jan-feb-2021

Place water near hives as soon as they arrive and use new containers or ones that have been thoroughly cleaned out. A proper “landing” area is essential for successful water collection, so bees don’t drown. This can be achieved with floating cork, marbles, leaves, grass, or straw. For buckets or drums, most commercial beekeepers use burlap. Burlap, fastened by clothespins, is draped over the sides allowing water to wick up the sides. Change out water if it has been contaminated with pesticides or looks unclean. The recommended rate of water is about a half-gallon for each hive for the duration of pollination, which is roughly equal to one 55-gallon drum for every one hundred hives or, one five gallon bucket for every 1 0 hives. Bee Nutrition/Forage Many producers are now looking at cover crops for helping them achieve their goals of improving soil quality, pollinator health and economic viability. This year 47 Blue Diamond growers participated in Seeds for Bees which helped them plant 2,782 acres of bee friendly cover crops. Growers that plant alternative sources of nutrition like blooming cover crops before and during the bloom of their cash crop do so to create a positive feedback loop within the hive. This positive feedback loop helps ensure healthy and more bees for pollination. As pollen is brought back to the hive, the queen lays eggs. In three days, the eggs hatch into larvae. The immature larvae that beekeepers call ‘brood’ secretes a pheromone that drives adult foragers to go find more protein, in the form of pollen. The smell of the brood pheromone is the hive’s way of communicating the urgency in which bees need to collect resources to support the next generation of bees. Preliminary results from an Almond Board of California funded study conducted by Dr. Elina Niño measures the impact Seeds for Bees cover crops in or near almond orchards has on colonies. 2 She found that hives in orchards with access to the Project Apis m. Mustard Mix were on average three frames more populous than hives without access to supplemental forage. Planting bee forage cover crops is a great way to get more brood pheromone in the hives you rent for pollination, giving them a boost before the bloom and increasing foraging behavior (pollination). Increasing bee health is just one of many benefits cover crops bring to an orchard system. The preliminary data shared by University of California researchers regarding these benefits is very exciting. Research shows seed mixes high in legumes can boost nitrogen levels in the soil. Orchards with cover crops had 82 more nitrogen pounds per acre in Merced county and 126 more nitrogen pounds per acre in Kern county, than orchards without cover crops. While it’s hard to say what factor is responsible and it is likely multiple benefits are contributing, the UC study has found orchards with cover crops also have higher almond yields. At the Merced county site yields were 225 pounds per acre higher when compared to control orchards with resident vegetation/weeds. In Kern county the yields were CULTIVATING SUSTAINABILITY 2 Niño, Elina (201 6–2017) Longitudinal Evaluation of Honey Bee Colonies on Different Forage Regimes. Almond Board of California Annual Research Report 1 8 A L M O N D F A C T S