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Member discussion regarding the methods, varieties and merits of growing tomatoes.

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Old November 21, 2017   #151
bower
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Gorgeous flowers! Very interesting to read that there is nectar as well in some of the wild species. That would make a big difference to attracting bumblebees early in the season, since the queens want nectar as well as pollen.

Joseph, I mentioned it in another thread which you may have missed, I've been growing more tomatoes outdoors and watching bee beehavior. Before the first brood of workers has hatched, there are just a few bumblebee queens in the garden, and they were not happy to see the big display of tomato flowers. They'd get close enough just to realize this is no good, and then fly off in a hurry. They need nectar to keep their own energy up, and tomato flowers only offer pollen, so they would leave them untouched. I will add that there are not a huge number of flowers available early season, and the queens are working everything suitable for all it is worth. So I can only assume it is the lack of nectar causing them to bypass tomatoes.

Once the workers have hatched, it was a different situation. Their top priority afaik is to collect pollen to feed the next brood. Worker bees would visit the tomato row every day, and as I watched, they visited every newly open flower to get the goodies, and bypassed only the flowers that had already been visited. They seem able to tell at a glance flying by and inspecting, which flowers are new. They didn't show any preference for one variety over another, regardless of flower size or other characteristics. All they cared about was fresh abundant pollen.
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Old November 21, 2017   #152
joseph
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Thanks Bower. It would probably be helpful for me to learn more about the life cycles of the bumblebees and other pollinators that visit the tomato flowers.
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Old November 21, 2017   #153
bower
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Joseph, bumblebees are so cool. I know more about them than the other pollinators, because when I learned about them in ye olde insect systematics course it blew my mind.

The mated queens overwinter alone. These are the big bumblers you see first in spring, and they are hungry after winter and also gathering nectar for a honey pot to sip while they are brooding their eggs. She eats some pollen too, but pollen is the main food of the larvae all season long.
The funniest thing about bumblebees, every generation of workers is bigger than the last. I always thought the different sizes were maybe different species, but not so. Their size depends on the abundance of resources. So as the season progresses, there is more food for all, and later broods of workers are bigger and bigger. Males and female-queens are produced at the end of the season and of course they are biggest in part because of hormonal differences but also they have the most resources. Winter kills all the bees except for the mated queens, which find a place to shelter underground until spring. North facing banks are said to be ideal sites for us, so the queens don't rouse to search for food before the flowers are out.
Also it is really important to have early nectar sources in the area.

Here's a site that talks about the feeding habits of bumblebees:
http://www.bumblebee.org/lifecycle.htm
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