Every year, around the official start of Spring, the cars and outdoor surfaces become a wonderful shade of lighter/lime green! This phenomenon is caused by both the reproduction stage of plants, as well as by the wind. Keep reading to see what the green stuff is, why and how it gets there, and why it only lasts for a short period.
What Causes Pollen on Your Car?
Pollen on your car is caused by wind pollinated plants, those who do not have showy flowers to attract insects, but rather those that have exerted male and female parts and lightweight pollen that can easily be transferred by the wind.
What’s the Difference Between Insect Pollinated Plants and Wind Pollinated Plants?
Plants are predisposed to prefer either wind versus insect (e.g., bees, insects, butterflies) pollination. The basic indicator for this is whether or not the plant has showy flowers. The flowers are meant to attract insects for pollination. Some common examples include fruit trees in bloom, strawberry flowers and your everyday ornamental flowers.
What do Wind Pollinated Plants Look Like?
If adapted to be wind pollinated, the female flowers do not have any petals, no nectaries and the female portion of the flower (stigma) is exerted. For male flowers, they also do not have any petals, the male portion of the flower (anther) is exerted and the pollen is lightweight so that it can be easily carried by the wind. If you have a dark car, you might have noticed when the pollen transfer is happening with the trees around you!
(If you are interested in learning more about different types of plants and how they reproduce, you can check out my post on plant propagation here.)
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Green Stuff All Over My Car?
The green stuff all over your car around the start of Spring is pollen.
Why is there Pollen All Over My Car?
There are certain types of plants that need to be wind pollinated in order to cross-pollinate. When the wind blows at this time of the year, it is helping to pollinate plants, and some just happens to land on your cars and other outdoor furniture and decks and such!
Which Plants Cause the Pollen on My Car?
Plants that are designed to be wind pollinated (those without showy flowers that do not attract insects). Some examples are walnut trees, as well as pine trees.
Here is an example of one we found all over the pines when we were living in Georgia!
How to Avoid Pollen on My Car?
You can check your parking spot and try to avoid parking near or under any wind pollinating trees. However, since the wind is carrying the pollen, you can’t completely avoid it unless maybe if you are always parked in a garage!
How to Get Rid of the Green Pollen on My Car?
Wash your car! The pollen can be nasty and get into the tiniest crevices in your car. I find the hardest part to clean on my car is the little openings near the trunk, so the sooner and more frequent you can wash it off, the better!
If you enjoyed this post and want to learn more about plant propagation, I recommend checking out these posts: