Be the Bees That Sonicate to Pollinate Blueberries:
Learn New Skills to Succeed
Have I just finished reading an article that shocked me and made me realize how little I know about something I love so much. I also learned that not all bees are hard working creatures.
It is the story about blueberries. Many of my friends are going nuts about blueberries because these tiny round things are almost in season. Strawberries aside, blueberries are by far every one’s favorite. They are tiny so you can just grab a few and pop into your mouth. So sweet and succulent, yet nothing spills out of the mouth. No mess just dark blue stained fingers and tongue. Even a novice can bake blueberries muffins or make Sunday morning pancakes and claim a big victory. What about a deluxe dessert of blueberries floating in heavy cream with a sprinkle of sugar! When antioxidant became a buzz word and the general public became much more nutrient and health conscious, the stock of blueberries shot up.
At our old house, we had several mulberry bushes and only birds and deer strolled and nibbled but our neighborhood kids didn’t like too much. Not sweet enough! Not worth picking. Raspberries are more suitable for sophisticated lady’s taste. New Jersey where I live now is one of the Cranberry states. But cranberries are not something we would eat without cooking. There are all kinds of regional berries that we don’t talk about much.
I found an interesting article about blueberry production. Gwen Pearson in her blog, “Native Bees Increase Blueberry Crop Yields,” wrote:
“The Southern Blueberry bees specialize in buzz pollination; the bee essentially revs her wings to turn her body into a vibrator. That vibration bursts pollen loose from the male plant parts, dumping it on her face and body.”
Blueberries have odd shaped flowers and the native bees get to them by sonicating to pollinate. To sonicate is to disrupt by exposure to high frequency sound waves or to act to apply sound energy to agitate particles. Honey bees do not sonicate and do not release pollen well. They do not pollinate blueberries effectively.
The Southern blueberry bees and other native bees pollinated in the wild blueberry fields for millennia before the Europeans arrived and introduced honey bees, which are now domesticated and managed for big commercial honey production.
Plenty of honey bees flock around in blueberry fields but they just aren’t efficient producers. The field study reveals that “honey bees are kind of wimpy”. When the weather is cold, cloudy and rainy, they stay home. Native bees are more likely to be out in the field in all kinds of weather.
In other words, unlike a popular myth, the honey bees don’t have what it takes. They do not have specialized skills and they stay home with excuses. They are not hard workers. It’s like people not going to work because it’s raining.
The article’s main theme is the biodiversity of native ecosystems of having many kinds of bees. Dr. Hannah Burrack estimated that each group of native bees adds approximately $1.42 million worth of yield each year in North Carolina blueberry production. To me this seems like having an industry that accommodates and flourishes with the diversity of people in their educational, economic, ethnic backgrounds. When people of diverse background work together, they create enormously successful results.
Actually I am beginning to feel very comfortable about all the things I read. They are aligned with the principles of success. To be successful and gain added value, we must have specialized skills and knowledge and willingness to respect differences.
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To great tasting blueberries and your success,
Yukiko