Local honeybees make more than honey on North Fork farms
A drive east from Riverhead to Orient this time of year passes row after row of farms bathed a sea of bright blooms. Flitting from flower to flower, too small to see from the road, are multitudes of pollinators. Pollination is essential for farms to function, and to make sure they get the biggest yields of well-formed produce, North Fork farmers turn to local beekeepers.
“The presence of the bees allows this, the fruit or the vegetable that’s being grown to actually be fully fertilized,” said Chris Kelly, owner of Promise Land Apiaries. “That’s what that pollination does. Fully fertilizes it. So then you have the best shape and quality fruit or vegetable that the farmer could hope for.”
Apiaries, as bee farms are known, bring their hives to where the blooms are. Beekeepers will transport the structures to the orchards and fields just before the blooms open, to increase the plants’ exposure. The natural life cycle of the bees means that hive population peaks at the same time as the spring bloom, allowing for maximum pollination.
“They will call me when the buds are just swelling, before they actually come into bloom. And then we’ll bring the bees in for the peaches [so they are there] when they’re in bloom,” said Mr. Kelly. “I have some great relationships with a fair number of the farms out here. It’s varying levels of needs, whether it’s for fruit trees or vegetables.”
Lucy Senesac, manager at Sang Lee Farms in Peconic, explained that some plants have both male and female flowers. Without pollinators, human intervention is necessary to make sure the female flowers are fertilized and fruits grow.
“With zucchini, there are two different kinds of flowers on the plant. The male flowers are on a little stem, and that’s actually what you use for zucchini blossoms that people eat. And then there’s another flower on the plant where the little zucchini grows,” said Ms. Senesac.
There are even some fruits that need to be pollinated multiple times in order to be viable, such as watermelons.
“When you have the bees pollinating plants, some plants need more than one time to pollinate for the fruits take really good hold. It gets a much bigger volume of fruit from this,” said Ken Robinson of North Fork Honey.
Without bringing honeybees on to the farms, pollination is left to native pollinators and the wind. With native pollinators in decline, the honeybees give the farmer more control. Some plants can be hand pollinated, but this is not feasible at scale.
“[Natural pollination] is not as effective, only in the sense that the there is really a shortage of native bees, largely due to the loss of habitat,” said Mr. Kelly.
The Promise Land hives stay at the farm while the orchards and other crops are blooming. Once the flowers pass, Mr. Kelly brings them to their summer grounds to continue making honey.
“I only leave [the hives] in those orchards during that bloom. So there’s a very focused time that the bees are in the orchard, which is when they’re in bloom, and that blossom is the predominant food for these bees for a pretty short period of time; two or three weeks, and then it’s over,” said Mr. Kelly.
The summer sites have locust trees and wildflowers. Mr. Kelly sometimes uses these open clearings as wintering grounds as well.
Mr. Robinson, on the other hand, leaves some hives in place at farms all year long. A bee will travel up to three miles from its hive to gather nectar, so as long as they continue to thrive they can remain in place.
“I keep hives there all year long. I keep them healthy throughout the winter, make sure that they’re having a nice house and dry, safe from predators, enough food stores to make it to winter,” said Mr. Robinson.
Without the bees, farmers would be facing much smaller yields and potentially inferior fruit.
“It really is about relationship,” said Mr. Kelly. “You see the excellence of our East End farmers. They really are about the best of the best. They take care of their land. They take care of their crops.”
