Bees Absolutely Love Cannabis And It Could Help Restore Their Populations

Like & Follow Us On Facebook!

Bees are huge fans of hemp and a recent study has found that the taller and larger the hemp plants are the bigger the number of bees that will go after it.

New research, conducted by researchers at Cornell University and published last month in Environmental Entomology, shows that humans are not the only fans of marijuana. The findings also reinforce a study published last year at Colorado State University that discovered the same thing.

The study proved that bees are attracted to cannabis, big time. They attraction comes from the plants plentiful stores of pollen. This opens the door for scientist and researchers to figure out new and different ways to support and build their struggling population.

The research found that the more hemp plants in an area, the more bees that flooded to them. The research also found that the taller the hemp plant, the more likely bees would be attracted to that plant. In fact, the research showed that bees were 17 times more likely to visit a tall hemp plant, over a short one.

In addition to the hemp plant being an incredible resource for many, many things. From health aspects to manufacturing aspects, the research found that the plant can support no less than 16 different variations of bees in the Northeastern United States.

Now it may seen odd that the findings show the loving relationship between hemp and bees, considering the hemp plant doesn’t produce colorful flowers or offer up a sweet and tasty nectar — which most bees are attracted too.

With that said however, the male plant seems offer up a pollen that bees just can’t seem to get enough of, and honestly, researches don’t know why.

The female plants, the version of the hemp plants that people smoke to get high — doesn’t seem to appeal to bees what so ever. Researchers feel this is because the female plant doesn’t produce any flowers. So maybe nature is saving the ‘buds’ they produce for humans.

The study’s author’s wrote:

The rapid expansion of hemp production in the United States… may have significant implications for agroecosystem-wide pollination dynamics.

As a late-season crop flowering during a period of seasonal floral dearth, hemp may have a particularly strong potential to enhance pollinator populations and subsequent pollination services for crops in the following year by filling gaps in late-season resource scarcity.

The beauty of these findings is that this could have an incredible impact on the bee population throughout the United States. As bees were added to the endangered species list not too long ago and they are absolutely crucial to the survival of the planet. Don’t underestimate a bee!

Bees are in fact, one of the most important pollinators in the United States — especially when it comes to U.S. agriculture. Spreading the male sex cells of flowers to their female counterparts in a natural process that is highly crucial to plant reproduction.

**According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, pollinators are worth anywhere from $235 and $577 billion worldwide owing to their pivotal role in the production of global crops. In the U.S. alone this means that bees are responsible for $20 billion of domestic crop production. Without bees we simply wouldn’t have almonds, blueberries, watermelon, and a slew of other awesome and tasty crops.

Researches were quick to state that just because bees are big fans of hemp plans, humans don’t need to worry about cannabinoid-rich pollen getting into their food supply. That goes the same for THC — as awesome as that may sound to many! This is not likely to have an impact on bee development due to the loss of cannabinoid receptors in insects.

So while many people enjoy marijuana in different forms, while others dislike it strongly…the plant could very well be a crucial part of restoring the dying bee population! So think of that the next time you smoke up!