Ready for buzzness

摘要

Research has shown that teaming mason bees with honey bees can improve tree fruit pollination, but a shortage of the solitary pollinators and the labor-intensive management they require have been stumbling blocks to commercialization.That changes this year, said Jim Watts, owner of Watts Solitary Bees of Bothell, Washington. Watts now has enough insects to begin serving Northwest tree fruit growers and a machine to dramatically speed nest cleaning, one of the time-consuming chores inmason bee care."We're in the place where we now have bees," said Watts, the largest native bee supplier in North America.Watts has been reaching out to tree fruit growers to train them how to place and care for mason bees. Watts has trained some blueberry growers in Oregon's Willamette Valley and British Columbia, as well as a few tree fruit growers in Oregon and Washington.