Zespri Workshops Will Put Pollination Front and Centre

  UNDER THE CANOPY – CONTENT PROVIDED BY ZESPRI 

With harvest behind us, the kiwifruit industry turns to the season ahead. Winter canopy management moves into budbreak enhancers, from which spring will flourish and the arrival of the bees.

Pollination is an essential activity in the kiwifruit calendar. Growers need good beekeepers just as much as beekeepers need good growers – a mutually beneficial partnership if ever there was one.  Zespri, in collaboration with experienced beekeepers and orchardists Neale Cameron and Richard Klaus, invite beekeepers to a series of workshops to discuss what it takes for effective bee pollination of kiwifruit.

  Kiwifruit pollination workshops scheduled to be hosted by Zespri to which pollination providing beekeepers are invited and encouraged to attend. 

Topics to be covered include pollination hive management; kiwifruit basics and the orchard environment; kiwifruit minimum hive standards; successful pollination under netted orchards; agreements, communication and good practice; what can beekeepers expect from a grower?

These sessions will be held between August 4 and 8 across the North Island and – all going to plan – August 12 in Nelson (full list of dates is pictured immediately above). They will be hugely beneficial to all pollinating beekeepers, particularly those new to the industry or wanting a refresher. Therefore, please share this invitation with your employees, colleagues and beekeeping acquaintances and register your interest via email to extension@zespri.com – name, numbers, and location.

Hive standards

The Kiwifruit industry operates with minimum hive standards, established by the Kiwifruit Pollination Association. They are:

• Four full depth frames of brood in all stages (7000cm2 of brood, seven frames 60% full).

• Twelve standard frames well covered with bees (approximately 30,000 bees)

• 8-10 hives/ha is usually sufficient with good males and no competing flower resources

You may ask, why that number of bees? Studies have found that as the bee population in a hive increases the proportion of field bees is greatly increased, as the number of ‘house’ bees remains relatively stable. This obviously leads to a much greater pollination efficiency, with less than 20,000 bee hives returning less than 40% efficiency and those with more than 30,000 99%.

Netting orchards

A lot of the original evidential trial work from Zespri & Plant & Food Research (2015) that informs some of the more negative attitudes toward pollination under hail netting was done with fully enclosed orchards that included darker netting and smaller holes – a worst-case scenario for pollination. Nowadays, growers are more aware of these limitations, and have adapted their orchards accordingly. Here’s what can be done to mitigate these effects: 

• Place hives on block boundary or under open sky

• Split introductions and rotate hives out after 2-3 days

• Roll up sides if present

• Have grower open roof panels

• Use smaller hives 

• Feed pollen patties

• Provide water source

• Audit hives before and after

Make a call

We implore any pollinating beekeepers who’ve not already spoken to the growers they service to reach out and see what may have changed and be required for this season ahead. It’s a chance to see how pollination went last season too. Take the initiative – pick up the phone and give them a call.