Demonstration Bumble Bee Garden Year 2. Renee Prasad Heidi van Dokkumburg Tannis Bence

Transcription

1 Demonstration Bumble Bee Garden Year 2 Renee Prasad Heidi van Dokkumburg Tannis Bence

2 Native pollinators as pollination insurance : evidence from other crops

3 Native pollinators as pollination insurance : evidence from other crops Crops (coffee) closer to forest fragments have higher number of visits from native pollinators and higher yield (Ricketts 2004) Watermelon crops could be sufficiently pollinated by native bees in majority of 23 farms studied in New Jersey and Pennsylvania (Winfree et al. 2007) Number of different species of wild bees as important as honey bee abundance in predicting blueberry pollination in North Carolina (Rogers et al. 2014) Native bees (in particular bumble bees) continued to forage during inclement weather (Rogers et al. 2014)

4 Native pollinators as pollination insurance : evidence from cranberry More bumble bees in the field correlates with bigger cranberries (Ratti et al. 2008) Other pollinators not as important as bumble bees in predicting yield (Ratti et al. 2008) Cranberry fields not adjacent to native vegetation (wetlands and woods) have fewer bumble bee visits (Evans and Spivak, 2006) But field with no introduce honey bees had lower yields in field interiors (Evans and Spivak, 2006) (observation based on 1 field)

5 What do bumble bees need? Food for the overwintering queens as they emerge in late winter/early spring Nesting sites for the new colony Food for the colony Food for the new queens before they overwinter Habitat suitable for overwintering

6 Bumble bee (Pollinator) gardens Provide resources closer to fields so that populations build over time Perennial plants around cranberry fields vary in their suitability as bumble bee forage (MacFarlane and Patten 1997)

7 Bumble bee demonstration garden 2014 set up year April 2014 planted bumble bee garden along the South wall of the Research Farm building Planted in 2 stages April/July 2-m wide X 20-m long Looked for things that were blooming at the time of purchase (and covered with bumble bees) or soon to bloom Used plant lists from 5 places: Boss and Henderson 2000 Earthwise Society 2012 Elle Lab Website MacFarlane and Patten 1997 Williams et al. 2014

8 Bumble bee demonstration garden 2015 Year 2 Granular fertilizer in the early spring Only one watering in early August A few additional plants to fill in space but no major changes Weeding as needed No pruning dead and hollow stems home for other native bees; no removal of dead flowers Continued with weekly observations August 2015

9 Total bumble bees observed March to August BogRosemary Heather Rhododendron Blueberry Skimia Wild blackberry Rhododendron Catmint Veronica Salvia Lavender Cranberry Veronica Catmint Sedum Salvia SummerHeather Lavender BogRosemary Heather Rhododendron Total bumble bees observed April to August Ceanothus Wild blackberry Catmint Sedum Salvia BeeBalm Year 1 vs. Year 2 Pre-bloom Longer period for pre-bloom observations Early bloomers were well established 80 Blooms through winter (heather) Bumble bees observed by mid- February 0 Pre-bloom counts were higher in Year 2 than Year 1 PreBloom During Bloom PostBloom

10 Recommendations (early bloomers) Rhododendron, heather and blueberry had the most visits. These also overwintered well Blueberries were not drought tolerant

11 Recommendations (early bloomers) Rhododendron, heather and blueberry had the most visits. These also overwintered well Blueberries were not drought tolerant Some species not recommended: Bog rosemary did not overwinter well and did not handle subsequent drought well Skimmia has not performed as expected so far (poor flower set, very few bumble bee visits)

12 Total bumble bees observed March to August BogRosemary Heather Rhododendron Blueberry Skimia Wild blackberry Rhododendron Catmint Veronica Salvia Lavender Cranberry Veronica Catmint Sedum Salvia SummerHeather Lavender BogRosemary Heather Rhododendron Total bumble bees observed April to August Ceanothus Wild blackberry Catmint Sedum Salvia BeeBalm Year 1 vs. Year 2 During bloom Bumble bees were on cranberries the most (we did not measure in 2014, but in 2015 lots of bloom in Bog 1 and 2) Wild blackberry growing along the landfill (East side) of the farm also full of both honey and bumble bees Catmint could be cut back during bloom if concern 20 0 But diversity of food is important for the success of the bumble bee colony PreBloom During Bloom PostBloom

