Bumblebees and Pollinators

There is always something to learn.  As we have been ramping up this market garden project of ours over the last 5 years, I recognized that poor vegetable success isn't just a case of poor soil or lack of water or even what seems to be unusually cool weather.  Pollinators, whether actual honeybees managed by a beekeeper or bumblebees, naturally occurring are key to having a great vegetable crop where the plant flowers need pollen transferred from flower to flower.

An excerpt from the Xerxes Society's website - http://www.xerces.org/bees/

     "Bees are undoubtedly the most abundant pollinators of flowering plants in our environment. The service that bees and other pollinators provide allows nearly 70 percent of all flowering plants to reproduce; the fruits and seeds from insect pollinated plants account for over 30 percent of the foods and beverages that we consume. Beyond agriculture, pollinators are keystone species in most terrestrial ecosystems. Fruits and seeds derived from insect pollination are a major part of the diet of approximately 25 percent of all birds, and of mammals ranging from red-backed voles to grizzly bears. However, many of our native bee pollinators are at risk, and the status of many more is unknown. Habitat loss, alteration, and fragmentation, pesticide use, and introduced diseases all contribute to declines of bees."

What we have seen in our yard is an increase in the number of bumblebees, year after year. After a poor year with growing squash and pumpkins in 2013, I had vowed to hand-pollinate in 2014, which I did, every morning possible.  It improved our crop production quite a bit.  While out in the garden, I did notice there were a few bumblebees around the squash flowers, but only a few. Then in 2015 it was an amazing time amongst the squash varieties and the cucumber trellises, with hundreds of bumblebees of a few varieties buzzing the flowers and moving pollen to our advantage while collecting it for their own use in the hive.  Another interesting feature in our yard was the oregano plant in our front garden.  The bumblebees loved this plant with it's delicate purple blossoms, visiting it from first light until early evening.  So what had changed?  We were building a natural habitat that the bumblebees thrived in.  Other features I began to realize were contributing to this change were the massive crop of Canada Thistle south of the garden, and the untouched section of grassy land north of the garden featuring Timothy, Brome Grass, Black-eyed Susans, Daisies and some other wildflowers.  The heavy grass and stems close to the ground are a preference for nesting.  A little further afield we do have some old, rotting tree stumps, logs and branches some of this pushed into piles with a bit of soil left in them.  This also is a favorite for nesting bees.

When I was cleaning the greenhouse, I did find some bumblebees that got trapped inside and had died.  So I carefully collected them and took photos of the three bumblebee types.  The most interesting to me is the Tri-colored Bumblebee, with a double orange stripe on it's abdomen.  This is the variety of bee that likes the Oregano plant.  The other 2 I have yet to identify for certain, but these are the type I've found around the other plants in the garden.

This year I have the Rocky Mountain Bee Plant that I am adding to the yard which is especially attractive to bees.  I will also be sure to grow a larger variety of flowers and also watch that the habitat structures around the yard do not get changed.  So it will be interesting to observe any changes to the bumblebee population this year.

A few other websites that feature great information on bumblebees and pollinators:

http://pollinator.org/canada.htm
http://savethebumblebees.com/index.html
http://farmsatwork.ca/pollinators/native-bees?_ga=1.27851508.915607232.1439311347