Notes on Tomatoes, Squash and Bees

[hsifeng]

I have been gathering some information for both this years garden, and next years planting. Here it tis':

Pruning and Staking your tomatoes

Another source for this information with various trellis ideas based on tomatoe variety

RULE 1
Get plants off the ground.

RULE 2
Give plants room.

RULE 3
Never prune or tie plants when the leaves are wet.

Of interest: When staking, "To avoid damaging roots, drive your stakes in within a week of planting. Space staked plants at 18 inches for a single stem, 24 inches for two stems, and 36 inches for three or four stems."

It seems that there is little 'hard and fast' rule as to how many stems to include on your tomatoes. However, there are some notes based on tomatoe type:

Indeterminate vs. determinate

Indeterminate tomato plants continue to grow, limited only by the length of the season. These plants produce stems, leaves, and fruit as long as they are alive.

Determinate tomato plants have a predetermined number of stems, leaves, and flowers hardwired into their genetic structure. The development of these plants follows a well-defined pattern. First, there is an initial vegetative stage during which all the stems, most of the leaves, and a few fruit are formed. This is followed by a flush of flowering and final leaf expansion. Finally, during the fruit-fill stage, there is no further vegetative growth. As the tomato fruits ripen, the leaves senesce and die. Commercial growers favor this type of tomato because all the fruit can be mechanically harvested at once. The major advantage of planting determinate plants in a home garden is early harvest.

Semi-determinate plants, as the name implies, are somewhere between these two other types. Although there aren't many semi-determinate tomatoes, one of the most popular hybrids, 'Celebrity', falls into this category. I think semi-determinates are best grown to three or four stems.

Squash pollination and bees

Which lead in turn to figuring out what flowers we need to plant in order to encourage bees in the garden. Thank you

stacymckenna!

The list of potential flowers:

 

Borage

Lilac, Blue Blossom

California Poppy

Lavender

Catnip

Scented Geranium

Large-flower phacelia

Tansy Phacelia

West. Verbena

Comments

[sstormwatch.livejournal.com]

Definitely give tomato plants room. We didn't last year and learned just how unruly they get. You don't realize when you first plant them, until they are growing extra stems all over the place just how much room they need.

Just an fyi, most bees in my garden seem to prefer purple flowers, then yellow ones. Most vege flowers I have are yellow. I got lots of bees, since I also have several plants, from my front yard chaste tree to the lavender, bunny's ears, and even my sage that produce purple flowers. The bees are also most productive in the morning hours, so if you do any sort of spraying (using insecticide soap for aphids, for instance) do that in the afternoon.

If you want ladybugs in your yard, look over a list (google it) of preferred ladybug plants to give them the nectar that encourages them to stay. I have a yarrow plant just for them near my cucumbers.

[stacymckenna.livejournal.com]

The bees ADORE my lavender and rosemary (also a blue/purple blossom) not to mention the citrus blooms in the early spring. But I will find them on my yellow oxalis as well. So yeah, purple followed by yellow/white.

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the tips honey!

[sstormwatch.livejournal.com]

Sure. And thanks for the info on the squash. We are doing butternut squash this year, and it is helpful to know it won't cross with the honeydew melon or the cucumbers, although they are in different areas of my yard. The biggest issues with any of those is the amount of space needed, even if you have something vertical for them to climb.

Oh, and on those, be careful to not overwater them. They will die quickly if overwatered, especially if they are setting or ripening fruit at that point. We lost honeydews last year from just one badly timed overwatering day. Which reminds me that I need to put the water timer on my spigots.

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

Good info, thank you again!

[docryder.livejournal.com]

I forgot when you mentioned this last weekend, but insect see in UV, which might explain this. Purple plants probably appear near white, and yellow near black (as items actually reflect all colors but the one we perceive).

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

Time to buy some purple plants! *grin*

[stacymckenna.livejournal.com]

My pleasure! I've really enjoyed what little time I've spent on the page I linked you today. I'd not gotten around to finding a list like that before, and one of the silverbacks at the beekeepers meeting last night said he'd bring lists NEXT month, so I was ecstatic to find such a good *local* page on the first try.

I was teaching the hubby about squash pollination just this morning based on what I learned from Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth - we'd not realized the dying ovaries on the hubbard were merely unfertilized not having realized there were gendered flowers. We're much less concerned than we were before - phew! He suggested a paintbrush, but I've seen enough bee activity (big black carpenter kind yesterday morning - it's so easy to see the pollen transfer when they're big and glossy black!) that I think we'll be fine. Besides, if I were to hand pollinate, I'd just grab a handful of stamens and use them directly what with our squash blossoms being so big.

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

The part that freaks me out about hand pollination is this, "Flowers open early in the day and are receptive for only one day. When hand pollinating, it's important to use only the freshly opened flowers."

Receptive for only one day? What, you ladies have headaches? ;P

Seriously, I need to just make sure we have more bees back there. I don't want my squash, cantalope and cucumbers to go south. The squash blossoms I can use for other purposes (hubby makes a mean stuffed blossom!), the others not-so-much...

[dravon.livejournal.com]

I do wish city folk weren't so terrified of bees, though what with the Africanized bees in this areas I can more than understand concern. I don't think I've even seen a bee at the new place, though the baby-garden I planted in the miniature peat pots really need to be transplanted to bigger pots so they can get some heft to them before I subject them to the heat of the day. I'll have to plant some lavendar in the yard and cross my fingers that this will encourage the bees. I think lavender is the tall skinny plant, if so I know exactly where it goes!

Thanks for the info!

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

Good luck with your bees!