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Increasing Your Wild Orchard Pollinators

Mike Basedow, Tree Fruit Specialist
Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture

June 11, 2018

Last week while we were nearing petal fall in the Champlain Valley, a grower and I were discussing when he ought to take his honey bees out of the orchard, which led us to discussing the role wild bees are playing in his orchard. These wild bees help pollinate our crop every year, so I think it is worth reviewing some of the different kinds of bees we can expect to see at bloom, and what we can do to encourage their visits.

Over 100 wild bee species visit orchards in the Northeast.  Many of these bees are native, and can be very good at pollinating fruit trees when their populations are in sufficient numbers close to the orchard. 

Unlike honey bees, many wild bee species are solitary, living in their own nests. Some of these bees build nests underground, and are therefore referred to as ground nesting bees. Bees in this group include cellophane bees, mining bees, and sweat bees.  These bees prefer to build their nests where the ground is bare and the soils are well-drained, so a relatively simple way to increase these pollinator populations near your orchard is to leave some areas of ground free of vegetation.

Tunneling bees are another common group of wild pollinators. This group tunnels into dead trees and wooden structures, or takes up residence in other open cavities. This group includes mason bees and carpenter bees.  To increase your farm's tunneling bee populations, consider maintaining a woodpile on your property that the bees can use a nesting site. Having hedgerows and wooded areas around your orchard blocks will also provide good nesting areas. If you would like to take an even more hands-on approach, you might consider building nesting boxes to place on the edge of your orchard.

A third common group of pollinators includes honey bees and bumble bees. These bees are social, living together in groups, and build their nests into preexisting cavities. Similar to what you might do to increase populations of tunneling bees, having wooded areas near your orchard blocks will help bring more cavity nesting bees into the orchard at bloom, as will having a woodpile nearby. 

In addition to providing areas in your orchards for nesting sites, wild bees need to have enough flowering plants throughout the growing season to forage while the fruit trees are not in bloom. Some bees, like bumble bees, are active throughout the entire growing season, while our apples might only be in bloom for a week. Since many orchards in Eastern NY are located near wooded areas, there are many wild plants in bloom around the orchard throughout the growing season already. You and your neighbors probably have many other flowering plants on your property, and weeds along the roadside also provide a food source for the wild bees. To hedge your bets further, you may consider planting a few strips of flowering plants near your orchard blocks. Just be sure to choose plants that do not bloom at the same time as your fruit trees.

Distance can be an important factor in how well wild bees may help pollinate your blocks.  Some bees, like honey bees and bumble bees, can fly over a mile from their nests, while others may fly less than 500 yards from their nesting site.  This may limit wild bee pollination in blocks where a large portion of the trees is over 500 yards from the periphery of the orchard, where nesting sites and other food sources are available. 

So, while honey bees will continue to be our go-to pollinators, you might consider some of the small steps you can take to make your site even more attractive to our wild pollinators. 

For more detailed information, including color photos of the bees mentioned here, please see the publication Wild Pollinators of Eastern Apple Orchards and How to Conserve Them by Mia Park et al., 2012.


Citations:

Park, M., et al. 2012. Wild Pollinators of Eastern Apple Orchards and How to Conserve Them. Cornell University, Penn State University, and The Xerces Society. URL: http://www.northeastipm.org/pa... 



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Upcoming Events

Interested in taking the NYSDEC Pesticide Applicator's exam?

March 27, 2024
March 29, 2024
: Interested in taking the NYSDEC Pesticide Applicator's exam?

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2024 Agritourism Webinar Series

January 9, 2024 : Agritourism For Maple Syrup Operations

The first agritourism webinar for 2024 will focus on Maple Syrup Operations.  


February 13, 2024 : Grants for Agritourism Operations

Are there grants that can help you support or grow your agritourism business?  Where do you look for funding?


March 12, 2024 : Staffing your Agritourism Business

Agritourism operations need employees who are good with the public.  Where can you find a labor force for your agritourism enterprise? What different laws and regulations might you encounter as an employer for an agritourism workforce? How do you get your employees hired and trained effectively? 


