Oregon blueberry growers have joined specialty seed and clover seed growers as Oregon industries to develop Bee Protection Protocols with beekeepers.

During a presentation at the Oregon Blueberry Conference in February, Oregon State University Extension Pollinator Health Specialist Andony Melathopoulos outlined several provisions of the agreement.

The new Bee Protection Protocol for blueberries recommends honey bee colonies be placed in large clumps on landings at least thirty feet from the blueberries, rather than spread out and up against field edges.

The protocol includes an acknowledgement that growers will contact beekeepers in January and give them estimates of what they expect to need in terms of colony numbers for that year.

“You should call your beekeeper and say, ‘I think I’m roughly going to need this many colonies,’” Melathopoulos said. “And then you’ll be checking in around bud break to start to come up with an estimated date of delivery.”

At pink stage, growers and beekeepers should set a move-in date, Melathopoulos said. That date could ultimately change, he noted, but the pink stage is a good time to set the move-in date.

Growers also should try to let beekeepers know where to place the hives, particularly if they are dealing with a beekeeper for the first time, and prepare for their arrival by clearing areas of placement. “If you’re dealing with a new beekeeper, you can set flags,” he said. “And if you can, you should be avoiding places that accumulate a lot of water, something that’s right next to a busy road, those kinds of areas.” Clumping hives away from field edges is a preferred placement, Melathopoulos said.

Colonies should start to arrive at a blueberry field at between five to ten percent bloom, and the protocol states that the colonies don’t need to be brought in all at once. “They should be staged by cultivar,” Melathopoulos said.

A few days after colonies are placed, growers should monitor hive strength by checking bee flight on about twenty-five percent of the hives. “If you suspect you have dead colonies, just take some flags and place them in front of the colonies, and then you can text the beekeeper, ideally with GPS points, and say, ‘I flagged a bunch of colonies: I think they’re dead. They should be replaced immediately,’” Melathopoulos said.

The protocol also calls for growers to spray fungicides in the evening if possible, and it sets hive removal procedures. One key to the colony removal procedure is that beekeepers can use a staggered system to remove hives, starting as early as when the earliest cultivar comes out of bloom.

“You should let the beekeeper start to release some of those colonies, and not wait until everything has come out of bloom,” Melathopoulos said. “This has been a major irritant to the beekeepers, because it is a very long pollination and some of the colonies are getting a little beat up from such a long pollination of blueberries.”

The Bee Protection Protocol for blueberries was hammered out in a series of meetings between growers, beekeepers, OSU Extension personnel and others. It was agreed to just weeks before the Blueberry Conference.

Melathopoulos said his next step would be to have a similar meeting with the beekeepers as he did with the growers at the Blueberry Conference. “I’ll be working with the beekeepers, doing the same thing I’m doing here with you, so we all are on the same page,” he said.

The Specialty Seed Growers of Western Oregon developed the first Bee Protection Protocol in 2018. Clover growers developed their protocol with beekeepers in 2020. The protocols are patterned after protocols developed between beekeepers and almond growers in California.