Project Apis m.
  • Home
  • About Us
    • About Project Apis m.
    • PAm Staff
    • Scientific Advisors
    • PAm Board of Directors
    • Annual Reports >
      • 2022 Annual Report
      • 2021 Annual Report
      • 2020 Annual Report
    • Contact Us
    • Join The Team
  • News
    • PAm eNewsletter
    • Project Apis m. Blog
    • Inside the Hive TV
  • Honey Bee Research
    • Honey Bee Research
    • PAm-Costco Scholars
    • Request Funding
    • RFPs
  • Seeds For Bees
    • Apply to Enroll
    • Seeds For Bees FAQs
    • Seeds For Bees For the Grower >
      • Water Requirements
      • Cover Crop Competition
      • Nitrogen Management
      • FAQs for Growers
      • Seeds for Bees Resources
      • Seeds For Bees Net 30 Agreement
    • PAm Seed Mixes >
      • PAm Pollinator Brassica Mix
      • PAm Annual Clover Mix
      • PAm Bio Build 3 Mix
      • PAm Wildflower Mix
      • Vetch-Grain Mix
      • PAm Perennial Clover Mix
    • Seeds For Bees Supporters
  • Forage
    • Forage (Home)
    • Forage Videos
  • Resources
    • Guide to Indoor Storage of Honey Bee Colonies in the USA
    • Guide to Shipping Honey Bee Queen Cells
    • Guide to Honey Bee Queen Banking
    • Best Management Practices For Beekeepers (Home) >
      • Honey Bee Nutrition
      • Varroa
      • Nosema
      • Honey Bee Equipment Management and Maintenance
      • Honey Bee Colony Management
    • Best Management Practices For Almond Growers
  • Video
  • Supporters
    • Our Supporters
    • Support Us
    • Honey Saves Hives
    • Christi Heintz Scholarship
    • Corporate Sponsorship Opportunities
    • Testimonials

Project Apis m. Blog

Cover Crops:  Worth the Water?

9/30/2021

2 Comments

 
Picture
This year the entire West and Northern Midwest is experiencing drought, leaving some growers with barely enough water to keep their crops healthy. Beekeepers are also struggling in places like North Dakota, where honey bees are preparing for almond pollination in February and some beekeepers are reporting record low honey crops. When nectar dries up, bees struggle to produce the honey they need to survive Winter.
Blooming cover crops benefit both beekeepers and growers by providing better nutrition for bees, increasing the soil’s water-holding capacity by adding organic matter, increasing water infiltration, reducing erosion, and providing natural weed control. Having forage available when bees arrive for pollination can help colonies build up strength after a tough year and ensure good pollination. On an exceptionally dry year, some cover crop plantings may not flourish as well as a year that sees average or above average rainfall. Even if your cover crops are not as robust as you might like them to be this year, the benefits are still valuable and are worth the effort.

​What To Expect

Water is precious and promoting cover crops raises some important questions about water use. Seed blends intended to be planted in California’s Central Valley should contain species that have low moisture requirements. Sowing seeds in the fall is a great way to take advantage of fall and early winter rains. If planted early to utilize the seasonal rains, robust, well-growing cover crop stands are possible without the use of irrigation. Early planting also encourages an early bloom which provides nutrition for honey bee colonies pollinating almonds. Planting Sept. 10 through Nov. 10, while soil is still warm (above 55⁰) is an appropriate time to plant any cover crop in California. However, to ensure species like canola, mustard, and radish will bloom before almonds it must be sown and germinated before November 1. While not necessary for an adequate stand, irrigation can be used to ensure a more robust cover crop for some mixes. 

