# cranberry pollination



## BIGHONEY56 (Sep 1, 2011)

Hi, I will have from 100-150 hives this year and was thinking about testing the waters with cranberry pollination with 50 of my hives. Ive never done a pollination contract before so I had a few questions. What are they paying for a hive in wisconsin? Whats the best way of getting a contract? (just call the growers i would assume) What kind of pesticides should i watch out for? Whats the standard hive strength for cranberries? Ive heard you can make some honey sometimes off cranberries? 

I'm sure i will have more questions but thanks for any help in advance,

Steve


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

I don't know anything about cranberry pollination in WI, Here in NY I pollinate about 80 acres of crans. I haven't noticed any problems w/ pesticides.

I get my cols into the crans soon after they come out of apple pollination and leave them there all Summer. I don't think they make anything in the way of honey from the crans. Not enuf for me to notice. 

Actually, not that I spend a lot of time looking, I haven't seen bees working crans. But, the difference between them being there during pollination time and not was quite evident when one year I didn't have them there and the next year when I did and there was considerablly higher per acre berry production.

I get $50.00/cols. They may get more in WI.


----------



## Adrian Quiney WI (Sep 14, 2007)

Big Honey, there was an article in ABJ or Bee Culture within the last year about some Wisconsin Beeks who went to the Cranberries. One guys set up involved leaving the hives on a trailer with an electric fence attached to the top to keep the bears out. I have seen Cranberries mentioned a few times over the years and don't recall that anyone made honey off them.


----------



## Trevor Mansell (Jan 16, 2005)

You won't make any honey off the cranberries ,unless the bog is in area that has other sources around it. You will have to move them right at the end of the bloom because they spray ASAP for some kind of worm. The going rate is $65 to $70 per hive. They bloom different times depending where you are in Wi.


----------



## Bee Bliss (Jun 9, 2010)

There is a guy out of Rhinelander (Hansen Honey) that has pollinated cranberries. Not sure if he still does or if he is willing to share info. 

Some other beekeeper in northern Wisconsin uses a gutted out school bus to hold the hives to keep the bears off of them.


----------



## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

Perhaps someone could speak up and explain the attraction of Cranberry pollination. I have talked to a few beeks that have done it and they always seem to tell the same story. The rates arent that good, it coincides with the main honey flow, they have to go in and come out in the middle of the summer when bee moving conditions arent great and worst of all the bees just do really poorly on cranberry pollen. A $60 per hive contract equates to about a medium of honey. Am I missing something?


----------



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

jim lyon said:


> Perhaps someone could speak up and explain the attraction of Cranberry pollination.


And on the east coast...Maine/Massachusetts, colonies that pollinate cranberries after blueberries are toast and have to limp back south to recover.


----------



## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

As a pollinator I must say; pollination Blows for the bees, everywhere except perhaps almonds. Other than that, you gain short term & lose long term.


----------



## JohnK and Sheri (Nov 28, 2004)

I think some beeks just look at cranberries as a means to early summer cash flow. Tom says it well, short term gain (how much gain is debatable) long term loss.
I suppose if you were just trying to get them out of a southern dearth and didn't want to fool with honey extraction an argument could be made.
If the bees are strong enough to make a crop they will do better during that time not going into cranberries. It is tough to keep them from going backwards in cranberries so it can effect the rest of the season's harvest too. Every time we look at the numbers we shake our heads and leave them in honey production. 
Sheri


----------



## mnbeekeeper (Jun 30, 2010)

i too have heard the hives take a real hit after crans. and i understand moving bees in the middle of summer at night sucks. what i am curious about is why the bees are not able to make honey off of other things near the cran. bogs. i have never seen one of these bogs, but i understand wisc. beeks do make honey crops so why dont the bees just work other things around the crans after they are done. are these bogs in really secluded areas. just wondering why the bees dont move on to other floral sources once the cran pollination is done. i was just thinking if you were a wis. beek and you could set your bees once in the spring near a cran bog, get a pollination contract and still make a honey crop that would be nice. i understand it just doesnt work that way but if it did it would be sweet for you wisconny folks.


