Pollination is the key link of strawberry popularization and cultivation. According to the physiological characteristics of strawberries, it is necessary to rely on bee pollination to bear fruit. Therefore, the management of greenhouse bees is very important. This paper summarizes the knowledge of bees' living habits, hoping to help strawberry growers.
At present, there are basically three kinds of bees pollinated by strawberries, namely China bees, Italian bees and bumblebees.
Chinese bee is a native bee in China, which is distributed in most parts of the country. Also known as "native bee". Compared with Italian bees, they are relatively small, agile and good at collecting sporadic nectar sources, and generally pollinate at around 7 degrees Celsius. However, the nesting temperature is slightly different according to different species in different places. Compared with Italian bees, the nesting temperature is about 5℃ lower. The study of bees in special pollination is also a direction of domestic bee industry research in the future.
Italian bees originated in Italy's Apennine Peninsula, referred to as "Italian bees", belonging to western bees and called "foreign bees". Compared with China bees, Italian bees are the most widely cultivated species in China. Italian bees leave their nests at a relatively high temperature, so they don't come out to work in cold and rainy days in winter. Usually, Italian bees leave their nests around 12℃, while northeast black bees leave their nests around 9℃ (northeast black bees belong to the Italian bee family).
In strawberry popularization and cultivation, China bees and Italian bees were managed scientifically. The queen bee lays eggs normally, and the next generation of young bees alternate smoothly. The population potential can be maintained until next April. At this time, it can move out of the greenhouse, produce honey and have good ecological benefits. This is also a big advantage of Chinese bees and Italian bees over bumblebees.