PSA-Do not ever feed bees the juice from cut open fruit! by feeding them watermelon and other kinds of fruit. Please do not cut open watermelon, peaches, pineapples or any other kind of fruit and feed it to bees.

Today, SugarBee has worldwide propagation rights held by Regal Fruit International and is licensed to Gebbers Farms and the Chelan Fruit Cooperative in Washington to produce the variety in the United States. The SugarBee apple was originally created in Minnesota and has since been cultivated in Washington State.

There are a number of bees, called mason bees, that are very good at pollinating fruit trees, so much so that they are also known as orchard bees. They are related to other orchard pollinators like the leaf cutter bees featured in previous Pollinator of the Month highlights (see Leaf Cutting Bees, Megachile spp.).

Should you feed bees watermelon? Mary Reed, the chief apiary inspector for the Texas Apiary Inspection Service, said giving watermelon to bees isn't something she'd recommend, as it could lead to the spread of disease among the bees.