This occurs for several days after the flower opens. Almond flowers release some pollen every morning as humidity drops after sunrise. The key to good hive health is keeping sprays off the daily pollen load that forager bees carry back to the hive and fed to the brood. This approach lets bees work and then flowers can be protected. While both bees and fungicides are needed during bloom in Sacramento Valley almond orchards in most years, the best practices for bee health and crop set require dividing the day between time for bee activity and time for spray activity a split shift for bees and sprayers (on spray days). Protect your bee investment put only fungicide(s) in the spray tank at bloom. products such as Dipel) should not be used at bloom.Īdjuvants, particularly organosilicones, can harm bees directly and/or increase the impact of pesticides on bees and should be left out of bloom sprays. In particular, all/any insecticides (except B.t. Certain pesticides and practices can be particularly harmful. Spray Program. Bees can be harmed by pesticides. A 5 gallon bucket with clean water and an old towel or piece of burlap draped over the bucket lip and into the water works as a bee watering site.įor more information, see The Almond Board of California’s most recent Honey Bee Best Management Practices guide. Bees can’t drink while flying and can drown trying to get to water if there is no landing site at the water source. The water stations should be protected from pesticides by covering or moving the station or changing the water, or changing after spraying. Check-in with your beekeeper to decide on location and responsibility for providing watering stations for bees in your orchard. Bees need water and will go find it (somewhere else) if not available in your orchard. Hives should be placed in locations where early morning sun will warm the hives and in groups in or around the orchard no more than a quarter of a mile apart. Hive placement plays a role in good bee activity across the orchard.
Hive location, availability of clean water and spray programs (materials and timings) all should be considered by growers and communicated with beekeepers.
Where hives are located and bees treated in an orchard can impact hive health and potentially pollination performance. A single 8-frame hive collects 2.5x the pollen as a 4-frame hive.
Growers using lower bee stocking rates (1-2 hives/acre) in an effort to save money are the most in need of contract language stating hive strength and a hive inspection. Assessing colony strength at the end or close to the end of pollination season is not an accurate measure of the pollination activity at the start of the season when strong hives are most needed. The hive strength check should happen at or close to delivery because, as almond flowers are an excellent food source for honeybees, a four-frame hive at delivery to the orchard can become stronger as the pollination season progresses. To ensure strong hives in the orchard as bloom starts, pollination contracts should include 1) language stating hive strength and 2) an inspection clause stating that some fraction of the hives will be opened and frames inspected by a third party at or soon after delivery to confirm if the contracted hive strength was delivered. Data from Sheesley and Bernard, Cal Ag, 1970. Average pollen collected per hive for a range of hive strengths based on frames of bees per hive over a 7 or 10 day period.
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