Impact of pollinator habitat on yield and fruit quality of 'Early Girl' tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) and ‘Early Jalapeno’ (Capsicum annuum) in urban community vegetable gardens

Insect pollinators benefit plants in the environment by providing pollination services. However, native pollinator populations are declining due to loss of habitat, pesticide use, and pressure from adventive species. Frequent pollination has been shown to increase seed count, fruit number, and fruit size in some horticultural crops. Consequently, this may lead to an increase in the end-of-season marketable yield of many insect-pollinated crops. The effect of planting insect pollinator habitat in vegetable gardens is not well understood, especially in urban community vegetable gardens (UCVG’s). The objective of this study was to determine the impact of native pollinator habitat on yield and fruit quality of ‘Early Girl’ tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) and ‘Early Jalapeno’ (Capsicum annuum) in UCVG’s. To conduct this experiment, we established pollinator gardens in four of eight Marion Community Garden Association community gardens (Marion, IN). The pollinator gardens contained native pollinator plants that bloomed over different time periods, allowing for a variety of floral resources throughout the Indiana growing season. Five “Early Girl’ tomatoes and “Early Jalapeno” peppers were planted at each UCVG. Crops were harvested biweekly. A subset of six tomatoes and peppers were taken to investigate the effect on seed count and fruit quality. Tomatoes grown in UCVG containing pollinator habitat exhibited an increase in fruit number, fruit size, and end-of-season yield.