses or in areas where pollinators cannot access.

    Traditionally, when needed, farmers use a tuning fork, which mimics the high-frequency vibrations of bees, to induce the plant to release pollen. But an alternative, let's say more homely, could be to use an electric toothbrush. 



    This original method was tested by a team of scientists from theUniversity of Texas Rio Grande Valley who compared the effectiveness of the electric toothbrush with that of the tuning fork. What did they find? Just remove the head of an electric toothbrush and place it in the center of an open flower, letting it vibrate for five seconds to "trick" the plant and promote self-pollination.

    It sounds amazing, but your electric toothbrush can help bees and pollination

    @ University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

    As we said, the technique was successfully tested by Wong himself who writes:

    In my little garden trials this year I found a 20% increase in yield for something that took me less than 10 minutes. An increase comparable to adding more fertilizer, water or moving plants to the sunniest spot in the garden with very little time and effort. A nice trick, even if it seems a little strange to do it.

    Of course this cannot be the global solution to the pollination problem e we must do everything to protect the insects that do this valuable work.

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    Source: The Guardian / The University of Texas Rio Grande 


    Read also:

    • Flowers use scents strategically to attract certain insects. I study
    • Bumblebees "nibble" on plants to make them bloom faster, surprising scientists
    • How plants "trick" ants to disperse their seeds (and guarantee our food biodiversity)
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