Horticulture Commons^™

Flower Visitation In Relation To Pollen And Nectar Nutrition: Implications For Pollinator Habitat And Conservation, Megan E. Leach

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pollination of both wild and crop plants is at a crossroads; honey bee populations are experiencing losses at a higher rate than ever before, and some native bee species are declining in abundance to the point of being listed as endangered species. A few examples of these threats include pesticide exposure, habitat loss, and climate change. In response to bee population declines, conservation efforts have been initiated to increase habitat quality for bees by planting pollinator reservoirs or gardens. Plants provide nutrition to bees in the form of pollen and nectar. Several studies have shown links between higher nutritional quality …

Optimizing Fertilizer And Compost Rates In Organic Reduced Till Agriculture, Nicholas W. Rowley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Interest in reduced tillage systems has been increasing and advanced by a need to practice agriculture in a sustainable way to limit environmental degradation. The focus on preserving soil integrity has become commonplace in all scales of agriculture. Recently trends in agricultural production have given rise to numerous small farms centered on local and sustainable farming. In turn, this has led to a growing desire to implement conservation tillage into these systems.

In 2015 and 2016 a collaborative effort between the University of Maine at the Maine Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station: Highmoor Farm and Cornell University at the Homer …

Reducing Tillage In Small-Scale Permanent Bed Organic Vegetable Production Systems, Jeremiah D. Vallotton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The response of field-grown vegetable crops to reduced tillage and mulching in permanent beds was evaluated through measuring crop yields, weed pressure, earthworm counts, and soil basal respiration. Two vegetable crops (“Bush Delicata” squash and “Farao” cabbage) were started in April and May of 2016 and 2017 respectively, transplanted in late June, and harvested on 15-Sep-2016 and 25-Aug-2017. Fruit number and weight of squash, and head weight and feeding damage of cabbage were measured. These results suggest that intensive tillage (8” rototill every year) can be successfully reduced to alternating years of shallow (2”) rototilling and a less intensive form …

The Enhancement Of Wild Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) For Pollination Security, Eric M. Venturini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The acreage of pollinator-dependent crops continues to expand across the globe. Simultaneously, honey bee hives – an annually rented commodity that growers rely on – are more expensive every year and in some cases, scarce. In response, pollinator-dependent growers seek alternative pollinators. One approach is installing bee pasture on farms, a strategy that enables systems-based farmers to become in-situ farm-scale habitat managers. This thesis first presents a review of the literature on bee pasture plantings and provides a brief overview of some methods for assessing their impacts on the pollinator community. There are three major gaps in current bee pasture …