Honeybees and other bees transfer the pollen. After the plant produces many male flowers, every seventh flower on a plant branch is female. All male and most female flowers drop off the plant, and fruits set more or less irregularly throughout the season. The condition of the plant and number of melons already set determine the number of female flowers that set fruit later. Therefore, pruning misshapen melons while small is essential to encourage additional fruit set.
Flowers open one to two hours after sunrise.
Female flowers are receptive to pollen throughout the day although most pollination takes place before noon. In the afternoon the flowers close, never to reopen, whether pollinated or not. Bees must deposit adequate pollen on all three lobes of the female flower's stigma or a misshapen melon develops. Cold, rainy and windy weather reduces bee activity, which can cause poor melon production due to inadequate pollination. Even though a melon has normal shape, it will ripen at a smaller size and contain fewer seeds if pollination was marginal.