What to Plant
We are currently working with a seed company and multiple vineyard partners on developing a proprietary mix for vineyard alleyways/headlands, fence lines, and rows. Follow us on social media @sarahbeegirl and sign up for our newsletter (below) if you would like to be notified when we launch our mix.
In the meantime, here are a few Bee Friendly Vineyard tips to get you started -
Don’t mow! You will be surprised to see what wildflowers are forced into dormancy through mowing. Both in and around your vineyard rows, you will be surprised to see what blooms and which bees and other beneficial insects appear when you reduce and eliminate mowing. If you must mow, wait until the flowers have bloomed.
Going a step bee-yond mowing - be mindful with your tillage. Supporting mycorrhizae communities in vineyards is essential. See the work of Nicole Masters (do a deep dive by reading her book For the Love of Soil) and Mimi Casteel to become more informed on vineyards as regenerative systems.
Start experimenting with flower refugia. We recommend sunflowers for (irrigated) fence lines. Use a no-till seed drill to plant cover crops with a few of our favorites: Bird’s foot trefoil, Lotus corniculatus, Phacelia tanacetifolia, Subterranean clover, Trifolium subterraneum, Alfalfa, Medicago sativa, and Balansa clover, Trifolium michelianu. The more diversity, the better.
Don’t try to do everything all at once. Start small. Monitor (see what works and what doesn’t), plant every other row, or every forth row (in just one block) ensuring there is about 50-100ft between refugia. If you are concerned with competition - monitor your soil and grapes to understand the complexity of the system.
If you aren’t also reducing and eliminating your insecticides, please don’t plant in your rows. You don’t want to lure in your bees and predatory insects to kill them! Use the handbook and mobile app, “How to Reduce Bee Poisoning from Pesticides” published by Oregon State University as a guide - but be aware that this is specifically for honey bees (1 of our 4,000+ species of bees).