What are the benefits of using bumblebees for tomato pollination?
In September, greenhouse tomatoes on the outskirts of Beijing enter their flowering period, and yellow little flowers have already bloomed. In the past, this season was the busiest time for vegetable growers, who had to use writing brushes to hand-pollinate tomato flowers. The number of tomato flowers in 1 mu of land ranges from 50,000 to 100,000, making pollination a tiring and heavy task. But now, the busy figures of vegetable growers in the greenhouse are gone, replaced by large bumblebees flying among the tomato flowers. It turns out that this is the technology promoted by the Beijing Plant Protection Station to replace manual pollination with bumblebee pollination. This technology not only reduces the labor intensity and labor cost of tomato pollination, but also avoids the use of chemical hormones, reduces the amount of chemical pesticides, improves tomato quality, and increases tomato yield. One little bumblebee has successfully solved five major production problems. However, many vegetable growers still have questions when applying this technology, so let us answer your questions here.
Must bumblebees be used to pollinate tomatoes, or can honeybees be used?
Tomatoes and other solanaceous crops have a special odor, and honeybees do not like to visit the flowers; tomato flower stamens are relatively long, making them difficult for honeybees to collect from, and the pollination effect is poor. Therefore, honeybees cannot be used to pollinate tomatoes. Bumblebees are not sensitive to the odor of tomatoes, have a long proboscis, and produce strong sonication, making them very suitable for pollinating tomatoes.
Why are tomatoes pollinated by bumblebees better in quality and higher in yield than those pollinated manually?
Disadvantages of manual pollination: First, manual pollination is relatively coarse in choosing the pollination period. Generally, uniform pollination begins after tomato flowering, when the maturity of tomato flowers is uneven. Many flowers are pollinated too early or too late, which affects the later quality and yield of tomatoes. Second, during manual pollination, improper control of pollination strength or hormone concentration can greatly increase deformed tomato fruits and reduce quality. Third, manual pollination may miss flowers or repeatedly pollinate the same flowers, which also affects quality and yield.
Advantages of bumblebee pollination: Bumblebees choose to collect pollen when the pollen is at its most mature stage. At this time, both the pollination period and pollen maturity are most suitable, and it is cross-pollination, so tomatoes pollinated this way have a low rate of deformed fruit, plump nourishing tissue, regular fruit shape, and uniform coloring, and their quality and yield are obviously higher. In addition, when bumblebees are used for pollination, missed flowers are rarely left unpollinated, ensuring the pollination rate.
What are the economic benefits of bumblebee pollination for tomatoes?
Cost accounting: For 1 mu of tomatoes, manual pollination is carried out about 14 times, each pollination takes half a day, and the whole pollination period requires about 7 days. The hired labor cost is about 120 yuan per day, and the total cost of manual pollination is about 840 yuan. For bumblebee pollination, 1 box of bees is enough to pollinate 1 mu of tomatoes, at a price of 400 yuan. Adding the input for supporting green control technologies such as insect-proof nets, about 300 yuan per year, the total cost of bumblebee pollination is about 700 yuan, saving about 140 yuan compared with manual pollination.
Output accounting: Bumblebee pollination of tomatoes increases yield by about 20% compared with manual pollination, increasing yield by about 1,000 kg per mu and increasing output value by about 3,000 yuan. The rate of deformed fruit is reduced, quality is improved, and the selling price is raised, increasing quality-related income by about 2,000 yuan per mu, so output increases by about 5,000 yuan.
Because the pollination cost is reduced and output is increased, bumblebee pollination of tomatoes has obvious economic benefits, increasing economic benefits by more than 5,000 yuan per mu.
Why is it said that tomatoes pollinated by bumblebees are green and safe?
Because bumblebees are highly sensitive to pesticides, arbitrary use of pesticides will cause bumblebee poisoning. Therefore, when using bumblebees to pollinate tomatoes in greenhouses, the amount of chemical pesticides must be reduced, and green pest and disease prevention and control technologies must be used in support, providing a safe pollination environment for bumblebees. It can be said that bumblebees are the "supervisors" of quality and safety in tomato greenhouses and the "image spokespersons" for green safety.
Key points for using bumblebee pollination technology on tomatoes
◆Suitable season for bumblebee pollination of tomatoes
It is suitable for spring tomatoes and late autumn tomatoes. Summer crops have high temperatures, which bumblebees cannot adapt to, and the current application technology is not mature.
◆Number of bumblebees in one box, area that can be pollinated, and duration of use
One box contains 40-60 bumblebees, and the maximum pollination area is about 1.2 mu. If the area is larger, more bumblebees need to be added. One box of bumblebees can be used for about 4-6 weeks.
◆Time to put bumblebees into the greenhouse
Bumblebees can be put in when more than 5% of tomatoes have flowered, and it is best to put them in the greenhouse in the evening.
◆Placement position of bumblebees in the greenhouse
In spring and autumn, when the temperature is suitable, the bumblebee box can be placed in the middle aisle of the greenhouse or between beds, 0.5-1 m above the ground. In summer, when the temperature is high, attention should be paid to shading. Place the hive below the plant canopy, but the hive entrance must not be blocked, or shade the top of the hive to cool it down. The hive must not be next to heating facilities or carbon dioxide generators. The hive entrance should face south. The position and orientation of the hive must not be moved at will, so as to avoid disorientation and death.
◆Suitable temperature and humidity for bumblebee pollination
The suitable temperature for bumblebee pollination is 12°C-30°C, and the suitable humidity is 50%-80%. Ventilate promptly in summer, and pay attention to insulation in autumn and winter.
◆How to identify successful bumblebee pollination
For bumblebee pollination, look at the bite marks. When bumblebees visit tomato flowers, they use their foreheads to fix themselves onto the flowers, thus leaving brown marks on the styles (called "bite marks"), which are the main marker for identifying bumblebee pollination. In spring and summer, if more than 80% of flowers show brown bite marks, and in autumn and winter more than 70%, it can be defined as normal flower visitation by the colony. Just after bumblebee pollination, the bite marks are very light and not easy to distinguish. As time passes, the area of the bite marks gradually expands and the color deepens. After 24-36 hours of pollination, the bite marks are relatively obvious and easy to observe and identify. One visit by a bumblebee can produce a good pollination effect. After 3-5 days of bumblebee pollination, tomato petals gradually close, wilt, and fall off together with the stigma. It is recommended to check the bumblebee pollination rate promptly after releasing the bees. When checking the pollination rate, flowers that have just opened should not be counted. Newly opened flowers can be distinguished by green stigmas and light yellow petals. The best time to check the pollination rate is 1 hour before sunset. It should be noted that under severe weather or sudden flowering, the number of pollination visits is low and there are fewer bite marks, but generally within a few days the pollination rate will return to normal. Auxiliary observation: On sunny days from 9:00-11:00, if two pollen-carrying bees return to the hive within 10 minutes, or if you stand in the aisle and observe 5 bumblebees visiting flowers within 1 minute, then pollination is normal.
◆What supporting measures are needed for bumblebee pollination