Hello bee-people,
                 I'm doing a research on melon pollination in
greenhouses. Melon plants have both male and hermaphrodite flowers,
numbers of which are changing with plant age and climatic factors.
It seems that honeybees, which are brought in for pollination, do not
discriminate between the two, but also seem to pay more visits to the
male flowers. Male flowers are a bit smaller, nectar has a higher
concentration in the male flowers (25% and more in winter), although
in hermaphrodite flowers at times I can collect a larger volume
(3-5 microliters).
      I wanted to carry out some experiment on honeybees ability to
distinguish between male and hermaphrodite flowers. My idea is to put
petry dished with honey/sugar solutions to draw the bees and later to
use plates of different size and with different concentrations of
solutions to see which of them the bees prefer. My hives are placed next
to our local botanical garden, which is very small and has a few
buildings (like a tropical greenhouse and the like) in it.
      I know the papers and books by Von Frisch and other, but I'm not
sure about some aspects of such an experiment. Can anyone help please?
 
1) What is the best distance from the hive to begin the experiment from
   (I read somewhere that about 200m is the distance used)?
2) What is a good concentration to use for the solutions (I once used
   40-45% but not many bees came to eat, perhaps because of the distance)?
3) How long do I keep the plates open, or how often do I have to change
   the plates and renew the contents? Not the experiment itself, just the
   beginning phase where I want to bring the bees to the experiment cite?
 
Any information and ideas will be welcomed. Please forward any replies to:
 
Rivka Nokrian,  E-mail: [log in to unmask]
 
Thanks, Rivka