Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred Hempel
I think first fruits are more likely to be cross pollinated.
|
I wonder whether climate is a factor here. In places where winters are milder, insects come out of dormancy earlier or don't hibernate. So maybe there's more competition for the first flowers of a species and more pollination from insects.
In the northeast, if you plant out right near your last frost date, there are often very few pollinators active when your first tomatoes set, and those that are active prefer the cornucopia of nectar-bearing spring flowers to something like a tomato blossom.
I planted out pretty late this year--a whopping 6 weeks after my average LFD, and my first trusses on my plants are ENORMOUS. The tomatoes are very large but not because of fused blooms--normal fruit are just really big--and there are a lot of them on the truss. Usually, first trusses have fewer tomatoes in my garden, although some of those first ones can be larger due to more fused blooms earlier on. I think a lot of this is due to the fact that pollinator populations were very high when the plants started blooming.