WATERMELON
Explore these helpful programs to aid in your pollinator protection and watermelon operational activities:
Build your pollinator habitat using Pollinator Partnership’s Ecoregional Planting Guides
Explore Bee Friendly Farming Certification to preserve and protect pollinators through positive changes on your farm.
Utilize UC IPM for Cucurbits and regional extension IPM resources for additional tools to incorporate into your IPM practices for potatoes
Explore Syngenta's Operation Pollinator and Good Growth Plan for carbon neutral agricultural solutions to enhance biodiversity and soil health through technology, service, and training.
Use the Bee Precaution Pesticide Rating tool for guidance on how to reduce bee poisoning based on reported pesticide effects on bees.
Utilize iNaturalist to document and recognize the plant populations in your habitat features, and the insect and wildlife populations they serve.
Consider networks, such as the National Watermelon Association, for issues of trade, labor, invasive pest and disease, federal legislation, scientific research, and more.
Navigate the BeeConnected App for two-way communication between beekeepers, registered farmers, and contractors, regarding the location of hives and crop protection product activities.
Utilize the USDA Farm Service Agency and Natural Resource Conservation Service for a variety of financial assistance opportunities.
Watermelon Pollination - On Farm Action Guide
REFERENCES
1. National Agricultural Statistics Service. (2022). Vegetables 2021 Summary (February 2022). USDA. https://downloads.usda.library....
2. Whitaker, T. W., Davies, G.N. (2012). Cucurbits: Botany, Cultivation & Utilization. Biotech Books, Delhi, India.
3. Woodcock, T. S. (2012). Best management practices for pollination in Ontario crops. https://seeds.ca/pollinator/be....
4. Winfree, R., Williams, N.M., Dushoff, J., Kremen, C. (2007). Native bees provide insurance against ongoing honey bee losses. Ecology Letters 10: 1105–1113. https://doi.10.1111/j.1461-024....
5. Julier, H. E. & Roulston, T. H. (2009) Wild bee abundance and pollination service in cultivated pumpkins: farm management, nesting landscape effects. Journal of Economic Entomology 102: 563-573. https://doi.org/10.1603/029.10....
6. NCDACS (2015). Protecting pollinators through the pesticide label. <;
7. Park, M. G., Blitzer, E. J., Gibbs, J., Losey, J. E., & Danforth, B. N. (2015). Negative effects of pesticides on wild bee communities can be buffered by landscape context. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 282: 20150299. https://royalsocietypublishing....
8. Morandin, L. A., Long, R. F., & Kremen, C. (2016). Pest control and pollination cost-benefit analysis of hedgerow restoration in a simplified agricultural landscape. Journal of Economic Entomology 109: 1020–1027. https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/to....
9. Blaauw, B. R., & Isaacs, R. (2014). Flower plantings increase wild bee abundance and the pollination services provided to a pollination-dependent crop. Journal of Applied Ecology 51: 890–898. https://besjournals.onlinelibr....
10. Garibaldi, L. A., Carvalheiro, L. G., Leonhardt, S. D., Aizen, M. A., Blaauw, B. R., Isaacs, R., Kuhlmann, M., Kleijn, D., Klein, A. M., Kremen, C., Morandin, L., Scheper, J., & Winfree, R. (2014). From research to action: Enhancing crop yield through wild pollinators. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 12: 439–447. https://esajournals.onlinelibr....
11. Morandin, L. A., & Kremen, C. (2013). Hedgerow restoration promotes pollinator populations and exports native bees to adjacent fields. Ecological Applications 23: 829–839. https//www.doi/10.1890/12-1051.1.
12. May, E., Isaacs, R., Ullmann, K., Wilson, J., Brokaw, J., Foltz Jordan, S., Gibbs, J., Hopwood, J., Rothwell, N., Vaughan, M., Ward, K., & Williams, N. (2017). Establishing wildflower habitat to support pollinators in Michigan fruit crops. Michigan State University Extension Bulletin E-3360: 1–18.
13. Desneux, N., A. Decourtye, and J.-M. Delpuech. (2007). The sublethal effects of pesticides on beneficial arthropods. Annual Review of Entomology 52: 81–106. https://www.annualreviews.org/....
14. Bonmatin, J. M., Giorio, C., Girolami, V., Goulson, D., Kreutzweiser, D. P., Krupke, C., Liess, M., Long, E., Marzaro, M., Mitchell, E. A., Noome, D. A., Simon-Delso, N., & Tapparo, A. (2015). Environmental fate and exposure; neonicotinoids and fipronil. Environmental Science and Pollution Research International 22(1): 35–67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356....
