Cherry growers are gearing up for the start of the blooming period. Honeybees are widely used for pollination, but adding bumblebees is a great idea to ensure an optimal result under all weather conditions.
April is a crucial month for cherry growers. Blooming starts and successful pollination is a key factor on the path to a successful harvest. Cherry growers traditionally use honeybees. But Lode Van Schaeren of Biobest Belgium, advisor in soft and hard fruit crops, strongly recommends to add bumblebees to the mix. “Especially when the weather conditions are less favorable, for example when it’s cloudy or colder, bumblebees will do a much better job than honeybees.”
Lode advises to use three Multi Hives Turbo per hectare. These hives contain a lot of bumblebees from day 1 and they are ready for immediate action in short blooming crops like cherry.
The Multi Hive Turbo contains 3 individual hives, each coming with a bottle of 2 liter of sugar water. That keeps the bumblebees going in case blooming gets delayed by a few days. With the Turbo Hives 4 weeks full activity is guaranteed.
For more information
Biobest Belgium NV
Lise Verachtert, Marketing & Communication Assistant
Ilse Velden 18
2260 Westerlo - Belgium
T +32 14 25 79 80
F +32 14 25 79 82
