I cannot trust that method.

For reasons that you won't tell us about? I can say I don't trust you, for reasons I won't tell you about.

In fact, at least for a Ping Tung eggplant flower , the anatomy appears to be where the anthers surround, and are about a half millimeter below the stigma (bloom facing up). I'm guessing that a gentle squeeze would put one in contact with the other.

I guess that's one way to do it. I usually take my fingertip and pollinate that way, and switch fingers when moving to a different variety, but that's only during my pest investigation or collection of fruit that I do this. If it works by pinching, I would go for it, it's less time per flower than using a fingertip, paintbrush, or cotton swab.

Inserting a finger is a nice idea. You just roll your fingertip around in the flower? Does that, in fact, pollinate when temperatures are too high for pollen to just fall off? Shaking the blooms is the standard strategy for solonaceae manual pollination, but it seems like it could be pretty iffy.

And you just described my area in summer. That explains a few problems. Thanks

That's interesting that pollen isn't viable at all in high heat. I thought it was just that the pollen couldn't fall. Now that I research it, that indeed seems to be the case. But high humidity is also a cause of blossom drop, and as far as I can tell, that does not interfere with pollen viability. References? So perhaps this strategy is more appropriate in highly humid conditions?

I stake my tomato plants with iron rebar as poles. It vibrates the plant and blossoms pretty good when the rebar is hand thumped from above. Wooden stakes don't vibrate as well as metal which seems to "ring" like a bell.

Yes, exactly just move my finger in a circular motion and go from flower to flower.

Maybe in the high heat of Texas summers, shade cloth may help in preventing blossom drop with peppers, this usually occurs when temps are 95 degrees +