Bumble Bee Buzz Pollination for Your Plants

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Most Bumble bees are true natives of our soils and have coevolved with our native plants.
Most Bumble bees are true natives of our soils and have coevolved with our native plants.
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“Bees, Wasps, and Ants,” by Eric Grissell gives an in-depth look at bees and the important role insects have in gardens.
“Bees, Wasps, and Ants,” by Eric Grissell gives an in-depth look at bees and the important role insects have in gardens.

Bees are one of the most important insects to us. Not only are they great garden pollinators, they maintain biological balance and recycle soil nutrients. Learn all about bees — from bumble bee buzz pollination to what is threatening their population in Bees, Wasps, and Ants (Timber Press, 2010) by Eric Grissell. The following excerpt was taken from chapter 8, “The Garden’s Pollinators: Bees.”

You can purchase this book from the MOTHER EARTH NEWS store: Bees, Wasps, and Ants

Bumble Bees

We now move into the world of the truly social (that is, eusocial) bees. Worldwide there are more than 200 species of bumble bees (Bombus; Figure 128), with about 50 species in North America. These most often appear as colorful combinations of flying black-and-yellow fur coats, but there are a few black-and-orange or just plain black species as well. Bumble bees certainly receive much less press than honey bees, but unlike their cousins, most are true natives of our soils and have coevolved with our native plants. Bumble bees differ from honey bees in several respects. For one thing, neither bumble bee colonies nor the old queen survive the winter. In late summer or autumn a number of reproductives are produced, including males and new queens. Mating takes place outside the nest, either on the ground or in the air. Males die and new queens either return to the old abandoned nest or seek out an underground hibernation site in which to overwinter. The following spring each surviving female will become the founder of her own colony.

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