Hi, I'm new to this and was wondering about pollenation on tomatoes. Do bees need to be present to pollenate tomato plant?
I discovered my first tomatoes today on a plant!! The neighbors must have thought I was crazy, jumping up and down at 7 in the morning like a complete fool !!
Hey there Mister,
Can you tell me what happened to the seeds iv'e sown,
can you give me a reason sir, as to why they've never grown,
Bees are helpful, but I think that tomatoes are mostly wind pollinated as the slightest shaking will cause the pollen to disburse.
Eclectic gardening style, drawing from 45 years of interest and experience. Mostly plant in raised beds and containers primarily using intensive gardening techniques.
Alex
lol...I just did that dance myself recently when I found my first mater growing! Yay! =) Regarding the pollination, wind will take care of it 90-95% of the time, but it doesn't hurt to do extra things like rub a q-tip gently on all the open flowers, gently flick the base flower stem, etc..
Vibration pollinated is a better term than wind pollination. Botanically, wind pollinated plants have pollen blown from one flower to another. With tomatoes a flower generally pollinates itself when a vibration shakes pollen loose to fall onto the stigma. The flower is designed for a bee to create an optimal vibrtion, which is why it is more economical to bring bees into a tomato greenhouse than to use mechanical vibrators on the plants.
"Recent studies designed to measure the effectiveness of electric pollination equipment such as so-called buzzers indicate the extent to which maximum pollen transference seems to be of outstanding concern. "