The Real Buzz of Halloween

This Week In Ag #189

Black cats. Bats. Spiders. These are the featured creatures of Spooky Season.

But the real buzz surrounding Halloween belongs to the bees.

As Mother Nature’s most prolific pollinators, bees are responsible for much of Earth’s beauty and bounty. That includes producing the icon of October: pumpkins.

It comes down to plant physiology. Pumpkins are not self-pollinating plants. Unlike cotton and soybeans, where pollen produced within a flower fertilizes the ovary of that same flower, pumpkins have specific male and female flowers across their vines. They need pollen moved among blooms. And nothing does that better than bees.

Pumpkin growers will rent bee colonies during the growing season to ensure better pollination and higher yields. Pumpkins require bees to make multiple visits to each flower, about 8-16 trips total, to set healthy fruit. And they must get busy. Pumpkins only bloom for one day, around noon. Then the bright orange/yellow blooms wither and die.

Sure, bees can be scary because of their stingers. And granted, those 1970s movies about killer bees did them no favors. But not all bees have stingers; only the females. That’s because their stingers are egg-laying devices.

As someone who farms, grows a big garden, and maintains a backyard that resembles a botanical center, I often tell people that bees won’t bother you if you don’t bother them. We have dozens buzzing around our yard every minute of the day, spring through fall; we encourage them by growing certain plants to attract them and setting aside habitats for them to overwinter.

October is, of course, #NationalPumpkinMonth. American farmers produce about 1.5 billion pounds of pumpkins annually; 85% of those orange orbs are grown for seasonal decorations. So, when you carve your Jack-O-Lanterns this week, be sure to thank a bee!