Do bees really visit tomato flowers or not?

[michael johnson]

The reason I am posting this, is that I have received several conflicting reports, about if or not Bees visit tomato flowers or not, as most people say that the bees tend to ignore tomato flowers and go onto something else probably sweeter, I know for a fact that Bumble Bees do, but most of the other kinds of bees dont go near them especialy honey type bees- I wonder why that is ??,

In the past I found that my best natural pollinators have been hover flies, Blue bottle flies, and any kind of meat flies, especialy if they get into your greenhouse, and also one or two of the night moth species also visit the flowers, what is it about tomato flowers that honey bees dont like- is it the colour or the smell or something,

In commercial tomato houses in both spain and the UK they sometimes use a certain insect to do the job but I cant quite remember what its called, but most of that seems to have gone now in favour of the (Electric Bee ) an electronic pollinator.

[jwr6404]

I have Mason bees to pollinate my fruit trees. They are located within 20 - 30 feet feet of my tomatos. They look like large flys and they do go to the tomato plants. Never looked to see if they went to the blossoms,just assumed they did.

Jim

[Worth1]

I have never had a bee on my tomatoes.

Worth

[carolyn137]

Yes, some types of bees do visit tomato blossoms. But not for the nectar since tomato blossoms don't have nectar. They use the pollen as a protein food source.

The most common pollinator of tomato blossoms in most of the US are called sweatbees ( Halictid bees) and they are so tiny that you really cannot see them.

I assume they are present in other countries as well and it's they that are the main causes of accidental cross pollination.

Does everyone see bees on the blossoms? Nope, not at all. It depends on the geographic area, the weather, the actual presence of different bees and their frequency in that area.

[giardiniere]

I had some leftover basil plants this year, that I planted in my garden. I intentionally let them flower, and they attracted a lot of bees. They were at the end of each row of tomatoes, but I never saw any of those bees on the tomato blossoms. I'm sure it helped to pollinate my zucchini though.

[travis]

I always plant basil among my tomato plants and the same bumble bees that visit the basil also visit the tomato blossoms. Anyone want some tomato seeds?

PV

[barkeater]

I see many bees visiting tomato blossoms, but almost always the cherry tomatoes. It may only be there are so many more blossoms on cherries that they receive enough visits for me to notice the bees more, or not.

[feldon30]

Originally Posted by Papa Vic

I always plant basil among my tomato plants and the same bumble bees that visit the basil also visit the tomato blossoms. Anyone want some tomato seeds?

PV

How long did it take to develop that classic dry sense of humor?

My answer to "Do bees really visit tomato blossoms" is "Only the ones I can't swat away fast enough or keep out with bridal veil material".

[Grub]

Do they what!

I watch them in the height of summer with pollen-ladden legs crawling in and around the tomato blooms.

The native blue-banded bees are more inclined to do this down here than the European honey beeds, but they raid the tomato flowers all the same.

There are lots of ways to attract bees to your backyard, not least being the combination of clover in your lawn and some innocent bare feet.

[bizzarbazzar]

I have some adorable bumble bees that stayed around all season spend lots of time with my tomato blossoms (they were red, yellow and black) as well as a snowberry clearwing family of moths (they look like bees but are moths) But the honey bees seemed to steer clear of the tomatoes, and once the tomatoes were in bloom I barely saw any honey bees at all in my yard.

[Worth1]

Well excuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me, I ignorantly thought the question was about honey bees.
Not all of the other Beeeeeeeees that abound in the garden.

Feeling very stupid right about now.

Worth

[bizzarbazzar]

we still adore you............. Worth
Hey i think maybe it was about honey bees. \

I blame the medication I am on for anything I may say or do

[michael johnson]

Bumble bees of most varieties do visit tomato flowers- but unfortunatly with the modern agricultural chemicals used on the land as a whole-it has killed off a large proportion of them and there are not half as many as there used to be.

Honey bees- on the other hand, usualy belong to hive owners somewhere close by, but honey bees are so fussy as to what flowers they visit-once they set their little minds on a certain flower you cant drag them off it at any price, But if as Carolyn says-tomato flowers have no nectar- then I doubt if honey bees would show the slightest interest in them because of that fact.

We have big problems over here in the UK with honey bees, and the flavour of honey,- the big problem is the ministry of agriculture insists that each farmer plants so many fields of oilseed -Rape, each season, so in the late spring half the countryside is a mass of yellow flowers- and hundreds of people coughing and spluttering with eyes streaming, as the pollen from this badly effects most people, it comes through the air grill in your car too if you havn't got a pollen filter fitted, and very soon you are coughing and sneezing after passing fields of this yellow horror, this goes on for a whole month or more, and the hospital is full of people suffering from breathing problems simular to asthma, I realy dont know why they insist on growing it in a country the size of the Uk on the large scale that they do, they say its for the oil content and further use in bio-fuel etc,

But once bees get a whiff of it they go straight for it-bar everything else, and most of the honey they produce is pure oilseed -rape, flower honey rather than other more desirable flowers, the very best honey we can muster here in the UK is scottish heather moor honey from the heather flowers, very strong flavoured but expensive.

Apple orchard growers are grumbling a lot about it because despite putting several hives of honey bees in amongst their flowering apple trees to pollinate the apples the bees are simply hopping over the hedge and flying a short distance to the fields of yellow peril and gorging themselves there.

And now the min of agriculture has organise the growing of large fields of Hempseed (Cannabis ) for the oil content-its the low drug variety, I bet when the bees get a whiff of that we shall have some very happy bees and some very funny honey

[feldon30]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Well excuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me, I ignorantly thought the question was about honey bees.
Not all of the other Beeeeeeeees that abound in the garden.

Feeling very stupid right about now.

Worth

Now I'm confused. Most of the answers have distinguished between bees (honey bees) and other bees. And I think most people have backed you up on the idea that honey bees don't bother with tomato flowers but many other types of "bee" do.

[Worth1]

No worries Feldon I was just being my obnoxious self.

I didn’t think there were any bees in this area as they normally flock to my cucumbers, but when the Crape Myrtles started to bloom they covered the trees like a cloud.
Darn picky bees!!!!

Worth