15. Dively, G. P., & Kamel, A. (2012). Insecticide residues in pollen and nectar of a cucurbit crop and their potential exposure to pollinators. Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry 60(18): 4449-4456 https://www.doi.org/10.1021/jf....
16. Stoner, K. A. & Eitzer, B. D. (2012). Movement of soil-applied imidacloprid and thiamethoxam into nectar and pollen of squash (Cucurbita pepo). PLoS One 7: e39114. https://doi.org/10.1371/journa....
17. Fahrenkamp-Uppenbrink, J. (2018). Wildflower contamination with neonicotinoids. Science 360(6385): 167-168. https://doi.org/10.1126/scienc....
18. Sgolastra, F., Hinarejos, S., Pitts-Singer, T. L., Boyle, N. K., Joseph, T., Lūckmann, J., Raine, N. E., Singh, R., Williams, N. M., & Bosch, J. (2019). Pesticide exposure assessment paradigm for solitary bees. Environmental Entomology 48(1): 22-–35. https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvy....
19. Boyle, N. K., Pitts-Singer, T. L., Abbott, J., Alix, A., Cox-Foster, D. L., Hinarejos, S., Lehmann, D. M., Morandin, L., O’Neill, B., Raine, N. E., Singh, R., Thompson, H. M., Williams, N. M., & Steeger, T. (2019). Workshop on Pesticide Exposure Assessment Paradigm for Non-Apis Bees: Foundation and Summaries. Environmental Entomology 48: 4–11. https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvy....
20. Synder, William E. (2019). Managing cucumber beetles in organic farming systems. E-organic https://eorganic.org/node/5307.
21. Anderson, N. L., and A. N. Harmon-Threatt. 2019. Chronic contact with realistic soil concentrations of imidacloprid affects the mass, immature development speed, and adult longevity of solitary bees. Scientific Reports:1–9.
22. Smith, D. B., A. N. Arce, A. R. Rodrigues, P. H. Bischoff, D. Burris, F. Ahmed, and R. J. Gill. 2020. Insecticide exposure during brood or early-adult development reduces brain growth and impairs adult learning in bumblebees. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 287.
23. Cresswell, J. E., C. J. Page, M. B. Uygun, M. Holmbergh, Y. Li, J. G. Wheeler, I. Laycock, C. J. Pook, N. H. de Ibarra, N. Smirnoff, and C. R. Tyler. 2012. Differential sensitivity of honey bees and bumble bees to a dietary insecticide (imidacloprid). Zoology 115:365–371.
24. Wintermantel, D., B. Locke, G. K. S. Andersson, J. Osterman, T. R. Pedersen, R. Bommarco, M. Rundlöf, J. R. De Miranda, E. Semberg, E. Forsgren, and H. G. Smith. 2018. Field-level clothianidin exposure affects bumblebees but generally not their pathogens. Nature Communications 9.
25. Vidau, C., M. Diogon, J. Aufauvre, R. Fontbonne, B. Viguès, J. L. Brunet, C. Texier, D. G. Biron, N. Blot, H. Alaoui, L. P. Belzunces, and F. Delbac. 2011. Exposure to sublethal doses of fipronil and thiacloprid highly increases mortality of honeybees previously infected by nosema ceranae. PLoS ONE 6.
26. Sandrock, C., L. G. Tanadini, J. S. Pettis, J. C. Biesmeijer, S. G. Potts, and P. Neumann. 2014. Sublethal neonicotinoid insecticide exposure reduces solitary bee reproductive success. Agricultural and Forest Entomology 16:119–128.
27. Rundlöf, M., G. K. S. Andersson, R. Bommarco, I. Fries, V. Hederström, L. Herbertsson, O. Jonsson, B. K. Klatt, T. R. Pedersen, J. Yourstone, and H. G. Smith. 2015. Seed coating with a neonicotinoid insecticide negatively affects wild bees. Nature 521:77–80.
28. Holland J.M., Storkey J., Lutman P.J.W., Henderson I., and Orson J. 2013. The Farm4Bio project: managing uncropped land for biodiversity, 13. Aspects of Applied Biology: Environmental Management on Farmland. 118.
29. Delaplane, K.S., and Mayer, D.F. 2000. Crop pollination by bees. CABI Publishing. <https://epdf.pub/crop-pollination-by-bees.html>.
30. Adlerz, W.C. 1966. Honey bee visit numbers and watermelon pollination.Journal of Economic Entomology. 59, 28–30.