2018 ASHS Annual Conference

Around 75% of global food crops benefit to some degree from animal pollination, especially many fruit crops. Given emerging threats to the honeybee industry, including colony collapse disorder, the importance of wild insect pollination services in agroecosystems has been the focus of recent research. Pollinator “farmscaping” practices, which provide habitat and floral resources that support wild insect pollinators, are being investigated for horticultural crops. However, there is relatively little research directly linking pollinator farmscaping practices to crop benefits, especially considering the wide variation in pollination requirements between crops. Strawberries (Fragaria x ananassa), though self-fertile, appear to produce higher quality fruit when flowers are more thoroughly fertilized by pollinating insects. Several studies have identified the benefit of additional local floral resources to pollinator populations in strawberry fields. Ensuring effective pollination services for strawberry crops may be even more beneficial in day-neutral varieties, which flower and fruit continuously throughout the growing season, as opposed to the short-day (June-bearing) cultivars commonly grown in the US Midwest. While one study showed increased pollinator abundance in strawberry rows adjacent to annual wildflower strips, there is as yet no literature examining the yield benefits of single-species flower strips in strawberry production, despite evidence that bees may benefit more from flower plantings with clumps of single species rather than heterogeneous mixtures. This research investigates the potential of an annual flower strip to enhance pollination services of wild insects in an organic day-neutral strawberry production system. Flowering borage (Borago officinalis) strips were established on one end of three experimental blocks, each containing four, 100 ft rows of day-neutral strawberries. Strawberry yield and pollinator presence were measured in 25 ft plot ranges and were hypothesized to decrease with distance from the flower strip. Average strawberry yield and pollinator abundance appear to decrease, with a significantly lower average berry weight in the plot farthest from the flower strip. Primary strawberry flower visitors were hoverflies (Syrphidae) and native sweat bees (Halictidae), suggesting strawberry pollination may rely more on these insects than larger pollinators like honey bees or bumble bees. This project presents further evidence on the value of pollinator farmscaping practices designed to increase on-farm functional biodiversity and support critical ecosystems services like pollination. Results can help growers and researchers better understand the relative benefits of management practices designed to recruit wild pollinators in small-fruit operations.