[Pollinator] Stanislaus garden project is a smorgasbord for pollinators

[Matthew Shepherd]

http://www.modbee.com/2010/08/18/1298648/stanislaus-garden-project-is-a.html

 

August 18, 2010

 


Stanislaus garden project is a smorgasbord for pollinators


By John Holland

 

 
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Modesto Bee - (BRIAN RAMSAY/bramsay at modbee.com) - Jessa Guisse, no age
given, of Sacramento, and Kristilynn Flippins, 20, of Waterford, work to
prep soil for planting later this year. Guisse is a pollinator outreach
coordinator with Xerces Society and Flippins is a student at CSU,
Stanislaus.

These gardeners don't mind if bees buzz about their plot south of Modesto.

They are experimenting with flowering plants that could provide a wide
variety of pollen for the insects to eat.

They aim to keep the bees healthy for their task of pollinating almonds and
other crops for human consumption. 

"Bees need diverse sources of pollen to help bolster their resistance to
disease, pesticides and other stresses," Jessa Guisse, of the Xerces Society
for Invertebrate Conservation, said in an e-mail Tuesday.

"Providing additional habitat is widely recognized as the best way to
enhance bee health, diversity and abundance."

The society, based in Portland, Ore., is testing the idea at 11 sites across
the nation with a grant of about $330,000 from the federal Natural Resources
Conservation Service. The sites include the Stanislaus County Agricultural
Center off Crows Landing Road.

The project involves native and imported bees and other pollinators, said
Guisse, pollinator outreach coordinator for California.

Among them is the European honeybee, which has become an important
pollinator in the United States but has declined because of a mysterious
affliction called colony collapse disorder.

Crucial to valley

The stakes are huge. Almonds brought an estimated $455.6 million to growers
in Stanislaus County last year. It all depends on bees moving from bloom to
bloom in February and March, depositing the pollen that causes the nuts to
form.

Honeybees also pollinate cherries, apples, apricots, melons, squash and many
other crops.

The test plot will have hedgerows, which some growers already have tried
along their orchards and fields to encourage bees and other beneficial
insects. Other possibilities include "bee pastures" and "pollinator
meadows," Guisse said.

The work started last week with laying of clear plastic sheets to control
soil pathogens and weeds with the sun's heat. That will be followed in
autumn by planting of poppy, lupine, phacelia, aster, milkweed, sunflower,
salvia, buckwheat, ceanothus, manzanita and other plants. Most are
California natives.

Guisse said the result early next year will be "a beautiful floral display
and possibly some unique species of native bees."

The project is getting help from the East Stanislaus Resource Conservation
District and the University of California Cooperative Extension. Student
interns from California State University, Stanislaus, also are taking part.

 

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