Editing Pollination management (section)

==Importance==
{{See also|List of crop plants pollinated by bees}}

The increasing size of fields and orchards ([[monoculture]]) increase the importance of pollination management. Monoculture can cause a brief period when pollinators have more food resources than they can use (but monofloral diet can reduce their immune system<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk"/>) while other periods of the year can bring starvation or pesticide contamination of food sources. Most [[nectar source]] and [[pollen source]] throughout the growing season to build up their numbers.

Crops that traditionally have had managed pollination include [[apple]], [[almond]]s, [[pear]]s, some [[plum]] and [[cherry]] varieties, [[blueberries]], [[Cranberry|cranberries]], [[cucumber]]s, [[cantaloupe]], [[watermelon]], [[alfalfa]] seeds, [[onion]] seeds, and many others. Some crops that have traditionally depended entirely on chance pollination by wild pollinators need pollination management nowadays to make a profitable crop. Many of these were at one time universally turning to honeybees, but as science has shown that honeybees are actually inefficient pollinators, demand for other managed pollinators has risen. While honeybees may visit dozens of different kinds of flowers, diluting the orchard pollen they carry, the [[Blue orchard bee]] will visit only the intended tree, producing a much higher fertilization rate. The focus on the specific tree also makes the orchard bee 100 times more efficient at pollinating, per bee.<ref>[http://www.mofga.org/Publications/The-Maine-Organic-Farmer-Gardener/Spring-2013/Blue-Orchard-Bee The Blue Orchard Bee]<br/>A female lives about 20 days and provisions about two to six nests. So 1,800 flower trips x 7 eggs x 6 nests = more than 75,000 flower trips in her life, making BOBs about 100 times more efficient than honeybees. BOBs pollinate 97 percent of the flowers they visit.</ref>

Some crops, especially when planted in a monoculture situation, require a very high level of pollinators to produce economically viable crops, especially if depending on the more generalized honeybee. This may be because of lack of attractiveness of the blossoms, or from trying to pollinate with an alternative when the native pollinator is extinct or rare. These include crops such as alfalfa, cranberries, and [[kiwifruit]]. This technique is known as [[saturation pollination]]. In many such cases, various native bees are vastly more efficient at pollination (e.g., with blueberries<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Javorek SK, Mackenzie KE, Vander Kloet SP |year=2002 |title=Comparative pollination effectiveness among bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) on Lowbush Blueberry (Ericaceae: ''Vaccinium angustifolium'') |journal=Annals of the Entomological Society of America |volume=95 |issue=3 |pages=345–351 |doi=10.1603/0013-8746(2002)095[0345:cpeabh]2.0.co;2|s2cid=86364277 |doi-access=free }}</ref>), but the inefficiency of the honey bees is compensated for by using large numbers of hives, the total number of foragers thereby far exceeding the local abundance of native pollinators. In a very few cases, it has been possible to develop commercially viable pollination techniques that use the more efficient pollinators, rather than continued reliance on honey bees, as in the management of the [[alfalfa leafcutter bee]].