----------



## deknow (Jul 17, 2006)

...I'd suggest reading Dave Mendes' testimony to Congress from a few.years.ago. fungicides are sprayed on the open blooms (as.per label instructions) which of course also contaminates.the water as.well as.the nectar and pollen. Dave testified that his bees were tested, and 7000ppm of fungicides were.found.
Deknow


----------



## Trevor Mansell (Jan 16, 2005)

It all really depends on where the bog is, Ive had bees come out very heavy with nice brood patterns. Ive also had them come out very light and almost dead. Since you only have 100 hives and you want to send 50 or more into pollination that 50% or more of your operation. You have to consider that most of them are not going to be strong enough to make it thru the winter, is it really worth it ?


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

My grower told me not to refer to where the crans grow as bogs, but beds. Is this true in WI too? My grower is from MA and has two sets of beds here in NY.


----------



## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

SQKCRK, around Warrens, Wis, they are called bogs. 

Many years ago, as a favor, I would drop a few hives in a bog just east of Warrens. They never did too well. Nothing else in the area except black raspberries/blackberries. Surrounded by more bogs, and scrub pine/oak woods. No Linden, clover, alfalfa or Locust. That is why i felt they typically slide backwards.

Crazy Roland


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Are they natural, or built by humans? Maybe it's a NY or Eastern US thing. Calling them beds, so people don't get all upset about wet lands.


----------



## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

Very man made. Think of two or three or more football fields joined head to toe. The width is determined by twice the reach of a boom truck used to ?(forgot) reaching over the bed from either side. Around all edges of the "field" is a slight , maybe a foot or so, ditch. The land then goes up maybe 5-6 feet? to form a dike. There is water control systems so that the bog can be flooded when needed(harvest and winter?). 


Most bogs have an old backhoe on site.

What did I forget? 

Crazy Roland


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Sounds just like the beds here.


----------



## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

Bogs over here on the west coast.

Jean-Marc


----------



## BIGHONEY56 (Sep 1, 2011)

Thanks everybody for the advice! I think im going to stay out of cranberries for now. Like was mentioned earlier i wouldn't want to risk loosing those hives and if i could make more on honey and it be better for the bees then why not just do that. 

One more question though. Do your hives usually fall apart after apples as well. Since they bloom early do your hives come out of apples and make a summer and fall crop of honey or does spraying take to big of a toll on the hives!

Thanks everyone for all the advice,

Steve


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Apple pollination doesn't expose the bees to the sprays that crans might. The orchardists say they don't spray while my hives are in their orchards.

I may or may not get the same or better honey crop had my bees gone directly from SC to their summer yds in NY, but, they do make a crop of honey. They do not fall apart after apples.


----------



## Mtn. Bee (Nov 10, 2009)

Roland said:


> Very man made. Think of two or three or more football fields joined head to toe. The width is determined by twice the reach of a boom truck used to ?(forgot) reaching over the bed from either side. Around all edges of the "field" is a slight , maybe a foot or so, ditch. The land then goes up maybe 5-6 feet? to form a dike. There is water control systems so that the bog can be flooded when needed(harvest and winter?).
> 
> 
> Most bogs have an old backhoe on site.
> ...



