Earlier quoted context omitted.
Mason bees are used to pollinate apple orchards. Obviously, worth noting that the trees you're listing --- with the possible exception of plums --- are also non-native. Which doesn't make them bad, but does make this an industrial agriculture problem, not an environmental one. And industrial agriculture seems to have the honey bee maintenance problem basically under control.
Mason Japanese bees (Osmia cornifrons) are used to pollinate apple orchards. Non native. Osmia lignaria is US native and used to pollinate almonds and orchards, but is not so common. There are other mason bees native from USA like Osmia ribifloris but they pollinate manzanitas (a relative to Rhododendron), not manzanas (apples). They can pollinate blueberries also (that are in the same family as Manzanitas and share…
Re: Morgan Freeman Converts His 124-Acre Ranch into a Giant Bee Sanctuary
#121That's helpful additional detail. I'm not anti-honey-bee! I just think this is an animal husbandry challenge (one commercial pollinators appear to have handled) and not an environmental crisis --- unlike, say, water.