Enrollees of Project Apis m.’s (PAm) Seeds for Bees® program receive seed mixes designed to be successful in harsh conditions like the non-irrigated middles of orchards. If water availability is a concern, select seed mixes that are the most efficient at growing successfully in droughts. The PAm Clover Mix, for example, requires more moisture than the PAm Brassica Mix which can perform well with average seasonal rain, no irrigation needed.
​
Recent trials conducted by University of California Cooperative Extension researchers Shulamit Shroder and Jessie Kanter give some insight as to what growers can expect from a cover crop that is grown in drought conditions. During the 2020/2021 season, a variety of cover crop mixes were evaluated at the Shafter (Kern County) research station. Most of the irrigated seed mixes were more successful than the non-irrigated ones by providing about twice as much biomass, with the brassica mix being the exception as seen in Table 1 (Shroder, Shulamit and Kanter, Jessie 2021). However, they conclude “all of the non-irrigated plots contributed some amount of biomass. This means that even if you cannot irrigate your cover crops, you can still reap some soil health benefits”.
Picture
Table 1. Comparing Irrigated vs Non-Irrigated biomass collected in Shafter on March 17, 2021. (Shroder and Kanter 2021)

​How Cover Crops Can Increase Water Use Efficiency   
​
Growers who participate in Seeds for Bees receive technical advice specific to them, and our team will help you determine what mixes are most appropriate for your operation and water use goals. There is evidence to suggest that planting cover crops increases water use efficiency and water availability. Cover crops add organic matter to the soil. Organic matter is excellent at holding water; it works like a sponge that traps and retains water.
  • Organic matter holds 18-20 times its weight in water (USDA NRCS 2013). One can expect the PAm Seed Mixes to provide about 3.5 tons of organic matter per acre.
  • There are 1,000,000 tons of soil in 6-inch deep acre plot, so growing a cover crop to about waist high will provide 0.03%-0.05% of organic matter every year. Just 1% organic matter in the top six inches holds up to 27,000 gallons of water! (USDA NRCS 2013).

Organic matter helps water stay where it’s needed most, around the root systems of crops. But cover crops also use water, so let’s take a closer look at how much water cover crops use in an orchard system.
 
How Much Water Do Cover Crops Use?
​

Cover crops grown in the fall and winter months will need less water due to shorter days and cooler temperatures. More research needs to be done to determine how much water cover crops use from October to March. Typically, this is the time of the year when Seeds for Bees cover crops are growing. However, there is still something to be learned from a 1989 cover crop study that took place in an almond orchard from April to August. The results were published in California Agriculture in an article titled, “Orchard water use and soil characteristics,” by Prichard, et al. The results are shown in Table 2 (below). Resident vegetation (weeds), clover, bromegrass, and herbicide (bare ground) were the four treatments that were compared in two orchards: a newly planted one (Orchard A) and a mature one with 70% soil shading (Orchard B). The herbicide (bare ground) treatment used the least amount of water. Bromegrass used from 4% less to 18% more water than bare ground. Clover used more than bromegrass, 14% to 29% more than bare ground, and the most water was used by weedy resident vegetation, from 17% to 36% more than bare ground. A clover cover crop used less water than resident weeds! If something is growing on the orchard floor, it might as well be a cover crop. It will use less water than the weeds while increasing the soil’s water-holding capacity.
Picture
Table 2. Seasonal water use in treatments at orchards A and B (Prichard 1989)
The 2021-2022 Seeds for Bees open enrollment period is happening now. Interested growers are encouraged to apply at ProjectApism.org/Seeds-For-Bees. We are currently accepting applications through November 15th, or until we run out of seed. Growers of all types can apply and first year applicants are awarded up to $2,000 of free seed. Don’t forget - early planting is key to getting the most benefit as possible from your cover crop stand. Sign up today! 

Feel free to contact me, Billy Synk, at Billy@ProjectApism.org for any questions regarding the Seeds for Bees program, cover crops, habitat, or bees/pollination. 

References:
Shroder, Shulamit and Kanter, Jessie (2021) Cover Cropping to Achieve Management Goals. Lessons Learned from Cover Crop Trials in the San Joaquin Valley. July 15, 2021. Progressive Crop Consultant.

