Proper
pollination is essential for optimum flower set and fruit
production.
Bumblebees are excellent pollinators under circumstances
when other bees cannot be used. Unlike honeybees,
bumblebees are active at low temperatures, in windy
conditions and under cloudy skies.
Bumblebees are not only excellent pollinators in open air,
but also operate well in greenhouses and tunnels where
other bees cannot be used.
The bumblebees vibrate the flowers, which gives optimal
pollination of crops such as tomatoes and eggplant.
Bumblebees can completely replace manual pollination and
use of hormones, provided the plant produces living pollen.
The advantages of this type of pollination are:
Less physical labour,
Better labour management,
Environmentally friendly production involving no hormones,
More attractive uniformly sized fruit.
Every time a bumblebee visits a tomato flower she leaves a
brown mark. This gives the grower a permanent monitoring of
the pollination level.
In crops such as tomatoes and peppers, pollination by
bumblebees results in higher production, larger and high
quality fruit.