Lima bean pollination: Lima beans are important in the east, midwest and California...and maybe where you live

摘要

There is a serious nectar dearth period in July and August in many states when bee colonies use resources stored earlier or rely on cultivated crops. Soybeans can provide a crop for beekeepers under optimum conditions and alfalfa can yield nectar when it's not cut before bloom. Buckwheat, a good nectar yielder, has been steadily decreasing in acreage and sunflowers may involve a pesticide risk. For some beekeepers on the Delmarva Peninsula, in the mid-west and on the West Coast, lima bean flowers are a possible surplus honey nectar source available at that time of year. Lima beans bloom during the summer dearth period. Bloom date depends on planting date but fields usually start flowering in mid or late duly and bloom extends through August, intoSeptember. The Lima flower is cream colored. They have an asymmetrical flower with anther and stigma held in a twisted keel. When a bee lands on the keel, it opens the flower permitting the bee's proboscis to reach the nectar secreted at the base of thecorolla. Flowers last a day. They open early in the morning and don't close until the end of the day.