Which crops are not pollinated by bees?

Question

for example, i heard that corn IS pollinated by bees, but how? does corn have a flower before it has a stalk of corn?

we could imagine that root crops are not pollinated by bees, but what experiments have been done to prove that pollination of their flowers does not lead to the plant growing underground, for example, onions. onions, and garlic, both have flowers. do bees pollinate them, and what effect does it make on the crop?

and which food crops, other than those that grow underground, would not be pollinated by bees?

if honey bees really did disappear all over the planet, what will replace them? how?

Answer 1

Certain types of seedless fruits are not pollinated but produced by cutting and grafting. This is where the roots of the first seedless fruit plant is taken, and other parts, and buried. It basically regenerates if you will into a new crop. Other pollinators include wasps and hummingbirds.

Answer 2

non fruit bearing plants or non flowering plants. scientists are trying to cross breed africanized bees with regular honey bees because they are more resistant to CCD (colony collapse disorder). also there is a village in china that actually manually cross-pollinate their pear trees by hand flower by flower. it's very labor intensive but it works. if you need more info there is a show on PBS called "Nature" and they did a documentary on the missing bees crisis. the show is call "Silence of the Bees" check it out

Answer 3

Mostly Grain and grass type plants do not need pollinators to produce seed. (Corn, Wheat etc) The wind is all they need.

Root crops also come from seeds, but can also be propagated by root divisions (potatoes, garlic etc).

Honey bees are not native to the US and some other countries, they were imported from Europe.  Native US plants have their own pollinators (bees, wasps, flies, butterflies, moths, humming birds, bats).  These plants and their pollinators are very sensitive and some plants, especially orchids and catus, will not survive if their particular pollinator dissappears - because they rely on one sole type of insect or animal for pollination.  Others pollinators are not able to reach the nector to distribute the pollen for fertilization of that plant.

The problem with relying on the native pollinators for crops in the US is that the native pollinators are ususally solitary, meaning they only need a small amount of nector and have small amounts fo brood to feed, so they pollinate a very small area only.  Also, they usually pollinate only specific kinds of plants that are native to the area (not tomatoes, cucumbers and other non-native plants we grow as crops).

To have a large amount of fruit or vegetable produced per square foot of acreage, you need a pollinator that has thousands of brood and foragers that will take nector from just about anything it comes across - and the only one to do that is the honey bee.   So, if you want 1 pumpkin per 10 sq ft - you can rely on the native pollinators, but if you want 4+ pumpkins per 10 sq ft you need honey bees.  Otherwise, pumpkins would cost $30 each!  

So you see, the problem is not finding a pollinator, it is finding enough pollinators to make production revenue higher than the cost of land ownership and overhead so that crops will be grown and also so that they can be sold at an affordable price.

pollinator.org is a good sight for pollination info.