Should I uncover the tomatoes?

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arcatamarcia

Location: Oregon, Southern Coast

Posted: Jun-11-2009 at 1:27pm

I have been growing tomatoes in raised beds. I've kept the cages covered with clear plastic because our spring has been pretty cool. So far I have lots of flowers and two of the plants have fruit. My question is whether it's better to leave them covered so they stay warm, or uncover them so they're more likely to be pollinated.

I'm sorry to say I didn't keep track of what varieties they are (two each of three different varieties). I'm new at this and didn't realize the importance of keeping track of these things but they were plants that came from a local organic source.

 

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gary

Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor

Posted: Jun-11-2009 at 6:45pm

Marcia,

First, many tomatoes are wind/self not bee pollinated as long as the night temps are above 55F. Arcata, CA should have nite temps above that even with the "Cooler than normal" forecast over the next two weeks for Western USA from the:

"Climate Prediction Center"

Mine have been uncovered since we started the 'hot' weather a couple of weeks ago. Though you are on the coast, I'd still remove your covers now.

Gary

 

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thedaybreakers

Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor

Posted: Jun-12-2009 at 2:20pm

In my horticulture class we grew some cherry tomatoes hydroponically. Since it was indoors and during the winter there were no bees around.

We pollinated the tomatoes simply by lightly shaking the stem so as to vibrate the flowers. I have also heard that an electric toothbrush works great for this purpose. We had plenty of tomatoes and did not experience difficulty with pollination.