Pollination Services
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What plants need pollination by insects?
People often wonder about how much pollination really does. After all, their garden always seems to have fruit. There are a number of factors to consider about pollination. First, their are many wild insects that are also responsible for pollination (e.g. bumblebees, solitary bees, butterflies, flies, ants and wasps as well as wild honeybee colonies). In small plots, with lots of natural habitat around for these species, there is often no need for any additional pollinators.
Honey Bees Guard Plants from Predators
Many caterpillars have fine hairs on their bodies that detect air vibration. They use these hairs to detect the presence of predatory wasps. When they sense vibrations in the air, they stop moving or drop to the ground.
Bees Increase Berry Size in Raspberries and Blackberries
James H. Cane with the Agricultural Research Service in Utah has been studying the effects of pollination by honeybees Apis mellifera and the solitary bee Osmia lignaria in raspberries and blackberries. These plants are generally self-pollinating and it is not necessary to place pollinating units (beehives) into fields to ensure fruit production. What Dr. Cane found was that there was a significant increase in berry size when the flower was pollinated by bees vs when only self-pollination occurred. When bees were present berries were found to be 30 percent larger. This appears to be because these flowers have multiple pistils and insect pollination results in a larger number of pistils receiving pollen and correspondingly developing into larger fruit. Read more here.
Pollinating Berry Crops
Pollination of Berry Crops: The cheapest and easiest way to produce more and better berries
Pollination is not often considered in the same terms as fertilizer or water, but is just as important.
Pollination is the process of transferring pollen from the stamens of one flower to the pistil of a neighboring flower.
Pollen is collected when it becomes entangled in the dense branched hair on the bee body. About 50-350 flowers are visited per trip and a given bee will make between 1 and 50 pollen collecting trips per day.
