Pollination Management is the label for horticultural practices that accomplish or enhance pollination of a crop, to improve yield or quality, by understanding of the particular crop's pollination needs, and by knowledgeable management of pollenizers, pollinators, and pollination conditions. Pollination is an important step in the reproduction of seed plants: the transfer of pollen grains (male gametes) to the plant carpel, the structure that contains the ovule (female gamete). ... The words pollenizer (polleniser) and pollinator are often confused. ... A pollinator is the agent that moves pollen from the male anthers of a flower to the female stigma of a flower to accomplish fertilization or syngamy of the female gamete in the ovule of the flower by the male gamete from the pollen grain. ...

Pollinator decline

With the decline of both wild and domestic pollinator populations, pollination management is becoming an increasingly important part of horticulture. Factors that cause the loss of pollinators include pesticide misuse, unprofitability of beekeeping for honey, rapid transfer of pests and diseases to new areas of the globe, urban/suburban development, changing crop patterns, clearcut logging (particularly when mixed forests are replaced by monoculture pine), clearing of hedgerows and other wild areas, loss of nectar corridors for migratory pollinators, and human paranoia of stinging insects (killer bee hype). Pollinator decline is based on observations made at the end of the twentieth century of the reduction in abundance of pollinators in many ecosystems worldwide. ... The Latin words hortus (garden plant) and cultura (culture) together form horticulture, classically defined as the culture or growing of garden plants. ... Pollinator decline is based on observations made at the end of the twentieth century of the reduction in abundance of pollinators in many ecosystems worldwide. ... Under United States laws, pesticide misuse is the use of a pesticide in a way that violates laws regulating their use or endangers humans or the environment; many of these regulations are laid out in the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, FIFRA. The most common example of pesticide misuse... Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of one or more hives of honeybees. ... Honey honey comb A capped frame of honeycomb Honey is a sweet and viscous fluid produced by bees and other insects from the nectar of flowers. ... Monoculture means literally a single shared integrated pattern. ... Africanized bees are hybrids of the African honeybee, Apis mellifera scutellata (or possibly ), with various European honeybees such as the Italian bee A. m. ...

In 1989, following Hurricane Hugo, massive aerial applications for mosquitoes were done in South Carolina. The following year, watermelon growers who did not place beehives in the fields, observed the fruit begin to develop, then abort, or develop into small deformed fruit. There were entire fields that never yielded a single usable melon. Some growers went out of business; others began to seriously manage pollination. Since beekeepers were also heavily damaged by the mosquito spraying, the supply of bees for pollination was critically short for several years. Duration: Sept. ... Genera See text. ... State nickname: Palmetto State Other U.S. States Capital Columbia Largest city Columbia Governor Mark Sanford (R) Official languages English Area 82,965 km² (40th)  - Land 78,051 km²  - Water 4,915 km² (6%) Population (2000)  - Population {{{2000Pop}}} (26th)  - Density 51. ... Domesticated honeybees are kept in beehives. ...

Importance of pollination management

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, while other periods of the year can bring starvation or pesticide contamination of food sources. Most pollinator species rely on a steady nectar source and pollen source throughout the growing season to build up their numbers. Monoculture means literally a single shared integrated pattern. ... Northern nectar sources for honeybees The nectar source in a given area depends on the type of vegetation present and the length of their bloom period. ... Northern pollen sources for honeybees The pollen source in a given area depends on the type of vegetation present and the length of their bloom period. ...

Honeybee on domestic plum blossom
Honeybees are especially well adapted
to collecting and moving pollen,
thus are the most commonly used pollinators

Crops that traditionally have had managed pollination include apple, almonds, pears, some plum and cherry varieties, blueberries, cranberries, cucumbers, 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. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1525x1212, 1203 KB)Honeybee on domestic plum blossom, with pollen on its body and a pollen pellet in its corbicula Image copyleft: Image taken by me, released under GFDL, Pollinator 14:30, Jan 16, 2005 (UTC) File history Legend: (cur) = this... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1525x1212, 1203 KB)Honeybee on domestic plum blossom, with pollen on its body and a pollen pellet in its corbicula Image copyleft: Image taken by me, released under GFDL, Pollinator 14:30, Jan 16, 2005 (UTC) File history Legend: (cur) = this... Species Malus domestica Malus sieversii The apple is a tree and its pomaceous fruit, of species Malus domestica in the family Rosaceae, and is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits. ... Binomial name Prunus dulcis (Mill. ... Species About 30 species, including: Pyrus amygdaliformis Pyrus austriaca Pyrus balansae Pyrus betulifolia Pyrus bourgaeana Pyrus bretschneideri Pyrus calleryana Pyrus caucasica Pyrus communis Pyrus cordata Pyrus cossonii Pyrus elaeagrifolia Pyrus fauriei Pyrus kawakamii Pyrus korshinskyi Pyrus lindleyi Pyrus nivalis Pyrus pashia Pyrus persica Pyrus phaeocarpa Pyrus pyraster Pyrus pyrifolia Pyrus... Species See text A plum is a stone fruit tree in the genus Prunus, subgenus Prunus. ... Washington, D.C. Tidal Basin showing cherry trees in flower Cherry tree blossoms A cherry (originally cherise reinterpreted as a plural, from the Old Norman French word, in turn from Latin cerasum) is both a tree and its fleshy fruit, a type known as a drupe with a single hard... For other uses, see Blueberry (disambiguation). ... Album cover for Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Cant We?, the Cranberries breakthrough debut album. ... Binomial name Cucumis sativus Ref: ITIS 22364 The cucumber is the edible fruit of the cucumber plant Cucumis sativus, which belongs to the gourd family Cucurbitaceae, as do melons and squash. ... Trinomial name Cucumis melo reticulatus ITIS 22362 2002-09-03 A Cantaloupe , also cantaloup or rockmelon (Cucumis melo reticulatus), is the North American name for a variety of muskmelon; cantaloupe comes from the animal antilopia or better known as antelope. ... Binomial name Citrullus lanatus (Thunb. ... Species Medicago arabica Medicago heldreichii Medicago hybrida Medicago laciniata Medicago littoralis Medicago lupulina Medicago minima Medicago monantha Medicago monspeliaca Medicago orbicularis Medicago polymorpha Medicago praecox Medicago rigidula Medicago rugosa Medicago ruthenica Medicago sativa Medicago scutellata Medicago secundiflora Medicago truncatula Medicago turbinata Ref: ITIS 183622 as of 2002-07-31 Alfalfa... Binomial name Allium cepa L. Onion in the general sense can be used for any plant in the Genus Allium but used without qualifiers usually means Allium cepa L., also called the garden onion. ...

