# Do Bees Pollinate Oak Trees?



## Ravenseye (Apr 2, 2006)

Oaks are, I believe, wind pollinated. I guess you could argue that all those little wings beating the air could have increased pollination!!!


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## Eaglerock (Jul 8, 2008)

This guy thinks so. Read Paragraph 7 or 8.

http://www.mountaintimes.com/mtweekly/2005/0407/beekeeper.php3

It is really the wind that does it. So Raven gets the Star. 
http://teachers.eusd.k12.ca.us/jcurriden/Activity 1.htm


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## Galaxy (Jun 10, 2007)

Thanks for the link Eaglerock. I believe that the guy is correct. In fact, here is a quote from a Ohio State publication on pollination:



> Insect pollinated flowers are usually showy - having evolved from the need to attract insect pollinators. However, many wind pollinated flowers such as maple, oak, hickory, corn, and ragweed are visited by bees collecting pollen. http://ohioline.osu.edu/b559/559_2.html


It seems to me that beekeeping contributes substantially to a wide variety of wildlife food sources. Everything around my property seems to be producing many more berries, nuts, fruit, etc. since I restarted keeping bees. I saw very few honeybees prior to this year.

If beekeeping helps feed wildlife, that fact alone is sufficient reason for the time and expense that I put into beekeeping.


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## tecumseh (Apr 26, 2005)

I would say purely from observational evidence yes. Which is to say at fairly specific time of the year (the timing does vary based upon oak tree variety... of which there are many more than most folks might suspect) they work the small insignicant looking bloom so hard that their collective (they are communist, don't you know?) hum is difficult to ignore.

I have also heard beekeepers just to the west of me suggest that the pinoak in that area produces an extranectaral secretion (think I got the term right) which makes for an awful tasting honey.


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## dcross (Jan 20, 2003)

Sounds like you're seeing a "mast year".

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2005/10/10-25-05tdc/10-25-05dscihealth-03.asp


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## John D. (Sep 5, 2007)

I've had the same experience as tecumseh. The hum is very noticeable.


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## RDY-B (May 20, 2007)

In cali we have native california oaks and tan oaks -bees sometimes bring in honeydew that is excreted from aphids and other scale insects -the taste is awful-and the sugars are to complex to let the bees winter on -other than that bees dont work oaks-  RDY-B


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## Aspera (Aug 1, 2005)

You are certainly seeing a mast year, but I would definitely not group all oaks together. Mast years only occur in groups of closely related species. A live oak is a different thing from a white oak. Pollination is not important to most oaks, seed dispersal and predation is the point of concern.


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## walking bird (Mar 2, 2008)

So, RDY-B, the hum I hear in my grove of Live Oaks when they bloom is really just the bees working the bugs? Interesting...

While on the subject of chaparral flora, have you ever noticed if bees pay any attention to red shank blooms? It appeared to me they couldn't have cared less, in spite of the fact that our entire hill was blooming awhile back.


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## RDY-B (May 20, 2007)

walking bird -I dont know about red shank -but if it is like chamise and it blooms in june it should yield something-I google mapped thousand oaks -got any pockets of SAGE in all that scrub-brush -what is the main flow in your neck of the woods  RDY-B


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

*Quercus sp*

Are a great source of pollen eagerly worked


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