How to organize blackberry pollination by bees
Blackberries are an important berry crop in many countries, so several hundred varieties of blackberries are cultivated; hundreds of thousands of hectares of land are occupied by blackberry plantations. One of the techniques for growing blackberries and obtaining large yields is to pollinate blackberry plantations with bees. How to pollinate blackberries using bees.
Content
- Features of blackberry pollination
- How many bees are needed to pollinate blackberries?
- Features of bee pollination of blackberries
- How to Place Hives in a Blackberry Plantation for Pollination
- When to Place Hives in a Blackberry Plantation for Pollination
Features of blackberry pollination
Blackberries usually have white flowers with four petals. The stigma is surrounded by 50 to 100 anthers. The nectar in a blackberry flower is produced in the calyx at the base of the petals. Blackberry flowers begin to release nectar as soon as they open and continue to release nectar until the petals fall. Many varieties of blackberries have been created, each variety has a different degree of self-fertility. Therefore, farmers often place several different varieties of blackberries on the same plot to ensure cross-pollination.
It is important when planting blackberries to find out the characteristics of the variety regarding whether the variety in question needs cross-pollination. But the vast majority of blackberry varieties require additional pollination by bees, which transfer pollen to the stigma and thus improve the blackberry harvest. The stigmas are receptive during the first three days after the flowers open.
Someone can say, if the variety is self-fertile, then why do we need bees for pollination? Even a self-sterile variety, after pollination by honey bees, produces higher yields. Last but not least, pollination by bees produces higher quality fruits that are more marketable, the berries are beautiful and large. One of the experiments showed that in the case of blackberry pollination by bees, the same number of berries remained on the bushes as without pollination, but the number of rejected fruits decreased from 50% to 8%.
Calculations showed that the net additional profit for the producer, after paying the beekeeper to rent bees, from pollination amounted to $1,876 per hectare.
Honeybees willingly visit blackberries to collect pollen and nectar, which has a certain impact on the organization of pollination of blackberries by bees.
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Thus, pollination by bees can significantly increase the yield of marketable blackberries.
