Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Alfalfa Pollination

Here is a neat article on alfalfa pollination by honey bees. The Readers Digest version of the article is.... You need to place 5-10 hives per acre are needed for good pollination.  The reason being is funny. The alfalfa flower bonks the bee in the head to deposit pollen on the bee for pollination.. The bee really does not like being bonked.  So the bee learns in a day that she needs to enter the flower from the side so it does not get bonked. Therefore, lots of new bees are needed every day to pollinate the alfalfa. Here is the link if you really want to nerd out
http://www.tvalfalfaseed.org/resource/files/Honey%20Bee%20Pollination%20of%20Alfalfa.pdf.

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