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Granted, I guess I should have asked in the past tense? Why didn’t they? And why don’t local bees work in pollinating the vanilla vines?


It’s suprisigly complicated. The first link seems not to have had success (but it’s a surprisingly interesting read) and the second suggests that a specific, nearly extinct bee is needed.

http://www.aos.org/orchids/additional-resources/pollinating-...

https://seeds.ca/pollination/tales/vanilla-without-the-bee


It is quite surprising this hasn’t happened yet, what with all the other bad ecological decisions that get made in the furtherance of industrial farming. Not that I don’t like vanilla or food or anything. I’m just surprised, it seems kind of an obvious business move. Maybe the bees wouldn’t survive?


Or seems that a specific variety of bee is required.

https://agrieducate.com.au/farming-fact-sheets/vanilla/


Too large to get in the flowers (is what I've heard).




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