IN YOUR ORCHARD
THE BEE BOX The Bees Will Soon be Here, and Growers Should be Ready for Them Keep the bees and your relationship with your beekeeper healthy by clarifying roles and responsibilities. The following talking points will help you accomplish your regular orchard management tasks without posing a risk to bees and their ability to pollinate effectively. The honey bee is a small creature, and attention to small details regarding their health and safety is an important factor in achieving high yields. Communicating prior to the arrival of the bees and almond bloom helps both grower and beekeeper achieve successful pollination while reducing risk to honey bee colonies and the almonds they pollinate. Starting before bloom, growers and beekeepers should agree upon average frame count per colony, date and location of placement and removal, inspection protocol, and payment terms. A contract is a good way to start the discussion. A pollination contract template can be found at the Project Apis m . website (4). Other things that may need to be discussed between the beekeeper and the grower include field access, clean water for the bees, the potential of pesticide applications, and supplemental bee forage in the orchard. Growers should evaluate their roadways, drainage and landing areas for accessibility, and if needed, make improvements before the bees arrive. Beekeepers will need to inspect their hives during pollination, as well as place them and then remove them at the end of bloom. Also remember the threat of hive theft or hive damage by other orchard operations when evaluating and discussing your roadways and access points with the beekeeper. Providing water is an important and easy step to safely and effectively manage bees pollinating almonds. Bees require access to water and will forage for it to regulate hive
Bees arriving in an almond orchard. Photo courtesy of Project Apis m.
temperatures in the heat. Because standing water in the orchard may be contaminated with pesticides that are harmful to honey bees, clean water sources are important to bee health and effective pollination. Place water stations near hives as soon as they arrive and use new or used containers that have been thoroughly cleaned. Be sure to come to an agreement ahead of pollination on who will be responsible for ensuring water stations are clean, and water access maintained. Water stations should be emptied and refilled with clean water after any pesticide application. When it comes to pesticide applications, proper communication should certainly include the grower, the beekeeper, the pest control adviser (PCA) and the certified pesticide applicator (CPA). California county agricultural commissioners also play a vital role in the communication chain between growers and beekeepers. All colonies are required to be registered with each county agricultural commissioner upon arrival in that county. The best way to register colonies is through the Bee Where program. This web based program offers beekeepers a dynamic, real-time geographic information system (GIS) where they can mark colonies with a pin drop in the orchard via a mobile app. Bee Where is useful to growers because their notice of intent (NOI) for material applications allows each county agricultural commissioner to notify each beekeeper in the area which allows them the opportunity to move their colonies. Many of the pesticides commonly used to protect crops can also harm honey bees. Caution should always be taken when applying crop protection products when bees are present. Always read labels and follow directions. Tank mix suggestions should be checked for potential synergistic effects on honey bees. Do not use pesticides with cautions on the label that read “highly toxic to bees,”
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ALMOND FACTS
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