Not seeing baby melons or squash? Give bees a hand

In high temperatures, pollination may need assistance, via paintbrush and patience

By Debbie Arrington

Hot weather is hard on bees, too. That means some crops may not be getting pollinated or pollination is spotty with few fruit developing.

The bees found this squash flower
but others may need help.
(Photo: Debbie Arrington)

When temperatures top 100 degrees, bees usually stop working on nectar and pollen collection. Instead, they rest or focus on bringing water to their hive.
But flowers still open and need to be pollinated. Squash, melons, pumpkins, cucumbers and other summer favorites need pollinators to produce mature vegetables. (Otherwise, you'll be eating squash blossoms, not squash.)

If your melons and squash aren't setting fruit, give the bees a hand. With a small, soft paintbrush, gather some pollen from male flowers, then brush it inside the female flowers, which have a tiny swelling at the base of their petals. (That's the embryo melon or squash.) Within days, that little swelling should start growing.

If a flower is open, the pollen is usable. (If the flower is still closed, its pollen won't be viable.) Just remember: Boy flower first, then girl flower.

It's a tedious process, but effective. But that's why we love bees; they'll do it for us.