Crops Pollinated by Bees 
Some of the crops that require, or 
at least benefit from, bee pollination 
are listed below. The list is grouped 
for convenience and is limited to 
plants that contribute to our food 
supply. Trees, shrubs, and plants 
useful for other purposes are not in- 
cluded. Crops marked with an aster- 
isk are often grown on such large 
acreage that the fields are stocked 
with colonies to provide adequate 
pollination by honey bees and thus 
are insured maximum yields and op- 
timum quality. 
Forage and Legume Crops 
*Alfalfa; buckwheat; clover (alsike, 
berseem, crimson, Egyptian, *Ladino, 
*red, rose, strawberry, and white); 
*crown vetch; sweet clover (*Hu- 
bam, *white, *yellow); lespedeza 
(bush); *trefoil; vetch (*hairy and 
purple). 
Fruit Crops 
*Apple; apricot; *avocado; berry 
(blackberry, *blueberry, *cranberry, 
gooseberry, raspberry, and 
“strawberry ); *cherry; citrus (*grape- 
fruit, lemon), *mandarin, *tangelo, 
and *tangerine, mango, melon (*can- 
teloup, *casaba, citron, *honey dew, 
*persian, and *watermelon); necta- 
rine; *peach; *pear; persimmon, 
*plum, pomegranates, and prune. 
Nut Crops 
*Almond, chestnut, coconut, and 
*macadamia. 
Oilseed Crops 
*Cotton, flax, *rape, *safflower, 
soybeans, *sunflower, tung. 
Vegetable Seed Crops 
Asparagus, *broccoli, *Brussel 
sprouts, *carrots, *cauliflower, celery, 
Chinese cabbage, collard, cucumber, 
dill, eggplant, garlic, kale, kohlrabi, 
leek, *lima beans, mustard, *onion, 
parsley, *pepper, pumpkin, *radish, 
rutabaga, *squash, and “turnip. 
Renting Honey Bee Colonies 
Honey bee colonies can be rented 
in many areas either from a custom 
pollination service or from a local 
beekeeper. In either case, it is wise 
to obtain a written agreement or 
contract that covers the following: 
@ Number and strength of 
colonies to be used. 
@ Time of delivery and removal. 
@ How the colonies will be 
distributed in or around the 
field. 
@ Right of entry for beekeeper to 
service his colonies. 
@ Access to bees, assured water 
supply, irrigation schedules. 
@ Degree of protection from 
pesticides that will be given to 
the bees. 
@ Plan of payment of the rental 
fees. 
®@ Conditions required to break 
the agreement. 
Using Strong Colonies 
Since there is no set number of 
honey bees in a colony, one needs 
to know about differences in colony 
strength before renting bees for 
pollination. Colony strength refers 
to the number of bees in the hive. 
This can be estimated by the area of 
inside hive surfaces that is densely 
covered by bees. This can vary with 
the season of the year, temperature, 
