Supporting the pollination with wild bees and honeybees

Wild bees and honeybees need a variety of pollen and nectar plants. Flowering wild plants, but also many cultivated plants, are essential habitat components for pollinating insects. Therefore it is recommended to sow only local, regionally certified seeds of wild plants on agricultural land.

Relevant factors

In order to assess the pollination services in a certain area, the following factors are recorded:

• density of pollination and nectar plants
• diversity (indicated by colour of blossoms)
• flowering period
• pollen plants for specialized wild bees.

Additionally, a diversity of wild bees requires habitats for nesting and hibernation, such as dead wood, open soil or unknown areas with dry stems in autumn and winter.

The use of insecticides is a main cause for the loss of pollinators and must be avoided for their effective protection.