Placing honeybees for pumpkin pollination
Mohawk Valley, NY

Placing honeybees for pumpkin pollination, Mowhawk Valley, NY Image copyleft: Image taken by me, released under GFDL Pollinator 05:54, Sep 19, 2004 (UTC) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...

Types of pollinators

Organisms that are currently being used as pollinators in managed pollination are honeybees, bumblebees, alfalfa leafcutter bees, orchard mason bees, and fuzzyfooted bees. Other species are expected to be added to this list as this field develops. Humans also can be pollinators, as the garderer who hand pollinates her squash blossoms, or the Middle Eastern farmer, who climbs his date palms to pollinate them. Species A. mellifera — western honeybee A. cerana — eastern honeybee The honeybee is a colonial insect that is often maintained, fed, and transported by farmers. ... Species see text A bumblebee in flight The bumblebee is a flying insect of the genus Bombus in the family Apidae. ... Binomial name Megachile rotundata Fabricius, 1787 The Alfalfa Leafcutter Bee (megachile rotundata) is a species of bee cultured solely for pollination purposes. ... Species - hubbard squash, buttercup squash - cushaw squash - butternut squash - most pumpkins, acorn squash, summer squash References: ITIS 22365 2002-11-06 Hortus Third Squashes are four species of the genus Cucurbita, also called pumpkins and marrows depending on variety or the nationality of the speaker. ... Binomial name Phoenix dactylifera L. The Date Palm Phoenix dactylifera is a palm, extensively cultivated for its edible fruit. ...

Extension recommends one honeybee hive per acre (4,000 m² per hive) for standard watermelon varieties to meet this crop's pollination needs. In the past, when fields were small, pollination was accomplished by a mix of bees kept on farms, bumblebees, carpenter bees, feral honeybees in hollow trees and other insects. Today, with melons planted in large tracts, the grower may no longer have hives on the farm; he may have poisoned many of the pollinators by spraying blooming cotton; he may have logged off the woods, removing hollow trees that provided homes for bees, and pushed out the hedgerows that were home for solitary native bees and other pollinating insects.

Planning for improved pollination

Before pollination needs were understood, orchardists often planted entire blocks of apples on a single variety. Because apples are self sterile, and a variety is a genetic clone (equivalent to a single plant) this is not a good idea. Growers now supply pollenizers, by planting crab apples interspersed in the rows, or by grafting crab apple limbs on some trees. Pollenizers can also be supplies by putting drum bouquets of crab apples or a compatible apple variety in the orchard blocks. As a word, clone was first coined by J.B.S. Haldane as subject for theoretical replication of a frog, though the term clone is derived from κλων, the Greek word for twig. In horticulture, the spelling clon was used until the twentieth century. ... Species - Southern Crab - Siberian Crabapple - Sweet Crabapple - Apple - Japanese Crabapple - Oregon Crab - Chinese Crabapple - Prairie Crab - Asian Wild Apple - European Wild Apple Malus, the apples, is a genus of about 30-35 species of small deciduous trees or shrubs in the family Rosaceae, including most importantly the domesticated Orchard or...

The field of pollination management cannot be placed wholly within any other field, because it bridges several fields. It draws from horticulture, apiculture, zoology (especially entomology), ecology, and botany. The Latin words hortus (garden plant) and cultura (culture) together form horticulture, classically defined as the culture or growing of garden plants. ... Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of one or more hives of honeybees. ... Zoology (Greek zoon = animal and logos = word) is the biological discipline which involves the study of animals. ... Entomology is the scientific study of insects. ... (Ecology is sometimes used incorrectly as a synonym for the natural environment. ... Botany is the scientific study of plant life. ...