I hate when bees come near my tomatoes, as I grow for seed! Yikes no hybrids please! I want my heirloom tomatoes to be self pollinated. An occasional cross is OK, although I trade a lot of seed to others. So i save seed early and late to avoid any bee activity that could bring in pollen from my other tomatoes. Wow, looks really nice. You can just shake the plant to pollinate. Or use an electric tooth brush to vibrate flower. I never had a need to do so. It will work. Also pollination will stop once you reach around 90F.
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Good informative discussion on earth boxes and tomatoes here. I first saw them used by my brother in law in Florida about 20 years ago. I’ve done a version using a seven gallon container. No bottom holes just four equally spaced about four inches up from the bottom. My 1 1\2" pvc pipe sits about an inch off the bottom. I use a peat based (Natures) potting mix and add some garden lime, pearlite ans vermiculite for a mix. I grow my heirlooms in a small greenhouse and use electric fence rods for support. These are tied to a cross cord about 4 foot up to keep the rods up straight. Seems like the tomatoes are very happy. I do mulch with a permiable mulch fabric and red bark mulch. I have red shade cloth covering the greenhouse film. I recently made some 17 gallon containers in the same way. They do well as i expected but growing my over 2.5 pound tomato in the 7 gallon pot was gratifying to see.
