WXOW News 19 La Crosse, WI – News, Weather and Sports |Honeybees busy pollinating cranberries

TOMAH, Wisconsin (WXOW)-- It's prime time for pollination at the Prehn Marsh in Tomah and thousands of honey bees play an important role in transforming these blossoms into cranberries.

Growers says a good fall harvest depends on a successful growing and pollination season.

They rely on honey or bumble bees to cross pollinate blossoms.

"The honey bees work the flowers. They go from flower to flower to flower. Every time they cross pollinate, fertilization takes place and we hope to end up with a cranberry come fall. If that doesn't happen, they the flower will just open up and dry up and fall off. A plant has to have something to pollinate it and in this case, it is the honey bees," said Fred Prehn the president of the Prehn Marsh in Tomah, Wisconsin.

These bees are busy.

It only take them about three weeks cross pollinate 160 acres.

"tThere is bumble bees and honey bees naturally in the wild, but not near the number that we need to pollinate for a cranberry crop that we are doing. If we had no bees brought in we would still have a cranberry crop, but it would probably be at least one fourth of the size if we did not bring the honey bees in," said Prehn.

Fred Prehn said he is thankful to have healthy hives this season.

"There are some cranberry growers who are struggling to find and get hives this year. They were not able too. So I feel luckily, the virus that attacked the honeybees did not attack my bee keeper and I could bring in the same number of hives I did last year," said Prehn.

There are 400 bee hives on the Prehn Marsh and Fred said when the bees pollinate the blossoms, it increases the yield by about 75 percent. '

Prehn said these honey bees play an important role in making Wisconsin the nation's leading cranberry producer.

The Prehn Marsh rents the honey bees for around 45-thousand dollars.

The bees actually travel from Texas to Canada and pollinate both apple orchards and cranberry marshes along the way.

Cranberries are a staple of Wisconsin's economy.

In fact, Wisconsin is the top cranberry producer in the country.