Wildflower Plots Boost Fruit Yields

Wildflower Plots Boost Fruit Yields CROPS Miscellaneous Marc Cots gets a boost in pollination and yield at his C&C Mountain View Orchards thanks to wildflowers he planted and the pollinators they attract The diverse orchard features apples peaches pears cherries grapes and blueberries Just as diverse are the bumblebees mining bees mason bees carpenter bees sweat bees and more In fact more than 100 native bee species have been found at the orchard 3 of them ultra-rare “I’m pretty impressed with what the native bees do especially the miner bees ” says Cots who only recently bought the orchards Joe Dickey the previous owner worked with a $10 000 grant from Southern SARE Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education; www southernsare org to establish three 100 by 100-ft wildflower plots in 2016 Mark Schlueter a professor at Georgia Gwinnett College assisted Dickey in the project The plots were placed in the middle of the orchard Dickey and Schlueter measured native bee abundance and diversity over a 5-yr period before adding the wildflowers In the first year of the plots apple production alone increased to 3 150 bushels up from the 2 200 to 2 300 the previous 2 years In 2017 it jumped again bringing the 2-yr average to 3 325 bushels a benefit that continued in 2018 Contact: FARM SHOW Followup C&C Mountain View Orchards 2984 Mobile Rd McCaysville Ga 30555 ph 706 964-2323

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