PIXABAY, GABORFEJESTo keep them aloft, the wing beat of honey bees is 170 to 270 hertz (Hz). Yet while producing a soft humming sound, it is out of tune with flowers that require vibrations around 400 Hz to release their pollen.
Bumblebees, on the other hand, are buzz pollination pros, delivering the rapid vibrations to flowers that tomatoes, peppers, cranberries, blueberries and red clover—to name a few—need. Bumblebees also work harder and at cooler temperatures than honey bees, and visit nectar-less flowers, which honey bees shun. Thanks to bumblebee pollination, tomato plants, for example, produce more and bigger, juicier fruit.
In the early 1900s, to ensure pollination, growers using hothouses to produce vine-ripened fresh market tomatoes either strummed string tied to the stems or gently shook the flowers with a bit of rabbit’s tail on a stick. After World War II, growers began using bee wands, similar to an electric toothbrush, to simulate bumblebee buzz-like action. But all of these methods were labor-intensive, requiring daily checks ...
