Pollination under nets

2017 | Presented by Susie Murphy-White | Future Orchards® trial report

This Future Orchards® resource examines pollination in Western Australian orchards operating under protective netting. Netting can reduce hail and bird damage, but it also changes bee flight paths, hive access and the way pollinators move between orchard rows.

The trial approach is aimed at understanding whether normal pollination practice needs to be modified under nets and which operational details most influence fruit set. Key considerations include hive location, the openness of the net structure, flowering synchrony and whether bees can efficiently work the target crop.

The resource is useful for growers planning netted orchard systems because it reinforces the need to design pollination alongside the netting system rather than treating pollination as an unchanged input after the structure is installed.