Bees

This year we had an early bloom. We were fortunate to have bees in for pollination early as
well. We hire bees each year to help the 'native' pollinators such as bumble bees. Other native
pollinators are small solitary bees and leaf cutter bees. There are some 3000 species of bees native to North America. Honey bees are, in fact, inefficient cranberry pollinators.

The honey bee is an import that came from Europe relativity recently. They are poorly adapted to the small cranberry flower with its tiny amount of nectar. Because there are so many flowers, the honey bees will go to the cranberry flower as a matter of course even though it is not preferred by the bee. It is important to maintain healthy population of native pollinators. Literature suggests that there is a correlation between healthy populations and good fruit set. We think of the bog as a system. We are fortunate to have 400 acres of surrounding land that allow habitat for pollinators.

That Time of Year

For those that think that the farm life is serene... May and June have been busy... We have to maintain a frost watch... Mid-June brought one cool night of about 0.5 C (33 F) so we started up the irrigation system just in case.



We make fertilizer applications in the spring to give the plants a boost. Many small applications as the plants require the food mean the fertilizer is used by the plants NOT washed into the soil. We base the fertilizer application based on the growth stage of the plants, soil and tissue testing. We also apply foliar fertilizer to feed the plants special nutrients including Boron. We apply the liquids we use a mist blower that blows the fertilizer over the field. This work needs to be done when the winds are calm, usually at night. We apply the granular fertilizer (which is mainly made from naturally occuring rocks) with a 'boom' that spreads the product over the field. The boom is come 80 feet wide. It reaches 65 feet over the field. The fertilizer is metered out and the blown through pipes to nozzles to the field.

A busy time of year... just like at harvest... and... lol... yes.. THAT TIME OF YEAR