pollination services BUSINESS

How to make the
most of your

POLLINATION
SERVICE

European honey bees are an important part of production. They busily work away transferring pollen grains within flowers improving yields and fruit quality.

Words Helen Newman, WA Berry Industry Development Officer, Agricultural Produce Commission

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Hives placed on leg rows at the end of polytunnels allow bees to be drawn into this Rubus crop.

WHILE feral honey bees can provide pollination, in cold wet weather they may not fly the required distance to pollinate your crop effectively. They may also find other more attractive food sources (flowers) nearby so might not visit your crop as much.

One way to ensure consistent pollination in your crop is to employ professional paid pollination services. If you decide to do this, you want to make sure you get the most out of your new ‘employbees’.

This article aims to provide information to help you when working with your pollination service provider.

“A professional working relationship with your beekeeper based on a mutual understanding of each other’s needs is essential to success.”

Getting the timing right

Generally, bees should be bought into the crop at 5–10% flowering so they can start working immediately. If bees arrive too early, they will find other nectar and pollen sources, and may not move into your crop when it starts flowering.

This is particularly important for blueberry and strawberry crops which are less attractive to bees due to their relatively low nectar content.

Rubus on the other hand produces large volumes of nectar and has no problem attracting bees and other pollinators.

Hive placement

Temperature, rain, and wind dictate the distance that bees will fly and pollinate. In calm, mild conditions, bees can provide good pollination within a 1.5km radius of their colonies.

Bees fly shorter distances in cold weather (13–16ºC), limiting the area of pollination. Bee activity is very limited in temperatures below 13ºC. As temperatures rise the distance bees travel from the hive to gather pollen and nectar increases, expanding the pollinated area.

Wind limits the area of pollination by slowing bees down and wearing them out. Bees may travel shorter distances or make fewer foraging trips during windy conditions. They are also less likely to leave the hive in high winds.

Your beekeeper will consider the prevailing environmental conditions, and your site and crop characteristics when determining the optimum hive placement :

• Monitoring the flying patterns of the bees to see how far they fly during critical pollination periods and in different weather conditions (mid-morning is the best time to do this).

• Keeping hives close to the planted area, particularly during cold and/or windy seasons, distributing them according to observed flying distances.

• Placing hives in sunny north/northeast-facing sites in cooler weather.

• Keeping hives cool in summer by placing them in the shade.

• Providing shelter from the prevailing wind. Hives must also be located away from:

• light sources that will attract them away from the hive at nighttime

• high-traffic areas where they may be bumped by people and machinery

• incompatible neighbouring crops and more attractive nectar sources.

Food and water

Bees need unlimited access to clean fresh water. Water is used to dilute the honey the bees feed on and to regulate temperature and humidity in the hive. A healthy colony (one hive) will go through up to two litres (2L) of water every day during summer. On hot days, bees may become stressed if they are temporarily without water, which impacts their health and capacity to pollinate.

“ Water points should be located within 50 to 100 meters of the hive and must be free from chemical and fungicide contamination (spray drift). ”

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Example water station made from a 44-gallon drum cut in half. A rubber mat trimmed to size floats on the water to prevent bees from drowning. The yellow mesh top prevents other animals from falling into the reservoir.

If natural water sources aren’t located nearby, your beekeeper will set up watering stations. Beekeepers may install and maintain these water stations as part of their pollination service.

Supplementary feeding with sugar water and pollen is not generally recommended when bees are on a pollination job as it will decrease pollination. Instead, beekeepers will rotate hives to maintain the optimum hive health for the target crop (different crops require different colony structures).

Hives may be rotated every 3 to 4 weeks, resting bees between pollination jobs in a more pollen and nectar-rich area like forests and parklands. Supplementary food may be provided in this resting stage.

Site access

From a beekeeper’s point of view, all-weather vehicle access is highly desirable. Limited access may lead to an increased workload for the beekeeper and uneven placement of hives, damage to equipment, unnecessary damage to farms, and possible personal injuries. Ensuring the beekeeper has good access will aid in the optimal placement of hives.

Site access tips:

• Have all-weather access for medium to large trucks.

• Be large enough to unload the truck with a bobcat, forklift, or Hiab.

• Locate away from gateways or high-traffic areas.

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Hives are mainly moved at night so a clear area to unload and safe access to locations where hives are to be placed is essential.

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Bees poisoned with a systemic chemical or toxic nectar die with their tongues sticking out. These poisons can also be fed to larvae in the brood by returning worker bees.

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Hail netting kills bees, they can fit their head and thorax through the net, but their abdomen gets stuck and they die.

Chemicals and poisons

Pesticides should be kept to a minimum while hives remain on the property. Even non-insecticidal sprays can affect pollinators if applied at the wrong time.

Consult your beekeeper before applying any agrichemicals.

Most poisoning occurs when pesticides are applied to flowering crops, pastures, and weeds and when instructions for spray use from the beekeeper are not followed.

