Where to purchase Kutiks Honey
Crop Pollination Service
Pollination service is a highly specialized kind of
farming/farm serivice that requires not only expertise in beekeeping, but also enough
horticulture experience to meet the needs of fruit, vegetable and seed growers. Some
beekeepers do pollination as a kind of side job between honey crops. But management of
bees for pollination serivice is quite different than management for honey production.
Our operation is divided; some of the bees are used for honey
production; some are used for pollination. For the pollination bees, pollination is the
priority; they are managed to maximize pollination, and honey production is insignificant.
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Regular communications with growers, in advance of the rush season, helps things go more smoothly when the time comes for the bees to do their thing...
Checking frost damage and male blossoms on canteloupe
South Carolina, April 23, 2001
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| Plants are recovering from frost damage, the first male blossoms signal the time is close for bee placement. | Riding the fields to select the best locations, considering the grower's convenience, the beekeepers need for access, and water, shade, etc. for the bees. |
Unlike other kinds of farming, pollination beekeeping must be highly mobile, but just like other farmers, we must be prepared for intensely seasonal deadlines. When the flowers bloom, the bees MUST be there. Our operation is palletized for maximum efficiency, and we have the forklifts, trucks, and crew to move bees rapidly when needed.
With all machines, things can go awry. Chuck's mechanical skills come in handy when a broken spring necessitates repairs on the spot.
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Okay kids, now get to work!
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On Cucumber Blossom |
On Apple Blossom |
Our pollination contracts are almost fully booked
for the year 2003. If you would like to use our service, please contact us at least six
weeks before bloom for fruit crops and at planting time for vegetables. Our service is
available in New York and New Jersey for fruits vegetables and seed
crops, and for California almonds and Maine blueberries. We no longer do pollination in South Carolina.
If you would like to learn more about pollination and pollination service, visit The Pollination Home Page, which has resources on this theme.
Photos copyright 2000-2012 by David L. Green, Unauthorized use prohibited
Kutik's Honey Farm
285 Lyon Brook Rd. Norwich, NY 13815 607-336-4105, Fax: 607-336-4199
(February through May, we are usually in South
Carolina 803-473-4205)
This page was last updated on February 4, 2012.