How to Keep Strong Bees in Blueberries - Working towards best farming practices to ensure healthy bees and good pollination
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How to Keep Strong Bees in Blueberries
Working towards best farming practices
to ensure healthy bees and good pollination
Julia Common, Hives for Humanity
Marta Guarna, AAFC & UBC Scientist
Heather Higo, UBC/SFU Field Manager
Life Cycle of Honeybees
Workers feed larvae & seal
cells when larvae reach full growth
Queen lays egg
egg Larva Larva Pupa Pupa Adult
day 6 day 10 day 15 day 18 day 21
Good Pollination = Good Fruit Set • Pollen foraging is stimulated by healthy brood • Healthy brood is required for a strong colony • A colony will collect 60 lbs of pollen/year
A Season of Bee Work
Honey production
o n
i
Colony growth
t
a Pumpkin
n
Pr
l li
ep
Po
ar
Cranberry
at
ion
Blueberry
sf
or
W
int
er
Winter Spring Summer Fall
Blueberry Pollination
in British Columbia
In 2017 beekeepers observed:
• Cool, wet weather during bloom
Julia Common
• Weak colonies after blueberries
• Unable to get a good honey crop or fulfill next
contracts
• European Foulbrood (EFB)-like symptoms
• Some beekeepers reluctant to pollinate again
2018 Project to Study
Bee Health in Blueberry Pollination
Investigators & Collaborators:
Dr. Marta Guarna, Dr. Stephen Pernal,
Dr. Abdullah Ibrahim (AAFC)
Julia Common (Chief beekeeper,
Hives for Humanity)
Dr. Leonard Foster, Heather Higo,
Alison McAfee, Bradford Vinson (UBC)
Dr. Jeff Pettis, Dr. Gordon Wardell
BC Blueberry Council
BC Honey Producers Association
National Bee Diagnostic Centre
Blueberries - Canada’s top fruit export: $400,000,000 (2016)
BC blueberry exports: $210,000,000 (2017)
Estimated BC value attributed to honey bee pollination = $189,000,000
Honey bees provide:
• Greater fruit set
• Larger berries
• Better quality berries
Blueberry growers provide:
• Early spring income for
beekeepers
• BC: 20,000 acres of
mature blueberries;
• Recommended honey
bee stocking rate:
2+ hives/acre . . .
= 40,000 colonies!
Can we figure out what’s happening? • Are colonies dwindling with pollination? • Blueberry nutrition issue? • Chemical effects? (beekeeper/field) • Weather issue?
Blueberry Pollination - Project Plan • Observational study • Five beekeeper-cooperators • Blueberry growers in 5 sites • Only one beekeeper with colonies both in and outside blueberry fields • Monitor colony growth & health • Sample bees, bee bread, and honey • Provide protein supplements to ½ the colonies
At beginning and after 4 weeks we measured: Will tell us how colonies • area of capped brood are growing? • adult bee population
At beginning & after 4 weeks, sampled:
• worker bees for pests & pathogens
• bee bread and honey for residues
Bee Bread
(=stored pollen)
• Blueberry growers and
beekeepers have each provided us with lists of sprays
applied to the blueberries and chemicals used in hiveProtein supplements added to ½ the colonies • Replenished protein patties after 2 weeks • Weighed uneaten patties
Looking closer:
frame-by-frame inspections
Photo: S. GourleyAt every inspection, we looked for signs of diseased brood
Shipped brood samples to NBDC lab to confirm if EFB
Healthy larvaeFrom Fraser Valley blueberry fields to AB for honey or staying for more pollination and honey in BC Bees staying in BC also visited: • Raspberry • Cranberry British Columbia Alberta • Pumpkin • Clover Fahler Bees going to AB: • Honey production Athabasca
European Foulbrood Symptoms at Start, End, and
Post-Blueberry Pollination
5 beekeepers/ pollination sites: A, B, C, D, E
60
Visual Symptoms of EFB
% of colonies infected
(% of colonies)
40
20
0
SEP SEP SEP SEP SEP
C-Blue D-Blue E-Blue A-Blue B-Blue
16European Foulbrood Symptoms
1 beekeeper, 100 colonies from packages
60
Visual Symptoms of EFB
Out of Blueberries In Blueberries
infected
50 colonies 50 colonies
(% of colonies)
40
% of colonies
20
0
Start End Post Start End Post
A-Out A-BlueEuropean Foulbrood Symptoms
1 beekeeper, 100 colonies from packages
60
Visual Symptoms of EFB
Out of Blueberries In Blueberries
infected
50 colonies 50 colonies
(% of colonies)
40
% of colonies
20
0
Start End Post Start End Post
A-Out A-BlueSeverity of Infection 4 Weeks Later
% Frames Infected per Colony
Proportion of frames (%)
40 In Blueberries
EFB- like symptoms
Out of
30 Blueberries
20
10
0
A - OUT with
Only 1 beekeeper A - BLUE
paired:
1 blueberry/1 non-blueberry siteInitial questions: Preliminary Results:
• Poor weather? • Sunny entire month of May 2018
• EFB-like disease? • In all groups evident 3-4 weeks
after
• Colony decline? • Bee population and brood area
still to be analyzed
• Poor nutrition? • Analysis of protein patty effects
not yet complete
• Agricultural chemicals in • Chemical tests of samples planned
pollen or honey: from for 2019-2020
beekeeper or field?In Progress
Data analysis:
- Symptomatic brood samples
80% tested positive for EFB
- Pathogen and chemical analysis
- Understand site differences
o field characteristics
o growers/ beekeeper management
21Collaborators, Cooperators and Funders:
BC Honey Producers Association
BC Blueberry Council
5 Beekeeper-cooperators and 5 blueberry growers
CHC/Canadian Bee Research Fund
Project Apis m. (PAm)
Agriculture and Agri-food Canada
University of British Columbia
National Bee Diagnostic Centre, GPRCInputs for Good fruit set
Good
Pollination
Healthy brood
Good weather
in colony
Strong bees
Grower & to pollinate
Environment
Food
Minimize Supplements?
Chemicals? Grower
Beekeeper Beekeeper
PartnershipYou can also read
