Return to Table of Contents Holly Orcharding Select male hollies which have desirable foliage for wreath making, and which produce large amounts of pollen at the time when the female hollies are in bloom. Generally, one male plant for every 20 female plants is sufficient to supply the necessary pollen in normal seasons. When planting your holly orchard, locate your male plants equally among the female plants. Bees must be able to visit male and female flowers during the same excursion for cross pollination to occur. The use of honey bees for pollination may be commercially feasible.
Honey bees are unusually industrious insects.
In a single day, one bee makes a dozen or more trips from the hive, visiting several thousand flowers. These numerous trips, coupled with the bee's hairy body, enables honey bees to accumulate and distribute an abundance of pollen. On each trip bees usually visit only one plant species, collecting one kind of nectar and distributing one kind of pollen. Honey bees pollinate flowers more thoroughly within l00 yards of their colonies. Distribute honey bee colonies in groups throughout the orchard you want pollinated.