Articles
CRANBERRY POLLINATION IN NEW JERSEY
It has grown to a sizeable and important economic enterprise in the states of Massachusetts, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Washington, and Oregon.
In New Jersey, which now ranks third in cranberry production, a record crop of 250,000 barrels was produced in 1974. Yields per acre have risen sharply from 19 bbls. per acre in 1950 to 80.7 in 1974. Prominent in the several factors which have contributed to this is the more effective pollination achieved by the more intense use of honey bees.
The cranberry flower is typically entomophilous.
A good description of the anatomy of this flower is given by Chester Cross (1). This delicate, pretty, little structure, which has a hardiness which belies its appearance, possesses the classic adaptations which make it attractive to bees.
The bright white to pinkish corolla is easily seen.
The tight ring of eight stamens clustered around the base of the pistil, just above the nectaries, forces the bee seeking nectar to insert its proboscis down through the ring.
As a result of this act, she is showered with pollen grains emitted through a tiny opening of a tube-like extension of the pollen sac.
The fact that the blossom hangs downward facilitates transfer of pollen to the insect.
The collection of pollen by the bee is enhanced by its very energy.
The activity of its relatively heavy body on the very light flowers, attached to the slender light flexible uprights, sets up jarring and vibrating motions which cause dehiscing of pollen.
To complete Nature’s scheme, the prominent pistil is centrally located well above the stamens, and the sticky stigma collects pollen from the bee as it thrusts for nectar.
The fact that the stigma does not become sticky and receptive, until the stamens of the same flowers have shed all of their pollen, serves to prevent self pollination.
In the early days of cranberry culture, wild bees provided much of the pollination, and there was little reliance on honey bees.
As late as 1940, Franklin (2) recognized the value of bees as necessary pollinating agents, but he considered wild bee population in Massachusetts,