Bees are just one part of maximizing cherry yield. Before the bees arrive, cherries have to be pruned properly and given the right nutrition. Also, bee attractive cover crops can help rejuvinate the soil before replanting. We hear about all the tricks to maximizing pollination success in cherries from Mike Omeg of Orchard View Cherries. 

American foulbrood (AFB) is one of the most damaging diseases of honey bees. Up until now, beekeepers have lacked an early warning system to know whether the disease is rising in their colonies. In this episode we hear from Dr. Sarah Wood about an innovative system for surveying for AFB in honey,

Have you ever wondered which fuzzy yellow bee you just saw visiting a flower? In this episode, guest host Jen Hayes interviews Nicole Bell about two new and free resources that explore 67 species of bees found in Portland area gardens. Jen and Nicole are both graduate student members of OSU's Garden Ecology Lab. 

As nursery catalogs start to show up in our mailboxes and we think about the plants we want to grow next season, it's easy to get overwhelmed. In this episode, guest host Nicole Bell talks with Jen Hayes about two handouts that can help you better understand plant labels and discover if the plant in front of you is a wild-type native plant, a cultivar, or some other plant form! Jen and Nicole are both graduate student members of OSU's Garden Ecology Lab. 

This week we hear a facinating conversation between an established mutimedia artist (Jasna Guy) and young artist and melittologist (Marek Stanton) on how art, ecology and the natural world overlap.

There have been extreme temperatures during the pollination of early season crops. In this episode we explore how these temperatures not only influence the activity of pollinating insects, but also the pollen they are shuttling around. 

Prairie ecosystems are essential to many pollinator species across North America. Generating prairie after its been lost can be challenging. This week we travel to Iowa to hear from the STRIPS (Science-based Trails of Rowcrops Integrated with Prairie Strips) team. They have been perfecting how to get growers to install prairie strips on the edges of their farms. 

We continue on our bee friendly gardening kick with a trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico to hear how one naturalist transformed his front yard into biodiversity hotspot. Using tools like iNaturalist, he has documented over 90 bee species and 1,200 other insects on less than a quarter acre of land. 

This week we continue our September on Bee Friendly Gardening with a southern Oregon Master Gardener who has a passion for native plants. 

With the season for pollinator gardening winds down, it is a great time to start planning your garden for next year. In this episode we we learn about a national program to connect gardeners together and provide them with resources to up their pollinator gardener game.