A few farmers have already put hives on their property in the Estate and we have been lucky enough to have our first batch of Homegrown Fairview Estates honey, “Beeloved” from the Venter’s.
Pollination is necessary for most plants to reproduce and continue the cycle to produce future generations of plants. Pollination also produces seeds and fruit. This is especially important to produce nuts in our Macadamia orchards.
Macadamia trees need pollinators to assist the trees with producing nuts. Bees are one of the best pollinators for these trees as the flowers are quite small. A great way to do this is to place beehives on the farm.
There are a few things that you can do to help accelerate pollination in your Orchard:
- You should have five to eight hives per hectare, depending on the thickness or mass of the trees.
- Making sure your orchard is weed-free, so the bees head to the Macadamia trees and not the weeds.
- Hives must be placed near the centre of the orchard, and where they will get early morning and late afternoon sun.
Healthy crops need honeybees and honeybees need healthy crops. We want to make sure we keep the cycle of life revolving.