Most people don't understand how much of our food requires pollination and the importance of the pollinators. Pollination is required for the production of most fruit and vegetables. There are a few vegetables that are wind pollinated, such as corn and spinach, and some that don't need to be pollinated like kale and carrots. But, over 75% of all flowering plants are pollinated by animals.1
The image below shows the difference between proper pollination and poor pollination.
image credit: UC Berkeley
Who are the Pollinators?
Many animals play a part in the symbiotic relationship with plants, including:
- ants
- bats
- bees
- beetles
- birds
- butterflies
- flies
- moths
- wasps
There are even some large animal pollinators such as lemurs, honey possums and geckos.
image credit: USDA Forest Service
Why is the honeybee so important?
All pollinators are important, but the honeybee has become increasingly important because of the changes in our agriculture methods. The honeybee is the only pollinator that can be managed in large quantities to meet the needs of our large monocrop operations. One can argue it is also the reason the honeybees are facing so many issues, but we will save that for a future discussion.
image credit: Bee Culture
None of the other pollinators exist in large social colony that can be managed by humans to meet the pollination needs of these large monocrops. Many of these pollinators are better adapted to pollinate than the honeybee. For example, the bumblebee has a longer tongue and can get into flowers that honeybees can't. Bumblebees also can fly at a lower temperature than honeybees, so there are days in early spring that bumblebees will be pollinating and the honeybees aren't.
Another interesting difference between honeybees and bumblebees is that honeybees are mono-floral, meaning they will only collect nectar and pollen from one plant species at a time. While the bumblebee is poly-floral, meaning it will collect from any species of plant at anytime. You can often watch a bumblebee in your garden going back and forth between different plants. This trait may seem well suited for our mono-crop agriculture, but it has the possibility of being problematic as well. Take early spring when dandelions are in bloom and apple trees start blooming. The orchard owners pays to have honeybees bought into his orchard for a few weeks during that critical time when pollination is required for the trees to bear fruit. If there is a high population of dandelions in the orchard, there is the possibility that the honeybees will work the dandelions and ignore the apple trees. Without pollination the orchard will not produce a profitable crop. This often leads to mass usage of weed killers.
How Does it Affect You?
One in three bites of the food you eat is the result of insect pollination2. Just take a minute to let that sink in.......
South west China has already seen a drastic decline in wild bees due to excessive pesticide use and a lack of natural habitat. This has forced farmers to hand-pollinate their apple and pear trees. This may be possible for high value crops, but there are not enough humans in the world to pollinate all of our crops by hand.
image credit: chinadialogue.net
Neither plant nor pollinator populations can exist in isolation – should one disappear, the other is one generation away from it's demise.
Hopefully you are now better aware of the importance of the honeybee and all pollinators. Our future depends on them and it appears their future depends on us to change our ways.
I'll close with a photo from Whole Foods that visually tells the story of what is in store if we don't support the wellbeing of the honeybee.
image credit: Whole Foods
Interested in Beekeeping?
Follow me (@bushkill) so you don't miss the next post in the Beekeeping for Everyone! series
Check out the previous post in the Beekeeping for Everyone! series Beekeeping For Everyone! - Introduction
Also check out these favorites:
Why You Should NEVER EVER Kill Honeybees Living in Your House
The Mysteries of a Bee Beard Revealed!!
citations
1 - U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services
2 - Bee Better Certified
Beekeep On!
@bushkill
My father work is to make bio vegies (jardinparis.com) we not taking online order anymore. But just to say that i'm really concerned and I love your post!
thank you and best of luck to your dad.
This is such an important issue, which is fetching such an incredibly underwhelming response.
Great piece of content. Following you for more #homesteading inspiration!
Thanks, I'm hoping with persistence I can continue to help people understand the importance.
Excellent post!
I know the essentialness of bees; and, wish people would storm the streets for this cause instead of....whatever the reasons for the recent protests.
While I realize their importance, I am also reminded of how territorial they can be. A few years ago, I was just entering the house and saw a whole swarm of bees attach a 'hive' to a tree within minutes.
These may have been a swarm of the Africanized, aka, killer bees. Fortunately, a quick search for beekeepers found me a very calm person who arrived within the hour.
It was fascinating to watch him fully-geared remove the bees. After a small fee for the work he did, only a few remained. He said they'd swarm for a few more hours and move on. They did.
That was an unnerving and energizing experience, with a newfound respect for this many-purposed insect.
Again, thanks for this interesting post. I learned more than a bit!
Peace.
Yes swarming of bees can be a very exciting and intimidating event at first. Most folks associate honeybees with wasp and hornets and assume they will attack. Once you understand that they are 'homeless' and their energy is set on finding a new home it can be quite relaxing to experience. It takes almost a month for a swarm to raise new bees by the time they find a new home, build comb for the queen to lay and then for the eggs to grow, pupate, and hatch. Bees only live 4-6 weeks, so a swarm does not have much time to waste. They have also gorged themselves on honey to get their wax glands flowing so they can immediately start building comb. When they are gorged, they are like we are when we eat way too much, just want to be left alone and not interested in confrontations.
