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Insect pollination is critical to successful watermelon growing. The major pollinating insects are honey bees. Without these hard working insects, you are likely to have a poor crop.

The reason is that cucurbit crops, like watermelons and cantaloupes, have separate male and female flowers. Somehow, the pollen from the male flower has to be transferred to the female flower. That occurs when a pollinating insect visits the male flower, picks up some pollen, and then visits the female flower. While a number of insects are capable of doing this, the honey bee excels in this task.

For successful pollination to occur, one visit is not enough. It has been estimated that a watermelon flower needs at least eight to ten visits per flower by bees for good pollination. We usually recommend a minimum of 1.5 hives per acre to provide enough bees. One way to tell if you are getting sufficient bee activity is to check the number of bee visits to a single flower in ten minutes. If, during midmorning hours, and in optimal bee flying weather (warm and sunny), you see at least one bee visit a single flower in a ten minute period, then you should be in good shape.

Occasionally, I run across a grower who does not bring in bee hives to pollinate his watermelons. Of course, if he has a crop, the bees are there, coming in from some distance away. As one grower told me, he was just "borrowing" the bees from someone else. Sometimes that plan works, but not always. Often, his watermelon yields are suffering, without his knowledge. A few hives would certainly help the situation.

Watermelon flowers are not the bee's preferred food source. If there are more preferred food sources in the area, the bees may not work your watermelon crop as much as you might like. To overcome this situation, it's best to wait to move the bees into your watermelon field just when the crop is ready to be pollinated. The reason is that when you move bees from a long distance away (over a mile), the bees need time to be reoriented to their surroundings. So for a while, they will stick closer to the hive, and work the crop in the immediate area. If you move the bees in too early, they may find more preferred food sources and not work your watermelons as well.

I have had several growers calling me about sources of bees for this growing season. It appears that there will be a shortage, due to several factors. If you are having trouble finding hives to rent, please give me a call. I have a list of beekeepers in the area who may be able to provide pollination services.

The other day I was talking to a watermelon grower who was in this situation. He was having trouble finding hives to rent. He told me that he has an interest in bee keeping, and might want to get his own bees at some point. If bees continue to be in short supply, more growers may want to consider this. I realize that most growers already have too much on their plate, and few of them will want to take up yet another endeavor like bee keeping. But if you think that you might want to try your hand at bee keeping, please give me a call. If we have enough interest, we will try to schedule an introductory class on the subject.


		Sarah Denkler, Horticulture Educator University of Missouri Extension P.O. Box 160, Kennett, MO 63857 573-888-4722 Denklers@missouri.edu Updated 04/18/08

Southeast Region