USDA NRCS (2013) Soil Health Key Points

Prichard L., Terry (1989) Orchard water sue and soil characteristics. California Agriculture. July-August: 23-25
Author:  Billy Synk, Director of Pollination Programs, Project Apis m.
2 Comments
Cheryl Nagy
10/14/2021 07:36:14 pm

My husband and I lost our home in the campfire in Paradise CA. We had 40 bee hives that we also lost from the fires.We have 5 acres in lower Paradise (about 1000 feet in elevation….nicknamed the banana belt)
We rebuilt and moved into our new home a few months ago…..I am writing you to ask to be considered for some cover crop seed as I have been seeing quite a few honey bees and would like to encourage them We also raised city’s before the campfire and amazingly about 10 trees survived the fires. We are looking forward to raising bees again and having the gardens like we once did😊
Thank you for all that you do,
Cheryl Nagy

Reply
Cheryl Nagy
10/14/2021 08:07:56 pm

I sent an email and I noticed an error it stated we raised cities it should have said citrus 😬😊
Cheryl Nagy

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Almond Pollination
    Bee Informed Partnership
    Beekeeping
    Forage
    Funding Opportunities
    Honey
    Honey Bee
    Honey Bee Health
    Honey Bee Management
    Honey Bee Nutrition
    Honey Bee Research
    Neonicotinoid Research
    Nosema
    Pesticide Research
    Queen Bee
    Research
    Seeds For Bees
    Varroa

    RSS Feed

    News Archives

    December 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    September 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015

Donate online

DONATE

donate with check to:

 Project Apis m.
PO Box 26793
Salt Lake City, UT 84126​

916-287-3035

follow us

Contact us


Project Apis m. is a 501(c)5 nonprofit organization. Your donation is not deductible on your individual income tax form. There are other business, foundation, or trust tax benefits, please consult your tax advisor about the deductibility of your contributions.
Copyright © 2017 Project Apis m. All rights reserved.
  • Home
  • About Us
    • About Project Apis m.
    • PAm Staff
    • Scientific Advisors
    • PAm Board of Directors
    • Annual Reports >
      • 2022 Annual Report
      • 2021 Annual Report
      • 2020 Annual Report
    • Contact Us
    • Join The Team
  • News
    • PAm eNewsletter
    • Project Apis m. Blog
    • Inside the Hive TV
  • Honey Bee Research
    • Honey Bee Research
    • PAm-Costco Scholars
    • Request Funding
    • RFPs
  • Seeds For Bees
    • Apply to Enroll
    • Seeds For Bees FAQs
    • Seeds For Bees For the Grower >
      • Water Requirements
      • Cover Crop Competition
      • Nitrogen Management
      • FAQs for Growers
      • Seeds for Bees Resources
      • Seeds For Bees Net 30 Agreement
    • PAm Seed Mixes >
      • PAm Pollinator Brassica Mix
      • PAm Annual Clover Mix
      • PAm Bio Build 3 Mix
      • PAm Wildflower Mix
      • Vetch-Grain Mix
      • PAm Perennial Clover Mix
    • Seeds For Bees Supporters
  • Forage
    • Forage (Home)
    • Forage Videos
  • Resources
    • Guide to Indoor Storage of Honey Bee Colonies in the USA
    • Guide to Shipping Honey Bee Queen Cells
    • Guide to Honey Bee Queen Banking
    • Best Management Practices For Beekeepers (Home) >
      • Honey Bee Nutrition
      • Varroa
      • Nosema
      • Honey Bee Equipment Management and Maintenance
      • Honey Bee Colony Management
    • Best Management Practices For Almond Growers
  • Video
  • Supporters
    • Our Supporters
    • Support Us
    • Honey Saves Hives
    • Christi Heintz Scholarship
    • Corporate Sponsorship Opportunities
    • Testimonials