This is a field day that would be
interesting for any fruit and veg farm as they all need pollination.
Please check it out!
Vicki Morrone
Organic Vegetable and
Crop Specialist
C.S. Mott Group for
Sustainable Food Systems
CARRS Departent of
Community, Agriclture, Recreation and Resource Studies
303 Natural Resources
Bldg
Michigan State
University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1222
Phone: 517-353-3542
Cell: 517-282-3557
FAX 517-353-3834
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
Don’t
forget! A carrot a day may keep the doctor away but an ORGANIC carrot a
day,
grown
locally will taste good, support your farmer neighbor AND may keep the doctor
away!!!
From: Linking growers,
consumers, and all those in-between [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Susan Smalley
Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2006
6:40 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Blueberry Pollination
Field Day
The announcement below is for an upcoming MSU Extension meeting that
may be of interest to Michigan
farmers interested in alternative pollinators (native bees) and strategies for
their farms/gardens that can help enhance suitability for these important
insects. We will present results of research funded by the MSU-USDA Sustainable
Agriculture program.
A text description of the meeting is below, and a PDF flyer is attached for
distribution.
Thanks in advance for your assistance,
Rufus Isaacs, Julianna Tuell, Carlos-Garcia Salazar
Meeting organizers
MSU
Research Station to host blueberry pollination field day on May 17th.
Dr. Rufus Isaacs, Dept.
of Entomology, Michigan
State University
Contact: (517) 355-6619, [log in to unmask]
Most people know bees are important for pollination of fruits and vegetables,
but did you know how important they are to Michigan's economy? Every spring thousands
of honeybee hives are transported into the state to pollinate our fruit and
vegetable crops that rely on honeybees to achieve a good crop. Michigan is the leading
producer of blueberry in the nation, and our production of about 60 million
pounds of blueberries is dependent on bees visiting the white flowers to
transfer pollen. Most of these bees are from honeybee hives, but there is
increasing interest in other bees such as bumblebees, blue orchard bees, and
native Michigan
bees that can help get crops pollinated. To focus on this important aspect of
blueberry production, Michigan
State University
has organized a pollination field day on May 17th.
The meeting will be from 1-5 pm (registration starting at 12.30) at the Trevor
Nichols Research Complex in Fennville,
Michigan and will feature short
research updates indoors on pollination-related research and also some outdoor
demonstrations. Our focus will be on blueberries, but we will also have one
presentation related to cherries, and the information should be of value to
anyone interested in maintaining an effective pollination strategy on their
fruit farm or in their garden. This meeting is open to anyone interested in
this topic. Short indoor presentations will include honeybees and blueberry
pollination, use of bumblebees for blueberry pollination, experiences with Osmia bees in cherry orchards, cultural
practices and gibberellic acid to improve blueberry fruit set, and an update on
native bee research in Michigan
blueberry.
Outdoor demonstrations at a blueberry plantation on the site will cover the
following issues: assessing honeybee hive strength and health, bumble bee quad
demonstration, identifying pollinators and assessing fruit set, and using
native plants to attract bees and other beneficial insects. Presenters at the
meeting will include MSU scientists Zachary Huang, Eric Hanson, Rufus Isaacs,
Nikki Rothwell and also John Wolfe from Koppert
Biological, Michigan
company that produces bumblebees.
A small registration fee of $10 per person is being charged for this meeting to
cover expenses. Please make checks payable to: Michigan State
University and send to
Carlos Garcia-Salazar, Ottawa County MSU Extension, 333 Clinton Street, Grand Haven, MI
49417, before May 10.
The Trevor Nichols Station is located 15 miles south south of Holland, 3 miles east of I-196 on M-89 and
west of Fennville (124th Ave
between 63rd and 62nd Streets). Questions? Please contact: Carlos
Garcia-Salazar in the Ottawa Co. Extension Office at (616) 846-8250. For more
information on the meeting, please see the brochure posted online at: http://www.ipm.msu.edu/cat06fruit/pdf/PollinationDay2006.pdf
This meeting and the research presented are supported in part by Project
GREEEN, Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, MSU Extension, MSU-USDA
Sustainable Agriculture Program and the Michigan Blueberry Growers Association.
Dr. Rufus Isaacs
Department of Entomology
202 Center for Integrated Plant Systems
Michigan State
University
East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
tel: (517) 355-6619
www.isaacslab.ent.msu.edu
Susan
B. Smalley, Ph.D.
Extension Specialist
C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable
Food Systems at Michigan
State University
Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource
Studies (CARRS)
303 Natural Resources Building
East Lansing, MI 48824-1222
[log in to unmask]
517.432.0049 voice
517.353.3834 fax