Bees can also be killed by poisonous flowering plants, such as the African tulip tree and Sturt Desert pea, and where environmental conditions render normally safe nectar sources toxic. Nectar of the native grey box and black butt trees are an example of this, where fermentation during wet weather makes the nectar of these species toxic to bees.

To reduce bee losses:

• Check all chemical labels for any effects on bees.

• If a spray is necessary, apply it late in the afternoon after bees have finished flying (only for sprays with a bee withholding period of 12 hours or less).

• If a chemical has a bee withholding period of more than 12 hours, inform the beekeeper and discuss the options. Removing the bees from the farm may be the only option.

• Consider surrounding plants that may be toxic to bees.

Be mindful of spray drift and do not spray in conditions where spray might drift onto adjacent fields supporting foraging bees. Dispose of waste chemicals or used containers correctly.

Moving bees off-site to accommodate chemical applications is not a quick and simple task. Bees are like cats and dogs, they will return ‘home’ if they can. Hives must be moved at least 3km away from the sprayed area for 3 to 7 days or they will return to the site and die.

Did you know that bees have two stomachs? Foraging worker bees can bring poison back to the hive in their non-feeding stomach where it is deposited in the honey and bee bread that larvae and other bees feed on.

Protected cropping

Bees tend to forage less under protective covers so hives can quickly lose health. Bees also dislike flying into areas under netting or into tunnels.

The colour of the protective covering can have an impact on bee navigation. Bees forage better under white surfaces in preference to dark colours or black. Bees may benefit from large colourful objects placed in the enclosure to enhance navigation.

Netting type is also important, bees get stuck in hail netting but can pass safely through bird netting.

Hives are normally best moved at night, but in protected cropping situations, daytime may be preferred. The daytime movement of hives into a protected cropping area leaves behind old field bees, which would quickly become disoriented and die in the new environment. Field bees are the oldest bees in the hive and are programmed to travel long distances.

To manage pollination under protected cropping your beekeeper may:

• Place hives within netted areas instead of on the outside. While bees will enter through holes or gaps in bird netting this takes time and energy, reducing their capacity to pollinate.

• Place hives in the middle of the crop on leg rows.

Colony strength

Colony strength refers to the number of bees in the hive and the population structure of the colony.

Consult your beekeeper before applying any agrichemicals.

In very nectar and pollen-rich crops like canola and clover, bees breed rapidly and can swarm if not managed correctly. Swarming reduces hive strength.

In less attractive crops like strawberries and blueberries, additional honey and pollen stores are needed in the hive to maintain colony health. These stores only last 3 to 4 weeks, hence the need to rotate colonies in and out of these crops.

For example, colonies suitable for pollinating blueberries or strawberries generally contain at least 30,000 to 40,000 bees and have 6 to 10 full frames of brood in all stages of development.

It takes 12 months for a beekeeper to establish a strong colony. Having one strong colony is equal to 4 to 6 weak colonies. Stronger colonies work at lower temperatures!

Stocking rates

Your beekeeper will consider the following points when determining the appropriate stocking rate for your crop:

• number of native pollinators and feral bee colonies already in the area

• other plants in the area that flower at the same as the berry crop and thus compete for bees

• weather conditions during the flowering period

• the density of flowering in the target crop (influenced by planting density, variety, season, etc.)

• the attractiveness of the crop to bees —higher stocking rates may be needed under protected cropping conditions and in less attractive crops where individual bees make fewer visits to flowers because they get their fill of nectar quickly from fewer flowers.

• yield expectations.

Hot weather makes flowers open quickly. This increases the chance that flowers will not get visited before they lose viability. Higher bee stocking densities can counteract this potential limiting factor.

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Engaging a beekeeper

When you engage a beekeeper you are not just hiring hives, you are purchasing a professional service.

Bees have a 3-week breeding cycle, so your beekeeper will visit the hives every 3 to 4 weeks to check colony strength. While on-site, they may also adjust hive locations (if needed), maintain water stations, conduct biosecurity checks, and monitor bee behaviour. Hives may also be rotated depending on food stores and colony strength. Maintaining a pollination contract with your beekeeper is essential to ensure that your responsibilities and the responsibilities of the beekeeper are clear. You can also use this contract to ensure that your beekeeper has the necessary qualifications, registrations, licenses, and insurance.

The most important tool that beekeepers and growers can use to ensure a long-term, hassle free and mutually beneficial business relationship is communication.


Acknowledgments

Thank you to Steve Fuller, President of the Crop Pollination Association of Australia, for providing technical input and images for this article.

These sources were also consulted in creating this article.

• BeeAware: beeaware.org.au

• Crop Pollination Association Inc: aussiepollination.com.au

• Invest in pollination for success with highbush blueberries — MSU Extension

• Cooperative Extension – Maine (USA) Wild Berries: 629-Honey Bees and Blueberry Pollination — Cooperative Extension: Maine Wild Blueberries — University of Maine Cooperative Extension (umaine.edu)


More information

Note: Article has been adapted from content produced for the Australian Berry Journal as part of the MT22010 Facilitating the development of the Australian berry industries project.