Why Manage Pollination?

You manage the soil, the water, the pests. You keep a careful watch on weather conditions. But many growers don't think about pollination because they don't recognize what poor pollination costs them. If you lose 20% of the value of a crop, you've wasted that 20% of all the other amenities you've taken the time, care and expense to ensure.

Some growers think that one bee visiting a blossom will accomplish its pollination. But apples, melons, cucurbits and many other crops need 15 or 20 visits in order to be sufficiently pollinated.

When you look at a sliced melon, pay attention to the seeds. Each white, unpollinated seed represents potential that is not realized. If there are many white seeds, the fruit will never reach its full size and sweetness. You've probably been disappointed with a mealy, tasteless mellon at one time or another. More than likely, this was a poorly pollinated melon.

The pictures above show a comparison of foods that have been well pollinated with those which have not. The top row has the well pollinated foods, the bottom has the poorly pollinated foods. We think you'll agree, the difference is substantial.

Knotty or curled cucumbers, tasteless cantaloupes, small lopsided apples, pumpkins, squash and many other fruits and veggies are a result of growers who assumed that wild pollinators would be sufficient, when in fact, they aren't. These days pollination must be managed, just the same as fertility, pest control, irrigation and other aspect of growing fruits and vegetables.