In Ames we have used honey bees to pollinate in greenhouses during the winter and spring.  We use a weak nucleus hive (less than a 1000 workers and queen) and the plants and nuc are placed into a cage of some kind in the greenhouse.  The cages range from a mosquito netting placed over a piece of plywood (approximately 6' X 6' X 5') to luminite plastic screen on pea gravel (approximately 10' X 5' X 5'), all screening is placed over a conduit frame. In the cage we place anywhere from 12 to 20 pots of plants for pollination. You must have the cage to contain the bees and keep them in contact with the plants. Many of the bees will be flying at the top of the cage, but a few will always be nosing around the flowers and they are the ones that do the pollination.  You also must feed the bees while they are pollinating in greenhouses both syrup and a pollen patty and even with the extra feed the bees become weak and sickly looking.  We feed a quart of HFCS weekly and a pollen patty every two weeks to keep some brood production occurring.  We do switch out nucs on a regular basis in order to keep the bees alive and healthy, so we will have a nuc in a cage for two to three weeks and then switch nucs for two to three weeks.  For greenhouse pollination, bumble bees work much better than honey bees, but with special arrangements you can use honey bees for pollination of greenhouse plants.  I hope this is of benefit to all and feel free to look at the website for the "North Central Region Plant Introduction Station" for more information.


Steve J. Hanlin
NCRPIS/ISU
Ames, IA  50011-1170

 


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