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Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)

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Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)

#91

Post by fl4regun »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #44
chabes wrote: post #2

A lot of plants aren’t pollinated by bees. There’s pollinator wasps, flies, moths, butterflies… even birds and bats are pollinators

My pawpaws (Asimina triloba) mainly need (house) flies to pollinate. They make their flowers look like meat. I have a couple 100 foot rows of them, it's tricky to get good pollination.

they are interesting plants, not many people cultivate them though, what do you do with the fruit? I hear it spoils fast and is not very marketable because of its lack of shelf life.

edit: Just saw your reply to the other guy, actually I'm in Ontario, any chance I can get a fruit or two :) ? I've been wanting to try it

Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)

#92

Post by tempestn »

chabes wrote: post #2

A lot of plants aren’t pollinated by bees. There’s pollinator wasps, flies, moths, butterflies… even birds and bats are pollinators

We've got a fly-pollinated bush in our yard. Smells like rotting death when it's wet to attract them. (I did not plant it...)

Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)

#93

Post by cmrdporcupine »

fl4regun wrote: post #91
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My pawpaws (Asimina triloba) mainly need (house) flies to pollinate. They make their flowers look like meat. I have a couple 100 foot rows of them, it's tricky to get good pollination.

they are interesting plants, not many people cultivate them though, what do you do with the fruit? I hear it spoils fast and is not very marketable because of its lack of shelf life. edit: Just saw your reply to the other guy, actually I'm in Ontario, any chance I can get a fruit or two :) ? I've been wanting to try it

Yeah, you can't really sell it in market as it bruises easily and spoils quickly.

We're in our 7th or 8th year on these trees and only get a dozen or so fruits despite it being quite a few trees. Last year we got none because of heavy rains during pollination time. I've planted more but it will take another 5 years before they do anything.

There are people on FB marketplace who offer them around October when they ripen, keep an eye out.

Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)

#94

Post by fl4regun »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #93
fl4regun wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they are interesting plants, not many people cultivate them though, what do you do with the fruit? I hear it spoils fast and is not very marketable because of its lack of shelf life. edit: Just saw your reply to the other guy, actually I'm in Ontario, any chance I can get a fruit or two :) ? I've been wanting to try it

Yeah, you can't really sell it in market as it bruises easily and spoils quickly. We're in our 7th or 8th year on these trees and only get a dozen or so fruits despite it being quite a few trees. Last year we got none because of heavy rains during pollination time. I've planted more but it will take another 5 years before they do anything. There are people on FB marketplace who offer them around October when they rip…

I will try to check later in the year! I planted a few of my own actually, but considering they are still saplings, it will take some time before i get any fruit myself. I also managed to find some at a park nearby, but I don't think those are producing anything either.

Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)

#95

Post by thaumasiotes »

fyhn wrote: post #29
rob74 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of those moths is this guy, who (in flight, not so much in still images) looks and sounds like a miniature hummingbird: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummingbird_hawk-moth

I noticed these for the first time earlier this summer. Incredible insects! They really do give a hummingbird impression.

https://satwcomic.com/two-birds-in-the-hand

Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)

#96

Post by cmrdporcupine »

fl4regun wrote: post #94
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, you can't really sell it in market as it bruises easily and spoils quickly. We're in our 7th or 8th year on these trees and only get a dozen or so fruits despite it being quite a few trees. Last year we got none because of heavy rains during pollination time. I've planted more but it will take another 5 years before they do anything. There are people on FB marketplace who offer them around October when they rip…

I will try to check later in the year! I planted a few of my own actually, but considering they are still saplings, it will take some time before i get any fruit myself. I also managed to find some at a park nearby, but I don't think those are producing anything either.

If they're not grafted varieties, it can take 10 years to get any fruit at all. And it's recommended to get multiple different types for pollination to be more successful.

Recommended for Ontario: https://www.grimonut.com/ (NoTL area)

Bare root seedlings that you'd plant in the spring. Though it is not clear to me if what they're selling are grafted or not, I've never been 100%.

Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)

#97

Post by gmfawcett »

adrian_b wrote: post #40
WhyIsItAlwaysHN wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spiders are not insects though https://www.burkemuseum.org/collections-and-research/biology...

Restricting the word "insects" to hexapods is a modern convention that does not have any basis in etymology. Aristotle used the word "insects" for all terrestrial arthropods and this was followed for millennia until the last two centuries when someone preferred to use "Insecta" instead of "Hexapoda", without giving any reason for this, and others followed this taxonomy. Even so, the exact extent of the term "insects"…

> Restricting the word "insects" to hexapods is a modern convention that does not have any basis in etymology.

This is one of those very rare cases in which "entomology" or "etymology" might have been chosen without the intended meaning being clear. :)

Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)

#98

Post by 725686 »

rob74 wrote: post #26
chabes wrote: post #2

A lot of plants aren’t pollinated by bees. There’s pollinator wasps, flies, moths, butterflies… even birds and bats are pollinators

One of those moths is this guy, who (in flight, not so much in still images) looks and sounds like a miniature hummingbird: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummingbird_hawk-moth

Never understood why they are called hummingbirds. They sound more like squeekingbirds to me.

Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)

#99

Post by neutronicus »

nkozyra wrote: post #72
neutronicus wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Finding hawk moth caterpillars on my tomato plant was one of the bigger wtfs of my adult life

Honestly you're lucky there were any leaves left. You must have caught it within two or three hours after its arrival. In the US we have similar hawk moths; the tomato hornworm also looks like a hummingbird when it reaches maturity.

When I noticed them they were covered in wasp pupae, so maybe that slowed them down.

I'm in the Eastern US, btw.

Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)

#100

Post by robocat »

ta8903 wrote: post #19
yubblegum wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now I am musing about spider nightmares.

There's a reason the average spider sleepwalks into 8 human mouths a year.

One spider, 8 mouths: what are they pollinating?
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