Tomatoes Are Here!!

 Well folks, the day has arrived, I found the first of the tomatoes! 

I guess I should have been working this section of the Steemhouse yesterday, I probably would have seen them then. I started clipping the side with the oldest tomato plants this morning and got down the row a few plants, that's when I saw it!

 Then just a few plants further down the row I see another one!

 This one was a bit bigger. If you look at the flower on the far right, you will notice some yellowing right above the bloom, this flower has been aborted and will fall off soon. There are several causes of this, most probably in this case, poor pollination. We are waiting on the bees to be delivered to take care of this problem.  

 So now the game begins, we will keep clipping and pruning plants until these little beauties get ripe and delicious, then it will be time for the markets. We should have ripe tomatoes in about five to six more weeks!

 Tomato Pollination: It's a Sticky Subject

 I mentioned above that we don't have bees in the greenhouse yet. I'm sure your asking yourself how are these tomatoes getting pollinated without bees. well my friends it's because tomatoes have perfect flowers. It's not that these flowers look like the best flowers ever, I'm not bragging. Perfect means that they are self pollinating, they have both stamens and pistils, which is the male and female parts respectively.  If you will notice the flowers appear to hang upside down. This allows the pollen to fall down onto the pistil which is when pollination occurs. Now that is just the quick breakdown of tomato flowers or perfect flowers in general.

Here are some links if you would like to read more about Perfect Flowers.

http://passel.unl.edu/pages/informationmodule.php?idinformationmodule=1087230040&topicorder=3&maxto=9

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_reproductive_morphology#Bisexual

 Next you will probably ask "Why do you need bees then?" Well gentle reader, the bees use the pollen to feed their baby bees. Honey bees use pollen to make honey which they feed the young, we use a type of bumble bee that doesn't make honey, but still use the pollen. Now remember earlier when I told you about the tomato flower and it's upside down orientation? Gravity and Wind can do the job of pollinating tomatoes, when a breeze blows and the plant sways pollen will fall inside the flower onto the pistil and eureka, pollination occurs!

 But there are other factors involved, relative humidity for one, if the humidity is to high the pollen clumps together and doesn't stick to the pistil, and if the pistil doesn't receive the pollen, the flower aborts just like in the second picture.

 Now the bees, they don't give a damn about tomatoes, but they do like that pollen, so they come out of the hive with the sole mission of bringing back as much pollen as their little legs, and wings, can carry. So these little pollen collecting machines visit every flower on every plant they come across, they will land on the flower and bite down on the anther cone which surrounds the pistil and with their abdomen underneath the flower they will begin to vibrate their body. The pollen falls from the stamen, out of the flower and onto the bees abdomen. But the pistil is inside the anther cone so as the pollen falls, some of it will contact the pistil and you have pollination. The be is happy with her load of pollen and i'm happy that more tomatoes will be made, it's a win win for everyone involved.

 

In Other News

 Today I seeded about 100 cucumbers, Socrates variety, this are seedless with a thin skin. This variety doesn't need a pollinator, but that is a whole other discussion in itself!

So overall, things are moving right along in the steemhouse, tomatoes are getting there, most of the seeds are in, still need to seed the green beans but those grow fast so we can wait a week or two more. But it looks like we are on track for a great season, I hope you enjoy the story so far. 

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