In the case of the kiwifruit, its flowers do not even produce nectar, so that honeybees are reluctant to even visit them, unless present in such overwhelming numbers that they do so incidentally. This has led bumblebee pollination companies to begin offering their services for kiwifruit, as they appear to be far more efficient at the job than honeybees, even more efficient than hand pollination.<ref>[http://www.hortidaily.com/article/33886/Bumblebees-can-help-in-Kiwi-pollination Bumblebees can help in Kiwi pollination]</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Number of hives needed per unit area of crop pollination<ref>[http://www.ontariobee.com/5_pollination/default.htm Ontario Beekeepers' Association] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080708190500/http://www.ontariobee.com/5_pollination/default.htm |date=2008-07-08 }}</ref> 
|-
!Common name
!number of hives <br> per acre
!number of hives <br> per hectare
!number of bee visits per 
square meter/minute
|-
|Alfalfa<ref>[http://www.extension.uiuc.edu/~vista/html_pubs/BEEKEEP/CHAPT8/chapt8.html Pollination by Honey Bees] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070510174953/http://www.extension.uiuc.edu/~vista/html_pubs/BEEKEEP/CHAPT8/chapt8.html |date=2007-05-10 }}</ref>
|align=right|1, (3–5)
|align=right|2.5, (4.9–12)
|-
|Almonds
|{{convert|2|-|3|/acre|/ha|disp=table}}
|-
|Apples (normal size)
|{{convert|1|/acre|/ha|disp=table}}
|-
|Apples (semi dwarf)
|{{convert|2|/acre|/ha|disp=table}}
|-
|Apples (dwarf)
|{{convert|3|/acre|/ha|disp=table}}
|-
|Apricots
|{{convert|1|/acre|/ha|disp=table}}
|-
|Blueberries 
|{{convert|3|-|4|/acre|/ha|disp=table}}
|2.5
|-
|Borage<ref name="autogenerated1">[http://manitobabee.org/bulletin/archives/CustpollrecsMAY2007_7.pdf Custom Pollination with Honey Bees in Manitoba] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513190611/http://manitobabee.org/bulletin/archives/CustpollrecsMAY2007_7.pdf |date=2008-05-13 }}</ref>
|{{convert|0.6|-|1.0|/acre|/ha|disp=table}} 
|-
|Buckwheat<ref name="autogenerated1" />
|{{convert|0.5|-|1|/acre|/ha|disp=table}} 
|-
|Canola
|{{convert|1|/acre|/ha|disp=table}}
|-
|Canola (hybrid)<ref name="autogenerated1" />
|{{convert|2.0|-|2.5|/acre|/ha|disp=table}} 
|-
|Cantaloupes<ref name="apis.ifas.ufl.edu">[http://apis.ifas.ufl.edu/papers/vinepol.htm Pollination Requirements of Vine Crops] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080628010345/http://apis.ifas.ufl.edu/papers/vinepol.htm |date=2008-06-28 }}, 
Malcolm T. Sanford, Extension Apiculturist [[University of Florida]], 1995</ref>
|align=right|2–4, (average 2.4) 
|align=right|4.9–9.9, (average 5.9) 
|-
|Clovers<ref name="autogenerated1" />
|{{convert|1|-|2|/acre|/ha|disp=table}} 
|-
|Cranberries
|{{convert|3|/acre|/ha|disp=table}}
|-
|Cucumbers<ref name="apis.ifas.ufl.edu"/>
|align=right|1–2, (average 2.1) 
|align=right|2.5–4.9, (average 5.2) 
|-
|Ginseng
|{{convert|1|/acre|/ha|disp=table}}
|-
|Muskmelon<ref name=Chapter4>{{cite book |chapter-url=http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/vegetable/guides/texas-vegetable-growers-handbook/chapter-iv-cultural-practices/ |title=Texas Vegetable Grower's Handbook |publisher=Texas Agricultural Extension Service |accessdate=9 December 2014 |chapter=Cultural Practices
|author1=Frank J. Dainello  |author2=Roland Roberts |name-list-style=amp }}</ref><ref>[http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/content/AAP/HBH/bulletin4298_rockmelon.htm Bee pollination benefits for rockmelon crops] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080906013548/http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/content/AAP/HBH/bulletin4298_rockmelon.htm |date=2008-09-06 }} Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia</ref>
|{{convert|1|-|3|/acre|/ha|disp=table}} 
|-
|Nectarines
|{{convert|1|/acre|/ha|disp=table}}
|-
|Peaches
|{{convert|1|/acre|/ha|disp=table}}
|-
|Pears
|{{convert|1|/acre|/ha|disp=table}}
|-
|Plums
|{{convert|1|/acre|/ha|disp=table}}
|-
|Pumpkins
|{{convert|1|/acre|/ha|disp=table}}
|-
|Raspberries<ref name="autogenerated1" />
|{{convert|0.7|-|1.3|/acre|/ha|disp=table}} 
|-
|Squash<ref name=Chapter4/>
|{{convert|1|-|3|/acre|/ha|disp=table}} 
|-
|Strawberries<ref name="autogenerated1" />
|{{convert|1|-|3.5|/acre|/ha|disp=table}} 
|-
|Sunflower
|{{convert|1|/acre|/ha|disp=table}}
|-
|Trefoil<ref name="autogenerated1" />
|{{convert|0.6|-|1.5|/acre|/ha|disp=table}} 
|-
|Watermelon<ref name="apis.ifas.ufl.edu"/>
|align=right|1–3, (average 1.3)
|align=right|2.5–4.9, (average 3.2)
|-
|Zucchini
|{{convert|1|/acre|/ha|disp=table}}
|}

It is estimated that about one hive per acre will sufficiently pollinate watermelons. In the 1950s when the woods were full of wild bee trees, and beehives were normally kept on most [[South Carolina]] farms, a farmer who grew {{convert|10|acre|ha|abbr=off|spell=in}} of watermelons would be a large grower and probably had all the pollination needed. But today's grower may grow {{convert|200|acre|ha|abbr=off}}, and, if lucky, there might be one bee tree left within range. The only option in the current economy is to bring beehives to the field during blossom time.<ref>Delaplaine et al. 1994, Bee pollination of Georgia crop plants. ''CES Bulletin 1106''</ref>