Bees required to create an excellent blueberry crop

(US Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service) Getting an excellent rabbiteye blueberry harvest requires helpful pollinators -- particularly native southeastern blueberry bees -- although growers can bring in managed honey bees to do the job, according to Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists.This is especially true for commercial rabbiteye blueberry producers in Mississippi and Louisiana. With sufficient pollinators, they have been able to increase the percentage of flowers setting fruit from 10-30% to 70% or more. A mature rabbiteye blueberry bush can produce as much as 15 pounds of berries.

Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - June 17, 2019 Category: Biology Source Type: news