Use of bees for pollination of vegetable crops in greenhouses
Familiarization with the organization of pollination by bees of cucumbers in greenhouses is best done in the form of an excursion to a large greenhouse farm. The most convenient time for visiting a farm in the northern part of the non-chernozem zone, for example, will be the end of May or the beginning of June. During this period, bees work not only in the greenhouse, but also actively fly out of the greenhouse for nectar and pollen. In addition, at the specified time, it is possible to examine well the bee colonies and on the reserve apiary of the farm that is standing on the outside. In more southern regions such an excursion is organized much earlier.
The day before the excursion they arrange with the beekeeper of the farm to prepare a syrup flavored with nectar of cucumbers, and on the day of the excursion did not give syrup to families in the two greenhouses planned for a visit.
General principles of keeping bees in greenhouses:
1) pay attention to the location of the hive and the tap;
2) determine the type of the hive and the method of warming the nest, the color of the hive, the way to protect the hive from overheating by the sun’s rays;
3) find a hole for the bees to leave the greenhouse to freedom;
4) note how the hive is moved from the greenhouse to the will and back;
5) learn how to protect the bees from poisoning when processing plants with poisons in the fight against pests and diseases.
Features of the content of bees in greenhouses.
The microclimate of greenhouses in which cucumbers are grown has its own characteristics and is generally unfavorable for the life of a bee family. The optimal air temperature during cultivation of cucumbers is 30 … 32 њ C, and on certain sunny days it is much higher and depresses bees during the day. High relative humidity in the greenhouse (85 … 95%) almost eliminates the possibility
For every 1000 m2 of greenhouses (or one greenhouse of a smaller area) one family of bees is usually put. The strength of the family is 8 … 9 frames. The hive is double-walled, painted in light colors, with good lateral and top warming to protect the nest of bees from cooling in the spring and overheating in the summer. The hive is placed in a well-lit place near the southern wall of the greenhouse, with a tap to the northeast (the southern wall of the greenhouse is drier than the northern one). Glasses of a hothouse behind a hive are obscured by a floor-mat or a plywood, and in more hot time whiten. By the time the hive is put in the greenhouse, there must be at least 6 … 8 kg of honey and two frames of perga in the nest of the family.
In the future, bees are fed sugar syrup with the addition of 5% (by weight) of baker’s yeast, previously ground in a small amount of water and boiled. In addition, early in the spring in barrels of water in different places, greenhouses put branches of willow, alder, hazel and other pollenotsov.
With the onset of warm weather, bees are allowed to fly for nectar and pollen to freedom. To do this, in a glassed wall near the bottom slope of the greenhouse near the hive (where usually a lot of bees accumulate on sunny days) a 5×10 cm hole is cut out. The glass around the hole is whitened or painted with another paint that can be seen by the bees so that they can easily find the entrance to the greenhouse. At the onset of stable warm weather, the hive is put on special slides from the greenhouse to the will. At the same time, they strictly follow that bees can still fly from the hive only to the greenhouse; for departure to freedom there remains the former, specially cut out hole in the wall of the greenhouse. Experience shows that families who have a free flight from the greenhouse to freedom through a special hole, are well preserved,
Accounting for the pollinating activity of bees.
This work can be done in combination with various modifications of bee training. Two greenhouses with one variety of cultivated plants and approximately equal in strength bee colonies used for pollination are selected. Observations are conducted by subgroups at the same time. In each greenhouse, 2 people are counted at the tap of the bees flying out of the hive and arriving bees, including with the update. Two other students are located outside the greenhouse at the hole cut in the wall, and carry out similar work. The others keep records, visits by the bees to plants. They slowly pass along rows of plants and count the bees seen on plants attached to them row for 15 minutes on a common signal. The results of the registration are recorded in the diary.
Then the bees are trained. Near each hive they put 2 … 3 feeders-boxes with open lids. In the first greenhouse, 100 … 150 ml of syrup flavored with nectar of male flowers of cucumbers are poured into the troughs, in the second – the same syrup, but with the addition of mint, anise or lavender oil (10 drops per 1 l). As soon as 200 … 300 bees gather in the feeding troughs, they are closed with lids, they are taken to the opposite end of the greenhouse and the lids are opened. One hour after the release of the bees from the feeding troughs, a second 15-minute count is carried out similarly to the first conducted prior to training.
Having completed the accounting, they compile a summary table of the results of observations in the form given below and analyze the data obtained. If the opportunity allows, you can try 2 more training options, which are recommended for greenhouses when the bees visit the plants in a weak way – spraying plant flowers with sugar syrup or water, with 200 g of liquid adding 10 drops of one of the aforementioned essential oils while spraying in both versions one of the frames with bees in the nest with the same solution.
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