Praise Bee
By Susan Gifford
The bumblebee (or humblebee as it was once known as) is a powerhouse pollinator, first arriving in New Zealand by boat, in the 1880’s. It was brought here specifically to pollinate red clover. It is now regarded as an essential pollinator in the horticultural industry and is especially brilliant in glasshouses and, of course, in our gardens. Their great specialty is that they are adept at pollinating plants that will only release pollen when parts of the flowers receive intense vibration. This means that many plants, such as tomatoes, potatoes and artichokes all rely on the bumblebee’s trembling action – they grip the flower and shiver their flight muscles without opening their wings - to be pollinated.
Unfortunately, long-term population trends for bumblebees are trending downwards and the overwhelming reason for this decline is loss of habitat. Agricultural practices worldwide have led to swaths of land being planted in a single crop, which rob all pollinators of hedgerows and field margins to nest and thrive. The use of pesticides, land degradation and conversion as well as pollution also impact the environment for bumblebees (and all bees of course).
What to do?
Bumblebee enthusiasts in Tauranga recently formed the New Zealand Bumblebee Conservation Trust. Initiated by Geoff Brundsden, its work involves conservation and education about the bumblebee. Volunteers help educate school children about where our food comes from, and, where possible, promote the significance of bumblebees to the industry and public. Geoff says that every gardener can help too, by skipping insecticides where you can (or spray at night to protect bees) and planting flowers all year round to encourage diversity (and joy) in your garden. Choosing flowers high in pollen and nectar – even if that means skipping the hybrids – and planting in colourful clumps will help the bumblebees. It’s worth noting that native plants need less water and fertilisers (if any), to thrive.
As you’ll appreciate bumblebees are social bees and live in family groups (colonies), either in a nest underground/in compost, or a hive. There are around 50-400 bees in each family and like the honeybee, have an organised societal structure with a queen bumblebee in each colony, surrounded by worker bumblebees. The Drone bumblebees are all male, and their job is to mate with queen bumblebees. They can work in the cold (in temperatures as low as 5 degrees) and in light rain which is why you see them about almost all the time.
An interesting fact is that the bumblebee does as much as 50 times the work of a honeybee and can pollinate up to 450 tomato flowers in an hour.
The bumblebee needs our help to survive and thrive and it’s relatively easy to help make this happen. If you want more information on the work of the New Zealand Bumblebee Conservation Trust, they’d welcome your contact and support (bumblebuzz@nzbct.org.nz).