the role of honey bees in apple pollination - North Carolina State ...

Beekeeping Note 3.03 09/2008
Fertilization threshold
In order for complete fertilization to occur after pollination,
6-7 ovules must be fertilized by a sufficient number of
pollen grains. If this threshold is not met, the results can be
morphological and physical deformities in the fruit, a
decrease in yield, smaller fruit size, and a reduction in the
calcium content of the fruit (which can subsequently lead
to storage problems).Moreover, if adequate fertilization is
not achieved, the fruit may not remain on the tree until
harvest.
Moving hives into the crop
Colony strength
There are steps a grower can take when renting hives for
pollination in order to ensure adequate pollination by honey
bees. Colony strength is very important to ensure sufficient
pollination. When the lid is removed from a beehive housing a
strong colony, the bees should spill out—due to the large
number of adult bees within the hive. Bees should cover 6 to 8
frames in a 10-frame hive, known as a ‘cluster count’.
Moreover, each frame should have sufficient amounts of brood
and young larvae to guarantee an adequate future foraging
population. As part of their duties, NCDA&CS Apiary
Inspectors will perform this service upon request.
To maximize their effectiveness as pollinators, it is important to consider when bees should be
moved into the orchard. Moving hives into a crop during the night is less stressful on the bees,
because they are not flying and the temperatures are generally cooler. To maximize the
likelihood that the bees will forage on the apple flowers, and thus transfer pollen, it is a good
idea to move hives into the apple orchard after roughly 5-10% of the apple flowers have
blossomed. Removing all weeds and non-target plants is also imperative; avoid the competition
for your target crop.
Hive placement
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Hive placement within the orchard is a very important factor to consider. It has been shown that
bees prefer to forage within 300 ft of hive. Many different placement scenarios have been
proposed depending upon the layout of the orchard, but it has been generally recommended that
groups of 4-8 hives be placed at intervals of 500 ft. In order to allow the bees to take advantage
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