PolliNation Podcast

Guest Mario Lupino joins host Andony Melathopoulos to discuss his PhD research on wildflower plantings in commercial apple orchards and a multi-year study testing pollinator attractant products. Learn how dedicating just 3–5% of orchard margins to native flowers can support nearly 100 of Washington's 600 native bee species — and whether commercial attractant sprays actually work. Key Topics Covered: How Xerces Society and Pollinator Partnership help growers establish wildflower strips along field margins, ditches, and irrigation ponds Why only 3–5% of orchard landscape needs to be dedicated to plantings — with no loss of production area Findings that ~80% of bees were found in wildflower plantings just 1–3 feet wide running the orchard length ~100 native bee species discovered in orchard plantings (roughly 1/6 of Washington's 600 native species) Whether wildflower strips distract honeybees from fruit blossoms during peak bloom A 4-year study of commercial pollinator attractant products (pheromone sprays and hanging dispensers) in apple and pear orchards Results showing no significant difference in bee visitation or fruit quality between treated and untreated trees A marginal benefit to apple seed set in treated blocks, potentially correlating to sweeter fruit Why backyard growers should skip attractants and just plant more flowers Resources & Organizations Mentioned: Xerces Society (xerces.org) — designs and implements pollinator habitat plantings; seeds may be available free Pollinator Partnership (pollinator.org) — West Coast group assisting with wildflower seed mixes and planting design NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) — partner biologists available to help growers establish habitat Wildflower planting options include perennial low-growing flowers, shrubs, and tree-based designs

Harry and Andony welcome back Northern California queen producer and almond pollination broker Russell Heitkam of Heitkam's Honey Bees to discuss looming challenges for the 2027 almond season. Heitkam reports high trucking costs driven by diesel prices (especially in California), labor increases, and expensive but necessary mite treatments, arguing beekeepers need to negotiate a per-hive increase of at least $15 per hive to cover transport and stay viable. He shares regional intel on elevated mite pressure, poor honey crops, tight finances, and early demand for Florida-made splits, suggesting pollination hive availability and quality could be tight even before winter losses. He also warns that a potential "super El Niño" could require heavy feeding and strong stocking rates.

Join us for a conversation with Shannon Mayhew, Stewardship Director and Biodynamic Estate Gardener at Brooks Wine. Shannon and the Brooks team were honored with the 2025 Oregon Bee Project Bee Steward Excellence Award for their outstanding commitment to pollinator health — from diverse flowering cover crops between vine rows to two acres of gardens designed to provide consistent forage for bees and other pollinators across the entire growing season. In this episode, we dig into what day-to-day stewardship looks like at a biodynamic winery, why pollinators matter to wine, and what other growers can learn from Shannon's approach. Links: Brooks Wine: https://www.brookswine.com Oregon Bee Project — Brooks Wine: https://www.oregonbeeproject.org/brookswine

Dr. Jordanna Sprayberry, Associate Professor & Director of Undergraduate Biology at Stony Brook University, joins the Pollination podcast to explain how agrochemical odors interfere with bees' ability to find flowers — and why that matters for entire ecosystems. Dr. Sprayberry is a pollination neuroethologist who studies how nervous systems process sensory information and how that processing drives foraging behavior. In this conversation, she breaks down her lab's groundbreaking "odor geometry" system for measuring olfactory pollution thresholds, shares findings from wind tunnel experiments on how bees search at different distances, and makes the case for replacing lawns with native plants — even before the science is fully settled. KEY FINDINGS DISCUSSED: Fungicide odor alone (without ingestion) changes bee foraging behavior Bees searching far from a flower patch weight color and odor equally; bees searching nearby rely primarily on color Beyond 30° of odor "distance" (measured via Euclidean odor geometry), bees no longer recognize floral scents as food Odor pollution may be most impactful for bees searching for new flower patches, not those foraging in established meadows Bumblebee colonies that fall below a resource threshold cannot produce queens, potentially crashing local populations Atmospheric pollutants (ozone, nitrous oxides) degrade floral odor blends as they travel, reducing perceptual range LINKS: Dr. Sprayberry's Lab (SPRAY Lab): https://sites.google.com/stonybrook.edu/spraylab/home Stony Brook University Department of Biology: https://www.stonybrook.edu/biology

Slovenia — a country the size of New Jersey — is home to 575 bee species, more than a quarter of all species known in Europe. It's the birthplace of the Carniolan honeybee, but it's also a hotspot for wild and solitary bees. This week, we sit down with Dr. Danilo Bevk, a researcher at the National Institute of Biology in Ljubljana and founder of the SloBees Society (Čmrljica), to talk about Slovenia's remarkable pollinator diversity, a citizen science project tracking bumblebee queens across the country, and a new Europe-wide monitoring scheme about to transform how we track these crucial insects. Links: Dr. Danilo Bevk — National Institute of Biology: https://www.nib.si/en SloBees Society (Čmrljica) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cmrljica Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cmrljica_slobees/