Bittergourd - Hand Pollination Technique

I will always do hand pollination for my bittergourd whenever I see a female flower opening up. Most of the time, in order to make sure that I get the pollens to the heart of the flower, I will hold the bottom end of the female flower and use a little bit of strength to scrap off the pollens. HOWEVER, I learnt my lesson not to do that anymore! Because too much force and the tip of the female flower will break!! Ouch. I encountered a couple of times! So now, for bittergourd, I will just scrape off the pollens without holding the base!