SBG Knowledge Series--November
What would Thanksgiving dinner be without cranberry sauce?
Without pollinators, we’d soon find out! Because the reproductive organs in a cranberry flower mature at different times, the flowers can’t self-pollinate. That’s where bees come in—they are the main pollinators of cranberries and are critical to fruit production.
What would Thanksgiving dinner be without cranberry sauce?
Without pollinators, we’d soon find out! Because the reproductive organs in a cranberry flower mature at different times, the flowers can’t self-pollinate. That’s where bees come in—they are the main pollinators of cranberries and are critical to fruit production.
Honey bees: Strength in Numbers. Honey bees are very effective pollinators of cranberries, with colonies of up to 50,000 workers, and a highly evolved communication system to recruit nestmates to foraging sites. Commercial hives can be easily transported to the bog when the time is right.
Bumble bees: Efficiency Experts. Bumble bees are super-efficient foragers of cranberry flowers. They work longer hours, being active earlier in the day and in inclement weather. They also possess a ‘bee superpower’-- their ability to buzz pollinate. A bumble will hang onto a flower while rapidly vibrating her flight muscles, causing pollen to be shaken loose onto her body. She’ll groom the pollen grains onto her hind legs, where they will accumulate into a large ball. In this way, a bumble be can cross-pollinate up to six times more flowers than a honey bee.
Mining bees, leafcutter bees and sweat bees are other native bees that are present in cranberry bogs. All are important for a good harvest.
Let’s bee thankful!
Photo credit of bee: Photo courtesy of Johnston’s Cranberry Marsh & Muskoka Lakes Winery, Ontario, Canada.
Photo credit of cranberry sauce: Faith M. Lucchesi
Bumble bees: Efficiency Experts. Bumble bees are super-efficient foragers of cranberry flowers. They work longer hours, being active earlier in the day and in inclement weather. They also possess a ‘bee superpower’-- their ability to buzz pollinate. A bumble will hang onto a flower while rapidly vibrating her flight muscles, causing pollen to be shaken loose onto her body. She’ll groom the pollen grains onto her hind legs, where they will accumulate into a large ball. In this way, a bumble be can cross-pollinate up to six times more flowers than a honey bee.
Mining bees, leafcutter bees and sweat bees are other native bees that are present in cranberry bogs. All are important for a good harvest.
Let’s bee thankful!
Photo credit of bee: Photo courtesy of Johnston’s Cranberry Marsh & Muskoka Lakes Winery, Ontario, Canada.
Photo credit of cranberry sauce: Faith M. Lucchesi
Author
Lisa Schneider
RSS Feed