W-O-W!
I will take your word on this ;+)!!! It probably explains why yard crews give them their space. I've heard news stories where some of these so needed insects will chase those who interfere with their objective.
I'm reminded that as the beekeeper brought the hive back to his farm, I couldn't help but remember how close I came to asking for a free jar of local honey. I'm sure he would have accomodated; but, I was too shaken to do more than make the payment and thank him for his help.
Btw, I only saw a couple of bees this past summer when I grew my first ever tomatoes of several kinds. I soon observed that dragonflies, and a few very small insects showed up every day to tend to the flowers. I learned so much, just as I did with your post.
Again, thanks for sharing!
Peace.
Very important information information.. @healthy-home has a curative blog you may be interested in joining!
thanks for the tip, I'll look into it
This article is excellent. I did not know that bees pollinate only one type of flower at a time. When I started reading your article I thought of people in China hand pollinating fruit trees and sure enough 3/4 of the way down the article there is a picture of people in China hand pollinating fruit.
Lets hope we can turn things around before we need to hand pollinate. I imagine there are efforts now to develop mini insect -like drones to mechanically pollinate plants. Of course, this will raise new issues I imagine. The best answer is to restore to nature's way.
That's disturbing. I think drones are a Pandora's Box. I can remember them unsuspectingly hovering over the backyards of people showing the aftermath of the hurricanes.
I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist; but, I do believe they were used in the recent Vegas massacre.
Well, let's stay with the upside of nature. I'm glad to know that local farms are thriving. I learned a few years ago that buying honey from your area help tremendously in curbing/ending air-born allergies.
Peace.
Yes, local honey does help with allergies. Bee sting therapy also does amazing things for health ailments as well. Unfortunately pharmaceutical companies have no way to patent and profit from it so it will never make the mainstream.
Sad truth; and, why it's important to pass down generational remedies to keep them alive.
Peace.
I will have to do a post on bee venom therapy. Will dig up a couple of podcasts I did a while ago with Amber Rose who was student of Charles Mraz (pioneer of bee sting treatment). I supplied Amber with bees for her patients and also learned her protocol. She is doing wonderful work with Lyme disease.
I look forward to this information; and, its health benefits. I imagine a bee-sting treatment would be a bit like acupuncture.
Again, many thanks!
Peace.
I have a friend that used to own a bee hive, and he told me about this too, most people don't know anything about this, great post!
True, it amazes me how people have been 'taught' to associate honeybees with wasps and hornets.
I just discovered the curation lounge on the Discord and I'm in love and this post is amazing.
Thanks, glad you found it.
This is really interesting and helpulful information. Waiting for more
Thanks, stay tuned much more to come.
Excellent post from Bee keeping specialist. Enjoy your success.
@stevenmosoes
thank you
Every creation as it purpose and we must respect that. Pollination helps the community to grow also. Due to the production of foods/vegetables.
hope we can save these pollinators.
@seyiodus.
Proverbs 24:13 - My son, eat honey, for it is good, Yes, the honey from the comb is sweet to your taste;
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I'm looking to start my beekeeping journey in 2018, I've got a ton of research and learning to do, but reading posts and articles like yours certainly inspires me!
Great and good luck on your journey. I will be getting more into the "beekeeping" aspects in future posts.
I’m always thankful for easily understood, plain english information about honeybees. I believe the future of bees really just depends on education about the collateral damage from herbicides and pesticides, and just killing them out of fear and ignorance.
I totally agree and like to believe that I can make a small difference by sharing my knowledge to help educate people.
@bushkill, your cause is noble. We're behind you all the way!
Thanks karen I appreciate that. Also for the resteem :-)
pretty nice 👍😊🐝
thanks
Thanks for sharing your knowledge about our most important insects!
Plenty more to come, stay tuned.....
very well written post - this is a good reminder for now, as many of us start planning our springtime gardens. i look forward to reading more from you on this subject!
Thanks. I'm not a gifted writer like many folks here, but your encouragement helps me want to continue 🐝
hey @bushkill, do you have any great lists of which plants are the best for honeybees? these are incredible stats you present!
There are many good list on the web, like this one that can be found with a simple search. You really need to plant substantial amounts of plants to make a difference to the bees though. The best thing that most folks can do is let the dandelions alone. Dandelions and skunk cabbage are too of the earlier plants that the bees depend on for spring build up (also trees such as maple).
cool thank you. We don't have acres and acres, but we certainly leave the dandelions alone and cultivate over 200 different species of flowers, medicines, plants, trees, etc on our land so they'll have a variety. Just curious if you had any specific lists. Thanks
Borage and yellow sweet clover are my personal favorites.
Thank you :)
#beekeepingforeveryone
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