HYB: bee behavior (was question)
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: HYB: bee behavior (was question)
- From: "* M* C* o* B* S* <s*@aristotle.net>
- Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1998 08:15:18 -0600 (MDT)
>I have always heard that only a bumblebee is capable of successfully
>carrying out pollination of a TB flower.
Jeff, I've seen TB plants set pods after having been swarmed by cucumber
beetles. Those little devils run in and out and all around.
At the SLI convention this weekend, Kevin Vaughan (I think it was he) made
an interesting observation concerning bumblebee behavior. He said he's
watched bees duck into the throat of an LA and then back out with pollen on
their backs, some of which might slip into a receptive stigma. Before they
leave the petal, though, they carefully groom that pollen down onto their
rear ends, which has led him to conclude that bee pollination favors a
self-cross. Before the critter leaves the flower it moves the pollen into a
position that would not contact another flower's stigmatic lip.
He said he'd watched a zillion bees and they all did the same thing.
celia
storey@aristotle.net
Little Rock, Arkansas, USDA Zone 7b
-----------------------------------
257 feet above sea level,
average rainfall about 50 inches (more than 60" in '97)
average relative humidity (at 6 a.m.) 84%.
moderate winters, hot summers ... but lots of seesaw action in all seasons