April 9, 2024 : Working with your local tourism office

Your local tourism office is an important resource for you to help advertise and promote your agritourism business.  Find out what they can do for you!

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Virtual Orchard IPM Scout Training

April 15, 2024 : Virtual Orchard IPM Scout Training

Virtual Orchard IPM Scout Training

Monday April 15, 2-4PM
 
Join us for a live, virtual training on scouting of major insect pests of apple orchards. Anna Wallis (NYSIPM Program), Mike Basedow (CCE ENYCHP), and Janet van Zoeren (CCE LOFT), will broadcast from orchards in their region to discuss best practices for monitoring. We will review monitoring/scouting procedures for major economically significant pests. We will also share resources available for helping with identification of pests and forecasting pest activity.

This event is held on Zoom

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Announcements

2023 Spotted Wing Drosophila Monitoring/Management

All berry farmers are watching for monitoring reports that indicate Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) adults are in their region. Mid-season berry crops should be sprayed as soon as berries begin to ripen unless you've elected to use insect exclusion netting.

- For general information about SWD, and to enroll for free monitoring reports, visit the Cornell SWD blog https://blogs.cornell.edu/swd1/.
- Click here for the 2023 Quick Guide for Pesticide Management. 
- For some great instructional videos and fact sheets on insect exclusion netting, visit the University of Vermont's Ag Engineering blog.


Resources from CCE ENYCHP!

We are developing new ways to connect with the CCE ENYCHP team this year! We have a Youtube page located at this link. Check out videos on Table Grape Production, Pest Updates and the 20 Minute Ag Manager - in 4 Minutes series

We have a Facebook Page here as well as an Instagram page. We keep these places updated with current projects, events, and other interesting articles and deadlines.

There are also text alerts available. Fruit and vegetable farmers in 17 Eastern NY counties can now receive real time alerts on high risk disease and pest outbreaks texted directly to their cell phone. The Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture program, which is supported by local Cornell Cooperative Extension associations, will now offer text alerts to those that enroll in our program in 2019. 

The text alerts will be reserved for important crop alerts that could impact management decisions immediately. For instance, if there were an outbreak of Late Blight in the area, this would be transmitted to vegetable growers.

Farmers can choose the crop for which they wish to receive updates. Additionally they can request that Ag Business Alerts be sent to them. These alerts might include due dates for crop insurance deadlines, market opportunities etc.

If you have questions, please contact enychp@cornell.edu


Podcasts

Winter Greens Grower Interviews in Northern New York

October 22, 2022
In this episode, vegetable specialist Elisabeth Hodgdon interviews Lindsey Pashow, ag business development and marketing specialist with the Cornell Cooperative Extension Harvest New York team. They discuss findings from a series of interviews with winter greens producers in northern New York. Lindsey shares production and marketing challenges associated with growing winter greens in this cold and rural part of the state, success stories and advice from growers, and tips for those interested in adding new crop enterprises to their operation.

Funding for this project was provided by the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program. The episode was edited by Miles Todaro of the ENYCHP team.

Resources:
• Crop enterprise budget resources available from Penn State Extension (field and tunnel vegetables: https://extension.psu.edu/small-scale-field-grown-and-season-extension-budgets), UMass Extension (winter spinach budgets: https://ag.umass.edu/vegetable/outreach-project/improving-production-yield-of-winter-greens-in-northeast and field vegetables: https://ag.umass.edu/vegetable/fact-sheets/crop-production-budgets), and Cornell Cooperative Extension (high tunnel vegetables: https://blogs.cornell.edu/hightunnels/economics/sample-budgets-spreadsheets/). Use these budgets as templates when developing your own crop enterprise budget.
• The Organic Farmer’s Business Handbook, by Richard Wiswall
• The Winter Harvest Handbook, by Eliot Coleman

For questions about the winter greens project discussed in this podcast, reach out to Lindsey Pashow (lep67@cornell.edu) or Elisabeth Hodgdon(eh528@cornell.edu).

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