It’s well known that bees population is reducing at a fast pace. That’s because of monocultures, pesticide use, destruction, climate change, global warming and, surely, many other factors; a process called Colony Collapse Discorder (CCD).
What recent studies have shown is the following: male cannabis plants, that usually grow alongside the flowering female, catch the attention of the bees. They stay in the male plant as a refuge. So cannabis crops are a safe place for bees, a great chance to reduce it’s dying population while the less flowering season.
A new study of Cornell University of New York —that supports similar results of others studies directed by Colorado State University in 2019 and another in Punjab (India)—. Finds that pollinators, specifically the declining bee population, are attracted to the cannabis plants . That is because they can’t get enough sweet nectar of other plants. Hemp flowers can be a source of pollen, proteins, minerals and vitamins for foraging bees to produce Royal jelly.
And indeed as they haven’t any cannabinoid receptor, they cannot get high off it. How much taller are the plants and how much larger is the area that they cover, the more bees are attracted. The researchers found that 23 different genera of bees, including the European honeybee, can be supported by 16 varieties of the marijuana plant.
Industrial hemp not only brings power to cannabees to overcome CCD. This alliance can play as well an important role in the development of new cannabis products and technology, like natural cannabinoid-dosed honey. The projects of Nicholas Trainerbees or Israeli cannabis PhytoPharma International are a good example of it.