They call them Cranberry Bogs as a whole, but the cranberries are actually grown in beds (Roland's Football Fields).
The beds are ditched around the outside of each bed (deep ditch). Each bed is separated by a dike with a road on it for the harvest/main. trucks, the beds have a floodgate at one end that is usually fed by a ditch of water on the other side of the dike.
The beds are constructed on the spruce/peat bog and usually nearby will be a large reservoir that they can pump out of to fill the ditches that fill the beds.
They fill the beds with approx 2-3 ft of water for harvest (Late Sept-Nov) because they use a big rotary beater (like a giant rototiller) to loosen the berries off of the vines and then the berries float to the surface of the water.
Then the grunt workers with waders on pull booms (floats) that span the entire width of bed toward the opposite end with the wind to help and yes the ditches are really deep and you can not see them in the cloudy water . Once the berries are corralled at one corner of the bed they are raked/floated up onto an elevator (like a hay elev.) with dump trucks under the other end, which haul them up to the drying/cleaning building where they are loaded onto semis and hauled to the big factory.
They drain the beds as soon as they have been harvested and actually haul dump truck loads of sand and put on the beds in the winter to firm up the beds and b/c crans prefer to grow in sandy well drained soil. (remember these are not wild crans, they are plantings).
Also crans are very touchy to frost and they have alarms set up with thermometer controls so the workers can wake up and turn on the big irrigation pumps as each bed is set up with sprinkler/irrigation system and they water the berries so they don't get frosted. This takes place until they are harvested and the irrigation pipes must be pulled prior to harvest (which was also one of my jobs).
I lived in Northern WI right next to a Cranberry Bog (Division of Oceanspray) and worked there as a seasonal harvest grunt for a few years!


----------



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Well Mark, not always. Depends on the size of the orchard and the understory.

Chazy used to spray just before the bees went into the orchard. There were always dandelions in bloom throughout the orchard. I noticed often the colonies marked to split were no longer strong enouigh a couple days after moving in...used to make my splits in the orchard. 

Then there's size...and stupidity. Chazy O is 3 miles wide from the lake to rte 9. There's a public road through the middle of the orchard. The management somehow felt that road was some barrier to the bees. We moved the bees out west of the minkler road, but left the bees in east of the road...those trees are closer to the cold lake and bloom later. So they spray west of the road...and the colonies east of the road get slammed. Dead bees all over the place. 

Then there's Peru where you go...several orchards under different schedules, perhaps spraying when you're in a neighboring orchard. I'm just sayin' it happens.


----------



## WG Bee Farm (Jan 29, 2005)

I have some hives going into cucumbers for the first time this year. Any experience with this crop.
Everything I hear is they do not grow but seem to hold their own. 
Any Advise.


----------



## Ted Kretschmann (Feb 2, 2011)

I have pollinated cranberries in Wisconsin before. The bogs are basically empty fish ponds that are a half a mile in length. The depth of the ditch is about 7 feet.. They flood them to a depth of three feet at harvest.. Just like in Almonds you can have bees from who knows where on one side of the bog and yours on the other. The bees have to be in the bog by June the 15th. The blooms are a gazillion little white/lavender blossums about the size of a nail head. The bees love them and the bottom of the bog can have a roaring sound with all the honeybees working those blooms. I did see some cranberry honey-it had a red hue to it and was pleasant to the tast. The pay was not too good but most beekeepers including my bees, moved to star thistle locations for the crop. We got the bees back strong with a super of star thistle honey on them. Which was great quality honey. We got the bees back in time for the Cotton crop and the fall flow. The bees went into the winter well from their ordeal from pollinating cranberries. Would I send bees up for cranberries again? If the price per colony would go up to around 100.00 dollars I would send them to Wisconsin cranberries quicker than I would to California Almonds. The difference is that pollinating Almonds I have gotten back hives in bad shape from brokers that like to use out of state beekeepers like dish rags and only think of themselves. Bees that went to cranberries came back in good shape and the cranberry broker/beekeepers are a little more considerate of their beekeeping clientel. TED


