It's not just bees that are important for pollinating a garden. It's flies and birds, too!
For many years now, there has been a very strong movement to bring attention to the importance of pollinators in our ecosystem. From my view within the garden industry, this movement has created fanatics on one side. On the other side, there are many people who are indifferent to the importance of pollinators.
The fanatics would never consider buying a plant unless it has maximum benefits for the pollinators, likely a native plant. Fanatics are focused on the ecological benefits of the plants, and for those individuals, beauty is not necessarily a priority. However, as the saying goes, beauty is the eye of the beholder. A dull flower covered with pollinating insects is beautiful to the fanatics.
Everyone who enjoys gardening, who is buying and planting new plants, is helping to improve the environment for pollinators. They're doing this without the awareness of the importance of the pollinators. To understand and appreciate the value of pollinators, everyone needs to understand what they are.
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Pollinators are animals of all types that visit flowers and take away their pollen. They are primarily insects including bees, wasps, moths, butterflies, flies and beetles. Birds are also considered to be pollinators. Their role is necessary for plants to make fruit or seeds and they achieve this by moving pollen from one part of the flower of a plant to another part. This pollen then fertilizes the plant.
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Only fertilized plants can make fruit and/or seeds. Without them, the plants cannot reproduce, and our entire ecosystem would collapse. Over 80% of the world's flowering plants require a pollinator to reproduce.
Any insect that moves from flower to flower is considered to be a pollinator. Bees are the most effective pollinators because of all the insect pollinators, they are the only ones that collect pollen for eating. As such, bees are responsible for 90% of all the world's pollination.
The second most effective pollinator is the fly. As pollinators, flies are likely to represent a good alternative or supplemental option to bees because different species are present year-round and frequently visit flowers to feed on nectar and/or pollen to support key biological functions including flight and reproduction.
Bees seem to get all the glory when it comes to pollination, as they deserve. At the same time, the flies do not get the respect they deserve in the pollinator world. This is mostly because they are flies and have the reputation of being nuisances. That reputation could be deserved, but the flies are doing a lot of good for the ecosystem.
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To help increase the populations of pollinators, the focus needs to be on two areas. One is to find and make as much room as you can to plant more plants for pollinators. Pollinating plants come in all categories, trees, shrubs, perennials, annual flowers and vegetables. When you are shopping for plants, the pollinators should be marked. They might have their own section at the garden center.
Secondly, focus needs to be on the proper use of insecticides. The fanatics will advocate for the elimination of these, though I'm not in agreement with this because there are situations when an insecticide is needed to save a plant.
Proper use should be only using an insecticide when necessary, when insects are actively damaging a plant. Should you have an insect problem, look for a solution in advice from an expert for the safest product. Don’t go to the hardware store looking for a picture of the bug on the bottle. When using an insecticide, you want to minimize or eliminate the vulnerability of the good bugs.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Bees aren't the only garden pollinators. It's flies and birds, too!
