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Bees and Pollinators

Photo: Lynn Ketchum (Cropped from original)
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The way we garden and manage landscapes can help attract bees and other pollinators. Learn how to improve the health of pollinators. And discover beekeeping resources. This information is relevant for homeowners, gardeners, landscape professionals, producers, and commercial and backyard beekeepers.

Pollinator habitat

Resources for building bee pollinator habitat in managed forests.

Postcards showing where native bees nest in managed forests can be obtained from the Oregon Bee Project (oregonbeeproject.org).

Brad Withrow-Robinson, Lauren Grand, Max Bennett, Christine Buhl | Mar 2020 | Article

Pollinator Steward Program

Do you want to help pollinators on your farm, managed forest, rangeland, golf-course or community garden? Are you looking for practical training on how to build, maintain and establish pollinator habitat?

Program

Buzzing and Beautiful: Designing Pollinator Gardens with OSU Extension

A recording of a webinar touring through two new OSU guides to help you garden for pollinators and then ask questions of all the authors. We covered everything from what shrubs to plant, how to use mason bees, shrubs and...

Signe Danler, Andony Melathopoulos, Neil Bell, Amy Jo Detweiler, Nicole Sanchez, Heather Stoven | Jun 2020 | Video

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Enhancing Urban and Suburban Landscapes to Protect Pollinators

The way we garden and manage the landscapes of the Northwest can help promote the health of bees, butterflies and other insects. Homeowners, gardeners, landscape professionals and volunteer groups all can work to attract a wide range of pollinators to their properties. This guide offers detailed plant lists, garden designs and advice on creating pollinator habitat. Once plants are in the ground, learn to keep them healthy without exposing pollinating insects to pesticides that are toxic to them.

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Photo by Karen Zimmerman (Cropped from original)

Native bees

Oregon Bee Atlas

Although we estimate there are 500 species of bees in Oregon, there has never been a concerted survey of the state’s bees. Without even a checklist of species, it is very difficult to know whether the health of Oregon ...

Program

PolliNation Podcast

For people making bold strides to improve the health of pollinators.

Podcast

Wandering squash bees and their millennia-long pursuit of squash cultivation

Few insects can digest the pollen of squash plants. But where squash plants go, squash bees have followed. Now, they've made it from Mexico and the Intermountain West all the way to Oregon. Learn about the journey of these special bees and their kinship to this family of plants.

Miranda Jones | Mar 2021 | Article

More native bee resources

Mason bees

Nurturing Mason Bees in Your Backyard in Western Oregon

An overview of mason bee basic biology and life cycle, and detailed descriptions of what is needed to start keeping mason bees, including desirable plants, nesting sites and types of nests, and caring for the cocoons over fall and winter. There are many helpful color photos throughout.

Brooke Edmunds, Ramesh Sagili | Feb 2016 | OSU Extension Catalog Peer reviewed (Orange level)

Find out more about mason bees

How to Reduce Bee Poisoning from Pesticides

Use this app to learn how a variety of wild and managed bees and their pollination activities are affected by pesticide application. Includes guidelines for how beekeepers, growers, and pesticide applicators can work together to prevent bee poisoning.

Download the free app

Honey bees

Honey Bee Colony Maintenance Expenses: Supplemental Feed, Requeening and Medication

Success in pollination, honey production and other aspects of a beekeeping business depends on honey bee health. Strong, thriving colonies require many inputs from the beekeeper, including feed (carbohydrates and protein), medications and new queens when necessary.

Ellen Topitzhofer, Carolyn Breece, Ramesh Sagili | May 2020 | OSU Extension Catalog Peer reviewed (Orange level)

Beekeeping Equipment Expenses: Woodenware and Other Components

Woodenware for a typical honey bee colony includes vertically stackable boxes with removable frames, a bottom board, lid and a queen excluder. The most common design is Langstroth equipment. Langstroth colony configuration varies ...

Ellen Topitzhofer, Carolyn Breece, Ramesh Sagili | May 2020 | OSU Extension Catalog Peer reviewed (Orange level)

Revenue Sources for a Commercial Beekeeping Operation in the Pacific Northwest

Pollination services and honey production are the primary revenue sources for a beekeeping business based in the Pacific Northwest. Those starting a beekeeping operation should focus on two to three revenue sources initially and ...

Ellen Topitzhofer, Carolyn Breece, Ramesh Sagili | May 2020 | OSU Extension Catalog Peer reviewed (Orange level)

Learn more about honey bees

Latest News

Master Melittologists garner national award for biodiversity conservation

Brothers Dan and Michael O'Loughlin of Yamhill County received the national Farmer-Rancher Pollinator Conservation Award from the National Association of Conservation Districts and the Pollinator Partnership.

Kym Pokorny | Nov 18, 2021 | News story

OSU study will provide insight into optimal nutrition for bees

With the $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, the team hopes to improve bee nutrition by building a database of macro and micronutrients found in the flowering plants used in the study.

Kym Pokorny | Jul 26, 2021 | News story

New OSU volunteer program tackles statewide native bee inventory

the Master Melittologist program intensively trains volunteers on the meticulous work of locating and cataloging the bees that no one has seen before.

Kym Pokorny | Dec 17, 2020 | News story

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Meet Our Experts

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Brooke Edmunds
Community Horticulture, Master Gardeners

Contact me with gardening questions from Marion or Polk counties

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Gail Langellotto
Master Gardener Statewide Coordinator

Contact me for insect and gardening questions.

Andony Melathopoulos
Pollinator Ecology/Ecotoxicology
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Elizabeth Records
Outreach Program Coordinator (interim), Community Horticulture & Master Gardener Educator

Contact me about becoming a Master Gardener Volunteer in Linn or Benton County. For plant/garden questions, please follow the link to "Have a Gardening Question?"

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How can I keep bees away from my hummingbird feeder?

Q: How can I keep bees away from my hummingbird feeder?

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