----------



## Ted Kretschmann (Feb 2, 2011)

I pollinated Vlasic Cucumbers in South Alabama along the Florida line for Seven long and horrible years. Cucs are very hard on the bees and the pay per set is not worth the loss in hives and time lost making up those bees every year. I used to place 800 colonies into the Cucs. You could expect to lose up to 200 colonies or more from the stress the bees are placed under. The fields are hot, windy and sandy. Temperatures on the trailers can be unbearable. The growers do not give a hoot about your bees and they are considered a lot like fertilizer. The growers are liable to hook up to a trailer of your bees and move them in the middle of the day with out telling you. IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON POLLINATING CUCUMBERS< I KNOW THE NAME OF A GOOD SHRINK< BECAUSE YOU NEED YOUR HEAD EXAMINED!!! TED


----------



## WG Bee Farm (Jan 29, 2005)

""Well"" I think that about covers that. ------Hope I have better luck with the Mt. Olive people in NC or I will be learning why it may be better to stay home. 
I will not accept trashing my hives, they are as valuable as their product and my contract does not allow them to move them or touch them; once set.

Thanks for your information. I hope I do not need a " good shrink".
Frank


----------



## LT (Aug 17, 2006)

Hi Frank. Did some pumpkins and cucs last year. The hives in the pumkins have about eaten up all the fee we got for them. Very little flow in the mtns. The hives in the cucs held their own but needing winter feed also. We put a few in the fall cukes down east.


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

How many acres of cukes are you supposed to cover? I know some guys in MD and DE who keep their cols on simple trailers, moving them from farm to farm to pollinate various vegetables which bloom at different dates. Maybe siquental plantings.

They use something like a simple hay wagon frame and axles and a set of lights so each trailer doesn't have its' own lights to maintain.


----------



## WG Bee Farm (Jan 29, 2005)

sqkcrk---Sounds like something that Ted was talking about. Moving the bees; at any time to different locations. I think you could loose control of your hives and their location that way.??
Maybe I do need a good "shrink". Any recommendations.? 

LT- i plan to be at the meeting in Winston -Feb. might see you there. We can talk "cukes" (ha)!
Frank


----------



## Ted Kretschmann (Feb 2, 2011)

Frank, I was not trying to be insulting. Just be aware that there is no nectar and very little pollen in a cuc. Bees do not build on cucs-they dwindle. You have to force them to work them. If there is anything else around-they will go for that over the cucs. If the grower puts them on trailers-it is for one reason, to move the bees at the growers convenience. Keep them on pallets and maintain control over where and when the get moved. You will loose bees, lots and lots of bees pollinating cucs. And the price paid to you and the price paid in dead beehives is not worth it. Sorry, I have been there and done that. TED


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

WG Bee Farm said:


> sqkcrk---Sounds like something that Ted was talking about. Moving the bees; at any time to different locations. I think you could loose control of your hives and their location that way.??


It's my understanding that they get moved at night by the beekeeper, so no or little field force lost. Ya gotta be smart about these things. Botht the grower and the beekeeper.


----------



## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

sqkcrk said:


> It's my understanding that they get moved at night by the beekeeper


The story I heard was an old beekeeper was moving a load of his bees one night. On a country road, a state trooper pulled him over. The officer turned on his flood lights and walked to the cab of the beekeeper’s truck. The beekeeper said ‘officer, if I were you, I’d turn off those lights.’ The trooper looked at the load, saw the bees massing on the landing boards, skipped back to his patrol car, turned off the spot lights, and drove away.


----------



## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

WAy off topic, but Herb Lapp tells a story of moving bees at night in Kentucky? with a enclosed truck. He got stopped in the wee hours of the morning, cop thought he had "shine". Made Herb open up the truck so he could shine his flashlight in there and check.

They never got stopped again.

Crazy Roland


----------



## WG Bee Farm (Jan 29, 2005)

Ted, I did not take offense. I have pollinated apples, strawberries and blue berrires but never cucumbers. It is always good to listen to others that have done the item before.
I will be moving them in on pallets and my contract states that they can only be moved by me. I do not want a non beekeeper moving hives. The producer should tend to his produce and let beekeepers tend to bees.
Thanks for your information


----------

