Why you should thank a bee for your apple

Fall is approaching fast and that means one thing: apple picking season! If you’re from the Northeast, apple picking may have been a staple for you growing up. I know for me it was, and I would get particularly excited about my mom’s homemade apple crisp.

Apple picking is a great activity that can be done socially distanced! Image Credit: Sylvie Finn

Something you may not have thought about when strolling the orchards or eating your grandmother’s famous apple pie is: how did this apple come to be?

Before we get to Grandma’s apple pie, we need to rewind a little bit. Back to springtime to be specific. 

On a New England day in May, if you found yourself in an apple orchard, you would be met with sweet smells and the sight of trees covered in blossoms. If you looked more closely, you might find the secret to all the busy orchards in the fall. You guessed it, you would see lots and lots of bees. These bees are providing a critical service to the apple trees; by transferring pollen from tree to tree, they are fertilizing the soon-to-be-seeds in the apple flower. Once fertilized, the plant makes a protective and nutritious encasement around the seeds, which lucky for us, is an apple! 

A bumble bee visits an apple blossom. Image Credit: Flickr (Silver Leapers)

Apple farmers know they need pollination to occur in order to get a fruit, so many set up their orchards in a way that ensures a good fruit set. They do this by setting up what’s called “pollination partners.”  Apple blossoms only bloom for around 9 days, so it is important that there are other trees nearby that are also blooming in order for cross-pollination to occur. By planting genetically compatible trees that bloom during the same time, farmers ensure that their apple trees will get pollinated and therefore get a good fruit set. 

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) have been historically and commonly used as a way to ensure pollination in apple orchards. These days, thousands of honey bee hives are trucked in for the short, four-week apple blooming season. Some orchards also use managed bumble bees (Bombus spp.) or mason bees (Osmia spp.), although this practice is much less common. 

However, growing evidence suggests that the most important pollinators are the wild bees that are already visiting the orchards. Wild mining bees (Andrena spp.), sweat bees (Lasioglossum spp.), cellophane bees (Colletes spp.), and mason bees (Osmia spp.) are all commonly found visiting apple blossoms in spring. Not only that, but wild bees have evolved to live in harsh spring conditions, so they pollinate in colder wetter weather when honey bees refuse to forage. Even more importantly, wild bees transfer more pollen than honey bees per visit and make more visits per hour. Taken together, over the blooming period of an orchard, wild bees are much more effective pollinators than honey bees. 

To learn more about the amazing diversity and life history of wild bees you can find in eastern apple orchards, click here

Regardless of what bee visited the flowers that made your apple possible, next time you take a bite into a crispy red apple, make sure to thank a bee! And if you, like me, will be bringing in the Jewish New Year tomorrow night with the tradition of dipping apples in honey, make sure to thank many bees!

Apple dipped in apple blossom honey, what a treat! Image Credit: Sylvie Finn

*TPI tip*

You know that crabapple tree outside your house that’s just covering your yard with small rotten apples? Harvest your crabapples! Crabapples are wild apples that are edible (never poisonous!) and make great applesauce and apple butter. I made this batch from foraged crabapples I found in the area.

Homemade crabapple butter. Image Credit: Sylvie Finn

No, you didn’t just find a murder hornet

Recently, we’ve received several inquiries about murder hornets appearing in Massachusetts. Rest assured, you did not find a murder hornet in New England.

Invariably, the giant wasps being reported are eastern cicada killer wasps (Sphecius speciosus). Though their name may be menacing, these native wasps are not out to get you, your pets, or honey bees.

Rather, they’re after cicadas. In late-summer, when the deafening cicada choir reaches its peak, cicada killers emerge. Males emerge first seeking mates. In an effort to win the top female, males guard territories all day long and duel readily with similar-sized intruders.

Females, on the other hand, hunt. They track down and find adult cicadas (specifically, dog day cicadas that have short life cycles, not the periodical ones that remain underground for nearly two decades). Upon finding one, she paralyzes it with her stinger, hauls it back to the nest, and buries it in the long underground burrow she has prepared for her offspring. During her month-long life, she is industrious: she will lay a dozen eggs and provision each egg with two or three cicadas.

eastern cicada killer wasp carrying a cicada
Eastern cicada killer wasps hunt cicadas, not honey bees. PC: Judy Gallagher, Flickr

You can identify cicada killers by the combination of orange-black head and thorax and a black abdomen with broken yellow bands. They are 1.5–2 inches long, about the length of a piece of rigatoni. Females do have a stinger for paralyzing cicadas, but they’re docile and will not sting unless provoked. Adults are common in the US east of the Rocky Mountains and are around for only a few weeks each year to coincide with cicada activity.

Occasionally, you might find an entire nesting population of cicada killers. Typically, they nest near each other in sandy, well-draining soil found in disturbed lawns or golf course bunkers. Nests can be identified by the combination of a hole about the width of a nickel that’s preceded by a wide fan of soil.

cicada killer nest
Cicada killer nests are conspicuous. Look for a nickel-sized hole preceded by a wide fan of soil. PC: Sarah Zukoff, Flickr

If you want to discourage cicada killers from nesting in your yard, you can disturb the nest entrance or keep it wet since they prefer dry soils for nesting. Definitely don’t use insecticides. Chemical pesticides can persist for many years in soils harming other beneficial organisms in the process. Remember, these wasps play an important role in the checks and balances of our native ecosystems and help cut down on the incessant din of cicadas, so it’s in your favor to just let them be.

cicada killer wasp aggregation
Typically, cicada killers nests in dense aggregations. Each brown patch in the lawn is a cicada killer nest. PC: Chick Holliday, Wikimedia

If you spot a cicada killer, take the opportunity to watch it work. You might see a male guarding its territory or a female on the hunt. If you’re still enough (and resemble a tree), one might even land on you! Stay calm, and remember, they’re not out to murder you.

cicada killer on human hand
It’s hard work flying with a cicada! A female cicada killer wasp is taking a rest on the hand of former TPI member Max McCarthy.

Help TPI find bumble bee colonies!

While you’ve been hunkered down at home, have you seen any bumble bees in your urban yard? Maybe you’ve even seen a bumble bee nest! We want your help in scouting out the bumble bee nests of the urban greater Boston area.


TPI scientists have been hard at work trying to learn about the nesting ecology of bumble bees (Bombus spp). Bumble bee nests are the focal point of reproduction. In early spring, the queen emerges and forages alone for pollen and nectar. Then, she produces workers which take on foraging tasks, and the colony grows exponentially. Late in the season, as the colony begins to senesce, males and new queens are produced. After mating, males die and queens overwinter underground to start the cycle over.

Bumble bee reproduction cycle
Bumble bee life cycle. Image credit: Jeremy Hemberger

We have learned a great deal about bumble bee nesting in natural areas, but now it’s time to take that work into the city. Preliminary results already suggest that bumble bee reproductive ecology may differ between natural and urban environments, and we want to explore this further. Bumble bee nests can be difficult to find, but that’s where YOU come in.

Do you think you’ve seen a bumble bee nest? We want to see it! Bumble bees are cavity nesters, meaning they nest in small openings, such as crevices in rock walls beneath garden sheds. If you see frequent traffic of worker bumble bees (~1 bee/minute) to and from a single location, chances are you found a colony! 

Bumble bees nesting in an old bird house. Image credit: Kstevens01, Flickr

If you think you have a bumble bee nest in your yard, or know of one in the greater Boston area (within 15 miles of the Tufts Medford-Somerville campus), take a photo and get in touch with us by filling out this survey.

Thank you in advance and we look forward to hearing from you!