no bees for pollination?

[nnjjohn]

I have flowers but few fruit..is this due to less honey bees ? My plants are growing tall and vinery compared to my upstate neighbors mato plants that have more fruit thicker and not as viney.. (his are stockier looking plants) he also is not seeing bees. I will still get tomatoes but disappointed with comparing them to my friends plants once again.

[shelleybean]

Tomatoes don't depend on bees for pollination. They are self pollinating with both male and female parts within each flower. Hopefully the bees are hanging out with the cucumbers and squash.

[nnjjohn]

Okay here with the cucumbers..going to make a cucumbers salad tonight from my garden.. wish my tomatoes would start ripening. .I may start looking for fresh jersey stand tomatoes until mine are ready to pick. Hope too for the bees

[shelleybean]

I know what you mean about the honey bee population. I've seen them more the last two summers but for a few years there I hardly saw any. Most of the bees in my garden are actually bumble bees.

[Gavriil]

Originally Posted by shelleybean

Tomatoes don't depend on bees for pollination. They are self pollinating with both male and female parts within each flower. Hopefully the bees are hanging out with the cucumbers and squash.

Haven't had bee's or very few anyway until last year and a lot more this year
I believe it is due to planting Yellow Squash the lastb two years.
my wife was just complaining this morning about having to many bees in the squash plants, she was afraid to stick her hand in to harvest the fruit.

Also haven't had any squash bore problem with killing the plants like I did before when I planted green Zucchinni.

[Tom A To]

Bees concentrate mostly on one or two plant varieties at a time. There are always scouts looking for nectar flows so they can report back to the collective but once the report is in, that's where the bees go. It's not uncommon to see a lack of bees, they're just somewhere else.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Tom A To

Bees concentrate mostly on one or two plant varieties at a time. There are always scouts looking for nectar flows so they can report back to the collective but once the report is in, that's where the bees go. It's not uncommon to see a lack of bees, they're just somewhere else.

That is so true.

Many a time I wont see one bee on squash or cucumber only to see millions on the crape myrtle 50 yards away.
Then they hit my rosemary and then on to something else.

Worth

[NarnianGarden]

Originally Posted by nnjjohn

I have flowers but few fruit..is this due to less honey bees ? I will still get tomatoes but disappointed with comparing them to my friends plants once again.

A trick I learned via YouTube: electric toothbrush.
It's even more effective than bees, and definitely more productive than just shaking the plant.

There was a video about it somewhere in T'Ville, but just google it, or search for it in YouTube.
Just place an electric brush gently on the stem of an open flower, and hold it there for ten seconds. You can literally see the cloud of pollen bursting out.

I'm getting huge green fruits after just ten days, after very very small fruits that are the result of shaking.
This gardening stuff sure is full of surprises ...

[nnjjohn]

Originally Posted by NarnianGarden

A trick I learned via YouTube: electric toothbrush.
It's even more effective than bees, and definitely more productive than just shaking the plant.

There was a video about it somewhere in T'Ville, but just google it, or search for it in YouTube.
Just place an electric brush gently on the stem of an open flower, and hold it there for ten seconds. You can literally see the cloud of pollen bursting out.

I'm getting huge green fruits after just ten days, after very very small fruits that are the result of shaking.
This gardening stuff sure is full of surprises ...

That is interesting method.. I wonder when I see those small flying insects such as wasps and those bee type flies? They seem to bein and about the flowers..you suppose they too help pollinate? .. WHat about a blower..like on low but enough to blow the pollen?

[TZ-OH6]

Don't look for honey bees, they rarely touch tomatoes. Little tiny halactid bees, very small and very fast, will leave little brown marks on the ends of the anther cones where they have bitten them to get the pollen. Around here the bees are green, bronze and black - three types. They would probably look like flying ants to most people