13 Total bumble bees observed March to August BogRosemary Heather Rhododendron Blueberry Skimia Wild blackberry Rhododendron Catmint Veronica Salvia Lavender Cranberry Veronica Catmint Sedum Salvia SummerHeather Lavender BogRosemary Heather Rhododendron Total bumble bees observed April to August Ceanothus Wild blackberry Catmint Sedum Salvia BeeBalm Year 1 vs. Year 2 Post-bloom Post-bloom counts were higher on established crops like catmint, lavender, summer heather and sedums All four of these plants survived the neglect of the 2015 season Better management water, removing dead blooms could increase number of flowers PreBloom During Bloom PostBloom

14 Recommendations (late bloomers) Catmint (Dropmore or Walkers Blue) is very drought tolerant; survived winter Sedums (Autumn Joy and Cherry Tart) are also very attractive and drought/winter tolerant, late summer bloom Summer heathers (Flamingo) also had lots of visits; very tolerant of drought Lavender perhaps the least tolerant of the four to the abuse and not a lot of blooms may take longer to establish OR may need a bit more care

15 Will you get the same results as the Research Farm? This will depend on what is going on around you Evans and Spivak (2006) farms closer to some sort of native habitat (woods or wetlands) had more native bees So if you are surrounded mostly by agriculture not a lot of native bees to start with you may need a bigger garden, may take longer for native bees to show up BUT you may have a bigger impact long term

16 Transferring this to your farm? Still lots of unanswered questions in terms of how big to make the garden and where to locate larger scale studies needed for that in progress in blueberries (Dr. Elle, SFU) But if the idea of pollination insurance seems appealing then bumble bee gardens could fit Focus on the early and late bloomers using perennial plants (Ortwine-Boes and Silbernagel 2011); Elle lab site has links to suggested plants Provide habitat for nesting; plant some grasses within the garden and let them spread, leave bare areas (rocks and logs) Unless it s a landscape feature (so you ll set up irrigation) you ll have to invest in watering etc. during establishment year

17 Transferring this to your farm? Still lots of unanswered questions in terms of how big to make the garden and where to locate larger scale studies needed for that in progress in blueberries (Dr. Elle, SFU)

18 Transferring this to your farm? Still lots of unanswered questions in terms of how big to make the garden and where to locate larger scale studies needed for that in progress in blueberries (Dr. Elle, SFU) But if the idea of pollination insurance seems appealing then bumble bee gardens could fit Focus on the early and late bloomers using perennial plants (Ortwine-Boes and Silbernagel 2011); Elle lab site has links to suggested plants

19 Transferring this to your farm? Still lots of unanswered questions in terms of how big to make the garden and where to locate larger scale studies needed for that in progress in blueberries (Dr. Elle, SFU) But if the idea of pollination insurance seems appealing then bumble bee gardens could fit Focus on the early and late bloomers using perennial plants (Ortwine-Boes and Silbernagel 2011); Elle lab site has links to suggested plants Provide habitat for nesting; plant some grasses within the garden and let them spread, leave bare areas (rocks and logs) Unless it s a landscape feature (so you ll set up irrigation) you ll have to invest in watering etc. during establishment year

20 Acknowledgements & Links BC Cranberry Research Farm, BC Cranberry Marketing Commission April 2014 September 2015 UFV Practicum and E.S. Cropconsult summer students, researchers (WSU and SFU) Background: content/uploads/2011/05/bumblebee- Conservation-in-and-around-Cranberry- Marshes.pdf Lower Mainland Specific Recommendations for plants from Elizabeth Elle s lab with additional links to Earthwise and Xerces Societies: o.html

21 Funding for this project has been provided by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the BC Ministry of Agriculture through the Canada-BC Agri-Innovation Program under Growing Forward 2, a federal-provincialterritorial initative. The program is delivered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC