WisCONTEXT: Pollinators Provide Extra Buzz To WisconsinвЂ™s Cranberry CropД¬ommon Buckeye drinking nectar from Short-toothed Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum muticum) United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service New Jersey Field Office вЂ“ Cranberry Highlights USDA REEIS Cranberry Cold Hardiness in Relation to Dormancy and Bud Development Source: University of Wisconsin University of Massachusetts, Natural History of the American Cranberry ( Vaccinium macrocarpon) University of Wisconsin Extension Cranberry Crop Management Journal Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Plant Database A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America. Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America.

As the climate changes and night time temperatures warm, the geographic range where these optimal conditions can be met may shrink.Д®njoy those cranberry dishes while you can!Д¬ech, Rick Tudor, Guy. A study done by University of Wisconsin researchers found that 1500 chill hours seemed to be in the optimal range for successful bloom of cranberry flowers.

To successfully break dormancy, the plants must experience a cumulative number of вЂchill hoursвЂ™, usually defined as temperatures between 32 and 45 вЏ (0 вЂ“ 7.2 вЊ), during the winter months. Why is the range of this plant primarily in northern latitudes and higher elevations? The answer lies in the fact that Cranberry is much less successful in producing flowers and fruit unless it goes through a sufficient period of dormancy induced by day length change and cold temperatures. British Columbia and Quebec are the top cranberry producing provinces in Canada. The top five states in commercial cranberry production are Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington. In Canada it is native from Newfoundland to Ontario, in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories. The Bog Copper butterfly is also a specialist on Cranberry and the closely related Small Cranberry ( Vaccinium oxycoccus).Д¬ranberry is indigenous in the United States from Maine to Minnesota, south from northeastern Illinois to Delaware, and from there reaching as far south as Tennessee and North Carolina primarily through the Appalachians it can also be found in coastal Washington state and Oregon, and Nevada county in California. The presence of these native bees significantly increases the yield of commercial cranberry operations.Д¬ranberry hosts the caterpillars of several moths who can only eat the leaves of this and a few related species. The best Cranberry pollinators are the native bees with which it has evolved, and who can sonicate (buzz pollinate), including several species of Bumble Bees, Sweat Bees (Halictidae) and Mining Bees (Andrenidae). Honey Bees donвЂ™t have the skills necessary to buzz pollinate. ItвЂ™s not every bee that has this special talent. When the bee moves on to the next flower, its pollen-dusted abdomen brushes the flowerвЂ™s stigma (female reproductive part), depositing pollen from the previous flower. This sets up just the right motion to release pollen from the flower like salt from a shaker dusting the beeвЂ™s underside. In the case of Cranberries, this process is performed by bees that are able to hang upside down from the bottom edge of the flowerвЂ™s corolla (collection of petals) and vibrate their wing muscles without moving their wings.

The flowers are most efficiently pollinated by bees who are capable of sonication, or buzz pollination. Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) flowers

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