Honeybees & Apple Tree Pollination

Like apples? Thank a bee!

Apples start as a flower on an apple tree. We have several of these trees around our property, including one in front of the meadery that produces beautiful flowers like this:

If you head out there right now, you’ll see the beginning of your apples. The bees are buzzing all over the tree, hard at work. They are so focused on the job they barely even notice as you approach! You can’t really see, but there are about 100 bees in this picture:

In order for these flowers to become delicious apples, the pollen must move from one tree to another – “cross-pollination”.. The pollen moves between trees through bees which visit the flowers to collect nectar and pollen. The bees have pollen on their bodies, and they move this pollen to other trees – or even other bees, through contact in the hive, who then visit other trees themselves.

This is yet another example of how bees are so very important to us. Without their hard work pollinating, we wouldn’t have the fruits that we enjoy. Thank a bee today!