Helping honey bees pollinate pickling cucumber fields

Thomas Wood, Michigan State University, Department of Entomology -

Watch our new video to learn more about pollinating cucumbers by honey bees.

The Michigan State University Vegetable Entomology Lab started working on honey bee health in pickling cucumber fields two years ago as part of a USDA Specialty Crop Research Initiative grant. This project aimed at improving our understanding of how to balance cucumber production and pest management against pollinator health.

Our research has shown that honey bees are the dominant pollinator of cucumbers in Michigan, and that effective pollination depends on large numbers of bees. Honey bee colonies are robust, but are exposed to many stressors in the cucumber production system. Watch our new video to learn more about this topic.

Thanks to Joy Landis and colleagues from MSU CANR Communications for helping us create this video. Follow us on Twitter @msuvegent!

This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit https://extension.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit https://extension.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit https://extension.msu.edu/experts, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).

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