Re: *%&$#@ Moles! (Tomatillos) (and now tomatos!)

In a message dated 12/22/98 8:40:50 AM Eastern Standard Time, TJH-
FMH@webtv.net writes:

> Have been seeing a number of entries about tomato pollination and lack
>  of fruit.
>  
>  Many years ago in a forgotten magazine there was an article of
>  experiments in a greenhouse where tomato plants, while not themselves ,
>  were the subject, were being used as the "vehicles" of the study. A side
>  effect was noted that while the plants grew & flowered well there was
>  little if any fruit development. At that time it was decieded that the
>  cause was a lack of drop in the night time temperature. Lack of insects
>  to pollinate, or pollination was not to my recollection, mentioned. Have
>  never had that difficuly personally, always felt that the wind and/or
>  rain did a good job. Have never noted bees etc around tomato plants.
>  Hope this helps. 

   First, we were talking about tomatillos, which many folks assume are a
variety of tomato, or closely related, which is not the case.

   Interestingly, I got my final push to keep bees myself, when I observed my
early tomato blooms covered with honeybees, and had a bumper crop of early
tomatoes, when in previous years I had had a very difficult time getting early
bloom to set. We were tired of bringing in hundreds of green tomatoes and
wrapping them with newspaper to get them to ripen in the fall. I discovered
the source of the bees was a swarm that had moved into an abandoned
schoolhouse across the road from my garden. Afterwards, I found that tomatoes
are not preferred by honeybees and many years they will ignore them in
preference for better yielding flowers.

   Commercial greenhouse tomato production must take pollination into account,
or yields will be very poor. Because tomato pollen is light, and tomatoes are
self fertile, good pollination can be accomplished by using a hand vibrater.
One brand is called an "Electric Bee."

    However, cross pollination consistantly increases yield, and hand
pollination with a vibrator is expensive and does cause some plant breakage,
bee pollination is increasingly used for greenhouse pollination. Honeybees are
difficult to manage in greenhouse environments so bumblebees are generally
used. At $200 - $300 per colony of 50-75 bees they are quite pricey, but the
universal experience is that they are cheaper and more effective than hand
pollination with a vibrator.

    For field grown tomatoes, wind can accomplish the job, but yields can
suffer, if there are calm periods (one of the unnoticed reasons why summer
thunderstorms are so great for tomatoes and sweet corn).  Bumble bees and some
solitary bee species work tomatoes quite reliably, if they are present, but in
many areas, pesticide misuse has decimated their numbers. Honeybees will
definitely do the job, if they will work the blossoms, something, in my
experience, that happens only once about every six or seven years.

Pollinator@aol.com     Dave Green  Hemingway, SC  USA
The Pollination Scene:  http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html
The Pollination Home Page:    http://www.pollinator.com

Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop    (Varietal Honeys and Beeswax Candles)
http://users.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm
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