The birds and the bees …

Each year the first pear blossoms announce the start of one of the busiest, but also nicest times of the year: the pollinations.

Just like bees carry pollen from one flower to another, Better3fruit collects pollen from flowers of one variety and manually applies it to flowers of another variety. Each year Better3fruit pollinates a minimum of 50.000 flowers, one by one.

In the course of the year, the pollinated flowers will develop into apples and pears containing pips. These pips are sown out and over the following years cultivated from small plants to actual apple and pear trees. From these, many years after the pollinations, the varieties of the future are selected.

During the coming weeks, Better3fruits busy bees will be buzzing through the orchard in order to create the apple and pear varieties that will be available on the shelves in 15 years’ time.